Boesmani Rainbowfish and Cardinal tetras

I currently have 15 cardinal tetras in a large planted tank and wanted to add a larger centrepiece fish, I was thinking of maybe 6-7 Boesmani Rainbowfish but I wanted to know if people thought the cardinals will become a snack for the Rainbowfish. What’s your experiences with this mix?

 

It's unlikely that they will become a snack but they might be unsettled by the much larger and active Boesemani. What size tank is it?

 

I believe I recently saw a photo of a Bosemani Rainbowfish with a tail of a cardinal tetra sticking out of its mouth. Somebody posted about this on the Facebook rainbow fish live page.

Maybe you could try some more of the medium sized Rainbowfish. Parva, Kamaka, etc.

 

hiya ! Been keeping rainbows and learning a ton


Rainbows in general have large mouths but small throats. Expanding food (some freeze dried stuff ) can actually choke then. I could see a rainbow getting a cardinal part in but not be able to ..eat it… now why/if/would have no idea - I keep Bosemani, zig zag, and a couple others none have ever tried to snack on anything except given food or maybe a moss thread they think is food.

6-7 Bosemani I’d say 55 gallon or bigger and you said it was a big tank - I’d go as big a school of cards as you can. 20?..My rainbows ignore pretty much everything else in my tanks, they are fixed on each other. They are pretty active and the males will spar non stop at times, mating is initiated with a chase so … big school better for the tetras.

for the rainbows I’d recommend male/female 3/4 ratio at most, 2/5 much better male to female. If you only do six 2/4 is a must ratio to me or stressed out sick girls.


good luck pics of tank ? Love to see!

here is a quick view of some of mine

 

I dont know if the boesmanis will eat the cardinals, but The cardinals are likely to be stressed by those big active fish always zooming around, always looking at them with hunger in their eyes. I would consider a smaller rainbow fish.
possibly the neon blue dwarf, sunset dwarf, celebes, threadfin...

 

hiya ! Been keeping rainbows and learning a ton


Rainbows in general have large mouths but small throats. Expanding food (some freeze dried stuff ) can actually choke then. I could see a rainbow getting a cardinal part in but not be able to ..eat it… now why/if/would have no idea - I keep Bosemani, zig zag, and a couple others none have ever tried to snack on anything except given food or maybe a moss thread they think is food.

6-7 Bosemani I’d say 55 gallon or bigger and you said it was a big tank - I’d go as big a school of cards as you can. 20?..My rainbows ignore pretty much everything else in my tanks, they are fixed on each other. They are pretty active and the males will spar non stop at times, mating is initiated with a chase so … big school better for the tetras.

for the rainbows I’d recommend male/female 3/4 ratio at most, 2/5 much better male to female. If you only do six 2/4 is a must ratio to me or stressed out sick girls.


good luck pics of tank ? Love to see!

here is a quick view of some of mine

Thanks for the messages everyone! The cardinal tetras I have are super chunky ones so I think they will be ok. The tank is a 55 gallon and is almost as heavily planted as ur beautiful tank so I’m hoping the cardinals will be secure. Do u think it will make a difference if I get the boesmani while they are small…. Like roughly 3-4cm ?

 

hey thanks ! if you get them that size it will be a long time to even worried, they are slow growers. They can get real beefy but mine are about a year old, I would expect their length will increase by another inch or so, over the next year and they will fill out even more, little piggies !

Now the big yellow in the tank is less than a year old, he will get 2” longer or more and be deep. Still tiny throat though. That is two schools one of 9 Bs the other of 5 yellows. The yellows will get their own space eventually and probably increased school.

PS - I have a female Angel that lives with cardinals she hasn’t eaten them yet. Wayyy more likely in my mind that she would try snacking before any of the rainbows.

she likes her new home and all the tetras are cool.

i had to move her cause she was part of a breeding pair that decided they would rather death struggle than mate …was after almost 10 failed trys.