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I thought there was a Rainbowfish section, but I couldnt find it. Oh well.
I am now the proud owner of a large variety of rainbowfish.
My 75g tank now contains the following rainbows:

3 Irian Red Rainbows (Glossolepis incisus)
3 Boesmani Rainbows (Melanotaenia boesmani)
4 Madagascar Rainbows (Bedotia geayi)
15 Threadfin Rainbows (Iriatherina werneri)
9 Blue Eyed Rainbows (Pseudomugil gertrudae)

The Madagascar bows, threadfins, and blue eyes are all new to me, and Any advice on care, info on these little guys would be appreciated.

I am also the proud new owner of about 20 Galaxy Rasbora as well, and 3 Denisoni Barbs!
So share what you know about any of these fish with me!
thanks!




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I do not know much about the Rainbows other than they are a very beautiful coloured fish. I see them some times at a LFS and always admire them.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

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Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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You may have trouble with that mixture -- the Rainbows prefer hard water, and some (like the Celebes and, I hear, the Madagascar) actually get along better with a small amount of salt in the water, which may not agree at all with your Barbs and Rasboras. (And, given the expense of your Barbs and the unavailability of your Rasboras, I wouldn't take any chances with either of them.)

All I can say is... that set-up must look absolutely amazing. The number of rasboras and threadfins alone would have me agape. I hear threadfins don't do as well with lots of activity or big fish, so good luck with those; though it's definitely possible to keep them with large fish, keeping them in a small species tank apparently allows them extra comfort. All those fish must have set you back quite a bit of cash.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

i think rainbowfishes, given the right conditions look great. at one of my lfs they have a 6x2x2 display tank with boseman rainbows as the centrepiece. they have other rainbowfishes in the tank but im not too fasmiliar with rainbows. they had other types of fish in there, flying foxes and other fish. going to bed now.

hi
woot woot woot woot woot woot

Hi there,
Ive kept a good variety of rainbows in the past,
and never had I used salt in the tank. I am not a believer of using aquarium salt, in fact in my experience with it it always causes much more harm than good.
So far, the fish are all doing amazing! I am very happy with the assortment. The threadfins are really phenomenal in the tank, they have claimed their own 1/3 of the top area of the tank for themselves, and all the rainbows, including the irian reds and boesmanis are all schooling together.

Actually, the fish were really affordable! I got the 2 irian reds, 4 madagascar bows, 15 threadfins, 9 blue eyes, 20 rasbora, and 3 denisoni barbs for only 96 dollars including shipping. I lost 2 of the 6 madagascar bows, but all the rest are doing excellent, no other losses.
The Madagascar bows are still in quarantine, but seem to be doing fantastic now.



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Seems like you got off pretty well on the prices, although admittedly I haven't exactly paying too much attention to these species except in passing.

Celebes Rainbowfish are known to be borderline brackish fish, so we're not talking about aquarium salt, we're talking about marine salt. I am not sure in the case of the Madagascar Rainbowfish in this respect.

Really though, your aquarium must be quite fantastic and will be even moreso when they color up with great care; rainbows are a group of fish I've looked at in passing and sometimes want to get into.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I bet your community is spectacular. I recently saw some dwarf neon rainbows for the first time and picked three of them up. They go great with my shoal of Tiger barbs and White Cloud Mountain Minnows... Very fun, flashy tank!

Good luck with yours, get some pics quick!

Madagascar rainbows are true freshwater, no salt required. Might find things will work out for a year or two but when the madagascans, boesmanni and red males start getting big their morning sparring will scare the hell out of the threadfins and blue eyes. Thankfully most bigger rainbows take at least 2-3 years to mature fully, so youve got a little time to sort that out. Im not a big salt fan either , but I would probably add just a tiny amount for the blue -eyes, not the rest of them though.In about 3-4 years time the size difference between the regular size rainbows and the mini-ones might be so much that there could be a predational risk.

Just added 12 dwarf neons to my collection of 8 rainbowfish species on new years eve, and they are tougher than blue eyes and threadfins, and I cant put them into community with the big guys, the mass difference is about 20x. A dwarf neon would just about fit entirely into the head of my largest west aussie rainbow or male new guinea red. Methinks a galaxy danio would go down the gullet of a fully adult rainbowfish nicely, so hopefully they arent in the same aquarium.

Generally find that ph is almost entirely negotiable with rainbows tbh, what isnt negotiable is nitrate over 30 ppm for the blue eyes ,and especially the madagascans. Wont see the best of them unless you cruise at 15ppm or less.

Crucial for all rainbows though is oxygenation, so take what youd have for tetras, and double it at least. Hydor arios, large airstones and airbars, spraybars set for surface disturbance etc.

It might seem appropriate to house rainbows with other rainbows, but it really isnt. Madagascans arent directly related to the rest, and they start out bullying the others when young, then the other rainbows catch up when older and persecute them a little. Madagascans also have a minor piscivorous streak,they certainly grow the fastest out or the species you have there,and the males do a little more than just spar as per normal rainbowfish, they actually go as far as fin ripping. Small fish will fall to them first.

The threadfins wont be able to compete with the others, and the blue -eyes will wane unless put in entirely peaceful aquaria. Been there, done that , as they say. Blue eyes are better off with a little salt in with tiny gobies, threadfins are better off out the way of the sparring and fin nippers, a reasonable cagemate for the danios as long as the o2 is kept high.

You always have to segregate rainbows into compatible size groups, they have really huge sex drives, and they will pester anything that looks remotely like it could be mated with. That could lead to the deaths of smaller species in with the bigger ones, plus the small ones just wont compete for food. Big rainbows feed really fast.

Hiya,
Very curious to find out how your Denisons are getting along with the Rainbowfish?
I am considering Denisons for my 55 if I ever find any!
Dan

55G -5x Bosemani, 3x Emerald Cory,3x Red Rainbow, 3x Turquoise Rainbow. 20G-Empty. 10G -4x Danio 3x Cory Fry 1 Gold Mystery Snail. 10G- 1x CAE, 2x Tetra 1x ADF

I would like to see some pictures of the tank setup, So_Very_Sneaky. Rainbows are very beautiful fish & their colours are superb. I really like the Threadfins, but unfortunatly, i don't have any space for them.

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