New Australian Rainbow Fish

HI Folks
I stopped in Petsmart today and brought home three australian rainbowfish. I thought they were pretty neat looking with the faint coloring they showed in the store. I didnt know too much about them so only picked up three today, but will go back and get three more since I read that they are a schooling fish.
I have them in the Discus tank where the temp is around 82-84*. I hope they will do ok at that temp? Any advice on these fish? I did read that they are a peaceful fish and so far they are getting along fine with the Discus. Just have to see how they get along with the cardinal tetras.
I also saw the buenos Airs (sp?) tetras. ( black diamond). It was a toss up between the two species. I really liked the black diamond and red on the tail of the tetras. But opted for the rainbow fish instead this time.

~ kate

 

HI congrats on the new fish, we see them down under alot, some info for you:

max size: 3.5-4.5"
PH: 6.5-7.5
Recommended temp: 72-79 F
peaceful and spends most of time in the middle third of the tank.

did u put them in your 55 or 29G? you may need to drop the temp down unless u feel that it could harm your discus.

Jack

 

Which rainbows did you get, they all come from Australia? Which breed exactly? They can range from 2-6" depending on species.
Tom

 

tom you are right, in Australia Melanotaenia fluviatilis is commonly called the Australian Rainbowfish, however on liveaquaria the Melanotaenia splendida is called the Australain Raibowfish. either way I think kate needs to lower the temp or move them to a different tank.

Jack

 

tom you are right, in Australia Melanotaenia fluviatilis is commonly called the Australian Rainbowfish, however on liveaquaria the Melanotaenia splendida is called the Australain Raibowfish. either way I think kate needs to lower the temp or move them to a different tank.

Jack

I had a few different rainbows in water that was about 85F and they were really active.
Tom

 

Thanks for the replies! ;D

The species is called,melanotaenia Splendida Australias. Which in my research, the western splendid photo shows my rainbows. The three seem to be very happy in the 55 gallon Discus tank and swimming all around and being active. Its amazing that all inhabitants are getting along great including the cardinal tetras with these rainbow fish. I see no signs of distress at the temp they are in even tho I read they can do well from 72*-82*. They range in size from largest which looks like a male. I read that the mature male has a slight hump on his back, which this one has. He has wonderful color as well. He is about 2 inches in size. The next one in size is a teeny bit smaller that that and more slI'm lined with not much color yet. And the smallest is about 1.5 inches and still a young'n. I really like the characteristics of these guys and will go and get three more as soon as I know they will do well in that tank.
since my 29 gallon tank is also home to more discus, I cannot lower the temp there either. And I wouldnt put them in with my angel fish. So I'm hoping they will do well in the 55g. The seem like they like swimming all around from top to bottom and in and out of plants. I'm very happy with this species of fish. ;D I will take photos of them soon.

~ kate

This is an online photo of what my largest rainbow looks like. ;D

I just took this photo of the largest rainbow in the tank. I believe it is a male.

~ kate

 

HI the Splendida are a excelent choice of rainbow ,I wish I could get some .The one in your picture is a male ,but you will have to keep a eye on the others to see what sex they are ,I don't know if you know that you will need 1-2 females to each male, if you don't the males will hassel the female to death .
I don't think you will have any problems with keeping discus with rainbows I have seen lots of pictures of them together ,the good thing is where you have to do lots of water changes for the discus the rainbows will love it and show there best colours .

 

HI the Splendida are a excelent choice of rainbow ,I wish I could get some .The one in your picture is a male ,but you will have to keep a eye on the others to see what sex they are ,I don't know if you know that you will need 1-2 females to each male, if you don't the males will hassel the female to death .
I don't think you will have any problems with keeping discus with rainbows I have seen lots of pictures of them together ,the good thing is where you have to do lots of water changes for the discus the rainbows will love it and show there best colours .

HI Boff,
Thanks so much for the reply. It is encouraging to hear that they will do fine with the Discus. I have not witnessed any aggression to other fish by these guys and I really do like their personalities. I did some reading on them and found that the males tend to be more rounder with that slight hump on their back, so I assumed that the largest one was a male. From my other photos in the rainbow photo section you will see the others. I believe the slI'm lined one is a female and the smallest is still hard to tell yet, but it may be a male, still not sure. So far the three have been getting along great.. swimming together and playing in and out of the plants and thru the bubbles. I am looking forward to getting more and I will look and try to get more females in the next batch. ;D

~ kate

 

Yes rainbows seem to get along with all types of fish ,the only aggression that I have seen with mine is sparing with each other that does get a bit heated at times but soon calmes down .I did look at the other pictures and I think you are right about having a male and female but its diffecalt to say about the smaller one .
How many more were you thinking of getting because it seems like me you are gettting addicted to rainbows ,have a look at this site they have some amazing rainbows (thatfishshop.com) I am gutted because I live in the UK and its very hard to get good quility fish like these ones ,all the best boff.

 

Yes rainbows seem to get along with all types of fish ,the only aggression that I have seen with mine is sparing with each other that does get a bit heated at times but soon calmes down .I did look at the other pictures and I think you are right about having a male and female but its diffecalt to say about the smaller one .
How many more were you thinking of getting because it seems like me you are gettting addicted to rainbows ,have a look at this site they have some amazing rainbows (thatfishshop.com) I am gutted because I live in the UK and its very hard to get good quility fish like these ones ,all the best boff.

LOL Boff... you are right! I am getting addicted to these rainbow fish and want lots more!! hahah... I have checked out that site and wow!! Those are some great fish there and a great assortment. ;D I would like at least three or four more of the species that I already have and then a few more of another type. I am always hesitant on buying online for the reason the shipping costs so much and I really do not have a lot of extra money to spend so try and look around at what is available locally first.

~ kate

 

I know what you mean about the shipping charges ,ime the same can't afford it but where I live on a small island don't get much choice and the shop owners don't have a clue about the rainbows they have ,so I might have to bite the bullet and order some to breed with and then sell them to them .

 

HI Boff,
That's too bad you are so limited in your choices, living on an island. That site you sent me, had some really gorgeous rainbows there. Are you going to order them from there? I would like to at some time myself when money gets available.

~ kate

 

I would love to get some from them but I live in the UK so that's out the window .I was talking to a guy the other day online who gets his from Germany he said the fish were wild caught but are expensive, but I don't know if I want to take the chance of getting ripped off with just farm breed fish ,so I need to research this guy first .

 

HI Boff,
Good luck on getting those rainbows. Are the wild caught better than the farm rasied? I thought that the wild caught fish were more sensitive to our tanks than ones that are farm raised in tanks. Also heard that the wild caught show off more color??

~ kate

 

HI wild caught rainbows are more sensitive and take a lot of looking after but you are reworded with there bright colours .The trouble with tank breed fish is take the Boesmans with every generation breed in tanks there colour gets weaker and weaker .

 

Thanks Boff,
I did hear that they were more sensitive. Considering they are wild caught I would imagine they would be.
I went to Petsmart on saturday and brought home 6 more rainbows. One didnt make it past day one but the others are all doing great. After observing them for awhile I believe I only have one mature male and possibly one immature male. All the others are females. Which is too bad, since it seems its the males that have more color. Now the one mature male thinks he has quite the harem going. lol.. I thought I would see a lot of swimming around all parts of the tank, like the original three were doing. But since bringing them home, all the females congregate at one spot at the surface. They have grouped together in solidarity against the one male. I do see them swimming around a bit especially at mealtimes and I love all the action in the 55 gallon tank now. Now I am hoping that my xmas wish list of money for new fish will be met. I want to take a trip to a fish store off cape and look for a few more of the unusual rainbows or will have to break down and order online. Yesterday I took the one german blue ram that I have left and put him into the 55 gallon with all the other more active fish there and I think he is very happy. He was in the 29 with the two slow swimming discus and I think he was getting pretty bored lol.
I want to look for a few more GBRs as well when I go off cape. ;D

~ kate

 

Wow Kate that didnt take long to total change your big tank to a bow tank, you won't be disappointed when they mature but they are slow growers that's why they are expenses .About all the females can you not take a few back and swap for males or are you not that bothered .
You say you are going to get some more unusual bows have a look at this site this is the holy grail of rainbow sites .
The trouble with having different types of bows is they will breed with each other so the best thing is not to raise the fry, if you do don't sell any or give any away because this will weaken the blood lines, that's why at the moment I have all males ,but I will get a breeding tank in the future .Sorry I don't understand what a GBR is .mark

This is another good site from Australia it shows all the different colour types of the rainbows ,its amazing that from one strain of fish there can be so many different colour types ,mother nature at her best .And you can see where they all come from some are just a small ditch .

 

HI Boff
g'morning! ;D ( or early afternoon where you are?)
Yeh.. lol it didnt take me long ..... I just love these fish. I like their movements and personalities. It is too bad that I got mostly females, considering the colors etc. Thinking of sending them back to the petsmart tank just doesn't work for me. They are very happy where they are so they will stay. ;D I can always go back and look for males. They are good sized, the largest male is almost 5 cm. I guess they do get a lot larger.
Thanks for letting me know that they interbreed with other species of rainbows. I wouldnt want that. When I get another subspecies of bows can I put them in the 29 gallon tank? Will that be large enough for them?
Thanks so much for the links.. I took a quick look at them and bookmarked the two links so that I can spend time looking at them and reading up on them. ;D
Thanks so much for any help you can give me with these guys! How many do you have?

~ kate

ohhh btw... GBR... is german blue rams.

;D

 

HI capekate, that's a good idea to keep them it will stop the males hassling the females to much and the males will show good colours ,I read some were that the females will spar to see who is top female so that will be interesting to see if it is true because she should be more colourful .
The males can grow to 15cm put normally about 10 is the norm.Dont get me wrong you can mix them with other bows they do look very good ,the thing is they will probably eat all the eggs or fry if they hatch any way so don't worry ,most people think they are doing some thing wrong but the fish are such good hunters the fry don't stand a chance that's why its a good idea to get a small breeding tank to put the eggs in if you do want to go down that path one day let me know and I will give you some pointers ,they do it in the morning so most of the time people don't see it ,they are called children of the morning sun in a translation of some language but I can't remember which one .
I have 4 BoesmanI 2 reds and 2 yellow which were sold to me as regal which I am gutted but they are nice fish .

 

HI Boff...
Thanks for the tips. Do they breed easily? I have time before they mature anyway right? When that time comes I will be asking you a lot of questions.
Such as.... ( even now I'm thinking lol)...If I can tell a breeding pair would it be a good idea to just put them into a 10 gallon tank? Do the parents eat their fry?
ok.. that's all I will ask for now lol. Do you have photos to add to the photo section for rainbows? Or have you already posted photos of your bows?
thanks so much,

~ kate

 

HI ,yep they do breed very easy when the conditions are right ,lots of live food or good frozen food to plump up the females,you will have to wait for a bit for them to mature .
There is 2 ways to do it .
1.put a breeding pair in a small tank let them do the business on java fern or spawning mops then take the adults out because they will eat the eggs.
2.let them breed in the main tank on spawning mops and put the mops in small tank .
Ive posted some new pictures for you to have a look at in the photo section

 

HI ,yep they do breed very easy when the conditions are right ,lots of live food or good frozen food to plump up the females,you will have to wait for a bit for them to mature .
There is 2 ways to do it .
1.put a breeding pair in a small tank let them do the business on java fern or spawning mops then take the adults out because they will eat the eggs.
2.let them breed in the main tank on spawning mops and put the mops in small tank .
Ive posted some new pictures for you to have a look at in the photo section

HI Boff,
thanks so much for the advice. I will watch for eggs when the time comes. Guess that was another question of mine, I had no idea if they were livebearers or egg bearers. lol....
I will go and check out those photos now! yeaa... I love to look at fish photos! ;D

~ kate

any ideas for rainbow diets?

I have bought more frozen food and it just doesn't seem like they are eating.
I started off with the frozen brine shrimp and bloodworms. I have tried the wardleys cichlid flakes, tetra flakes. It just doesn't seem like the food is getting eaten. Tho it does seem like they will eat a few of the bloodworms.
I went to petsmart today while I was in town and picked up another male to go with the three that I have, the other five are females. So I went to the frozen section and brought home frozen mosquito larvae ( white worms) and picked up a pack of mysis shrimp as well. I trried the white worms they seemed so hungry attacking it, but not eating it. Then I just tried the mysis (sp?) shrimp and they didnt eat that either. What do these guys like? HELPPPP!

~ kate

 

The worms may be a bit big to swallow. Try chopping them. Actually I use the tip of my scissors to hack them up
Carol

 

Thanks Carol, I will try that. ;D Tho it must be hard to cut up those worms when using the frozen brand? I can see using scissors to cut up the freeze dried ones, which I do use a knife on. I just hope that I can find something they will eat and like.

~ kate

 

Have they not been eating very well since you got the new batch .
Can you get some live brineshrimp or daphnia they should eat them .
It's also possible that the fish are used to flakes and not getting what they're used to, so ask whoever you got them from what they were feeding them and get some of the exact same stuff .
Or just keep feeding them little bits because sooner or later they will eat when they get hungry.

 

Have they not been eating very well since you got the new batch .
Can you get some live brineshrimp or daphnia they should eat them .
It's also possible that the fish are used to flakes and not getting what they're used to, so ask whoever you got them from what they were feeding them and get some of the exact same stuff .
Or just keep feeding them little bits because sooner or later they will eat when they get hungry.

HI Boff, thanks for the advice. ;D I don't think I will be able to get the live brineshrimp or fresh daphnia. But I can get the frozen daphnia and will get some on saturday. When I am at petsmart I will ask them what they have been feeding the rainbows there. I have such a large variety of foods here, you would think that they would eat something!

~ kate

 

Rainbows do better around 76. I think 80+ is going to be to warm for them. I also have a few tetra in this tank & every body gets along fine. My only problem fish is the Buenos aires that's a fin nippin little brat. Next time I add new rainbows to this tank in about 2 weeks if he fin nips like he did my 2 new bosemanI you will find him listed on craigs list under the free to good home section.