Rainbow fish sexing

[marioleb]

hello everyone !
i am new here hope everyone is safe and well !
i need some help sexing my rainbows, i'v had them for almost 2 years now and they are showing breeding signs however i am not sure which is male which is female
i attached pictures for you to judge
thank you
happy fishkeeping !

 

[86 ssinit]

Welcome to fishlore. You have 2 different types of rainbows from what I see. 1 male 2 female bosemani 3female rest are to hard to tell. But if looking to breed it works best with floating plants in the tank. They drop their eggs in the plants. If you see a lot of chasing going on wait for it to calm down than remove the plants to a holding tank. Shrimp tanks work well. Many weeks later you will see tiny fry on top of the tank at feeding time. Rainbows are very slow growers!! This one is close to a yr oldthese 2 are 2 male on right female left.and this is the first male. Over 5 yrs old. Female died over the summer.I never planned to bred. I float westeria in the tank for the fish to hide. When it gets ugly looking I move it to my shrimp tanks for the shrimp to eat. Months later I find the fry.

 

[GlennO]

Pic 2 is a female, the rest are male IMO.

 

[marioleb]

Thank you guys, yes i am looking into breeding the boesmani at least, i have a male for #2 in there with them, i always see action just never any eggs even if i stare at the tank while they do their "dance"!

As for #3 i guess its the only female among the crossing rainbows, if not then glenn you win my friend cz i think the rest are males too.

Ssinit thanks for the tip, and i honestly don't mind waiting for them to grow they are an amazing fish. Haha hope i luck out on fry like you!

 

[GlennO]

I don't think #3 is female but can be hard to tell with hybrids. The shape suggests male.

 

[86 ssinit]

Yes I see the male in the back of pic 3. I thought the others were reds. Didn’t know there were hybrids.
My bosemani didn’t start breeding til they were 3 or 4. But that’s when I put them in a 90 g. So. It could have been the tank size that started them.

 

[marioleb]

I remember my local fish store saying these are crossing, but yeah they color up like crazy!
During the day all "crossing" fish are dark in color with light orange fins, but when breeding time comes a few turn almost white and fiery orange, and a couple just brighten up a bit with a blue purple tint and a black middle line, thats why i thought for ex pic 4 : top female, bottom male

 

[GlennO]

I remember my local fish store saying these are crossing, but yeah they color up like crazy!
During the day all "crossing" fish are dark in color with light orange fins, but when breeding time comes a few turn almost white and fiery orange, and a couple just brighten up a bit with a blue purple tint and a black middle line, thats why i thought for ex pic 4 : top female, bottom male

I think they are both male, just with different colours coming through due to their hybrid nature. It looks like they are cross between some locality of M. trifasciata and M. rubrostriata, with the top one showing more of the colours of the former and the bottom one more like the latter. That’s just a wild guess regarding their parentage though.

 

[marioleb]

I think they are both male, just with different colours coming through due to their hybrid nature. It looks like they are cross between some locality of M. trifasciata and M. rubrostriata, with the top one showing more of the colours of the former and the bottom one more like the latter. That’s just a wild guess regarding their parentage though.

Thank you Glenn! That was interesting i will look into it!