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I have two juvenile boesmani rainbowfish in quarantine at the moment. I've kept boesmanis for several years, but I've never seen anything as bizarre as the way these two are acting.

They were the only two fish in their tiny tank at the pet shop, and they're the only fish in my 30 gallon right now.
They're chasing each other around very aggressively, and when one catches up with the other, they align themselves flank to flank, eyeballs literally touching. Then they start shuddering and shaking violently, almost as if they're convulsing. One gets dark as ink, and the other gets chalky white on its head and inky on its flank.

Then, suddenly, they stop and swim away as if nothing happened, turn more or less back to their normal color -- and a few seconds later one starts chasing the other again. I think it's a more exaggerated version of the territorial posturing the two grown males in my community tank sometimes do, but it's bizarre and a little scary looking.

They're quite small and haven't developed their colors yet, so I can't tell whether they're male or female (I'd guess it's one of each, although given their behavior, maybe it's two males.)

Should I just keep an eye on them and prepare to put a tank divider in if I have to? Would throwing some zebra danios in with them distract them enough to get them to lay off each other? Or should I just not worry? (In my main tank, the two largest boesmani males sometimes posture with each other, but they never seem to hurt one another -- it's just a lot of glaring and fin fanning.)

There are plenty of plants and driftwood in the tank, so they could get away from one another if they wanted -- they just don't seem to want to. I've only had them a day.

Don't think it's anything to worry about. Actually sounds like spawning behaviour. Maybe they are feeling romantic, if it's a pair, having a tank to themselves. Kinda like a honeymoon suite to them

Could be 2 males trying to figure who's boss. I'm sure they'll be fine. Boesmanni's can get a bit boisterous but no damage done.

Last edited by bensaf at 25-Apr-2005 21:32

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I also thought that it sounds like breeding behvoir. I know that boesmans fight side by side which I have noticed on many occasions. The colour change is what lead me to the thought that this is breeding behavoir.

I've seen them get dark when they fight, but I haven't seen them turn white -- so maybe they are a-sparkin' ... it just seems suspicious, since they're so young I can't even tell their sex for sure, and they'd only been in the tank a couple hours so they were presumably pretty stressed.

Still, the behavior seems to have cooled somewhat now -- they seem to have divided the tank on the diagonal, with one taking the front of it and the other taking the rear. And they're snarfing up food, so I guess everything's fine.