Annadvn

Is it normal for boesmani rainbows to get duller during the day?

My male rainbows are all vividly coloured in the mornings but by evening they are usually duller. I have 3 male and 4 female.

They are in a 125g community tank with clown loaches, angelfish, RTS, bala sharks. The tank is slightly over stocked but everyone has good amount of swimming space and twice weekly water changes.

ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10ppm. pH is about 8 (ish) - haven't tested it recently as not going to start fiddling with it. They are fed a variety of foods such as home made, tetra crisps and flakes, shrimp pellets occasionally live blood worms or other live things as and when the fish shop has shipments in.

Is this normal or should i be worried.

Thanks

Anna

fishlover78

a fish becoming dull in color usually means stress. someone else could help you better than me.

jdhef

That is what Boseman's do. They tend to "display" in the morning and then the color fades later in the day. So no need to worry, it's normal Boseman behavior. But they are great fish aren't they?

cerianthus

[quote=jdhef;486414]That is what Boseman's do. They tend to "display" in the morning and then the color fades later in the day. So no need to worry, it's normal Boseman behavior. But they are great fish aren't they?[/QUOTE

Agreed!!! Although such sign can be use to notice potential problems, but w/ Boesmani, it is showing normal behavior, provided your water parameters are w/in range.

Annadvn

I hoped it was normal.

They don't show any signs of stress, They all school together and school with the loaches when they are having fun chase the bala's around. They love my powerheads and get as close as they can to the out put and then just ride the wave across the tank and then swim back to do it again. So i recon they have a pretty good life at present.

Thanks everyone for your answers.

Anna

fishlover78

plecos do that too.

Fish_wise_man

By the looks of it.. your Boesmani rainbow fish is stressed out.

Try melafix, or any stress release medicine that would help your fish.

My fishes get stressed out sometimes too. They got lots of room, but angels can be nasty to my little Australian rainbow fishes xD

I have a lot of live plants, and every time I do another water change, I always add in a bit of melafix to my tank, and if there are any signs of ick. I will put in 2 hand fulls of aquarium salt, and raise up the temperature to about 88ºC to help kill the ick.


Since you have angels. Have you ever been observing your tank? Because that COULD be the problem. The angels are aggressive at some points, so it is going to be possible that the angels are stressing out your rainbow fish.

Try observing for a while. Then you should put in some melafix too.

Good luck!

Lucy

Anna has a pleco in her tank, they can't tolerate salt.

boff

Hi mate dont worry your fish are fine ,Rainbows change colour depending on there moud and time of day ,i have 4 Boesmans 2 reds,2 yellows and they live with angels and all get along fine .I bet when you turn on the light they look amazing ,then they fade to a duller colour ,they all do that .The best thing for Rainbows is lots of good water changes because they love good clean water this will help with there colour ,and a good diet of live or frozen food and lots of veggies which the clown loaches will love to .

platy ben

i have 3 bosemans too, 1 male, 2 female. In the morning my male is alwaysreally colourfuil, then he goes dull, then just before feeding (at about 9:30pm) he goes colourful again. I love my bosemans

Annadvn

I'm not one for using medications unless its the last resort especially when i have a pleco and clown loaches which are sensitive to medication.

Yes, their colours are amazing first thing in the morning and then by the evening are a little duller.

They get daily greens (cucumber, zuchinni, collard greens, broccoli to name a few). I give them live foods as a treat after i have been down to the fish shop except the clowns are little pigs and tend to gobble things up before the others get a chance!

After reading up more about them, finding new excellent sights, i am sure its normal for these little guys.

Thanks everyone

Anna

Clare12345

I recently read something about the makers of pimafix and melafix and how they can harm your fish. I'll see if I can find a link and post it


Edit: http://www.reefland.com/forum/marine...on-t-work.html

This is just someone's post but it does sound real.

Lucy

There's info on the forum about melafix and pimafix pertaining to labyrinth fish:
PIMAFIX
All Betta Owners Read!!!!! Melafix Alert!!!!!! Read!!!! Read!!!! Danger!!!!