Rainbowfish Species, Schools, Etc.

Absolutely! Hence me trying to figure out what's up with things before I buy more!

 

Absolutely! Hence me trying to figure out what's up with things before I buy more!

I had trouble getting a healthy school of bosmaini, so I tried new guinea. Then I gave up and changed my whole stocking plan.

 

Good to know. I really like the Rainbows, I just want to know have an idea of if some species are more hardy, etc.

The last time I was at the LFS, the yellows were much more colored up than when I bought mine. I wonder if they're more hardy once they have more color.

 

In terms of hardiness, 3 out of my 4 parknisons rainbows are dead and only 1 out of 3 boemanis is dead so boesmanis are hardier in my bopinion

 

Thanks! Yeah, I've lost 2/3 Yellow, 0/3 Bosemani, and 0/3 Red. So, who knows.

 

Good to know. I really like the Rainbows, I just want to know have an idea of if some species are more hardy, etc.

The last time I was at the LFS, the yellows were much more colored up than when I bought mine. I wonder if they're more hardy once they have more color.

Generally speaking, colorful fish are healthy fish. So you may have just purchased a bad batch of Yellow's.

 

Could the issue possibly be the male/female ratio? Not sure how aggressive the males get when spawning.

 

Unless I've missed something, there is no aggression. No babies, either. One of the yellows is the one I completely lost, and another, I found dead. I've lost no other Rainbows.

 

Unless I've missed something, there is no aggression. No babies, either. One of the yellows is the one I completely lost, and another, I found dead. I've lost no other Rainbows.

Ok just brain storming at this point.

 

No, I hear you. I appreciate it! At $15-$20 per fish, I just want to know what I'm doing, getting, etc.

 

Yea there expensive. That's why I gave up on them.

 

True! They're beautiful, though! Just not a fish to experiment with.

 

Weird thing with my rainbows. Specifically, my Bosemanis. I've had my first three, I'm guessing, for a couple of months or so now. They seem to be healthy if their activity is a good judge. They're a decent size, but definitely not full grown (maybe 2" ish). Essentially no color yet, though. Last week, I added a fourth, much smaller (approximately half the size) than the original three, but so much more color. This last guy had decent color in the store, and seems to have retained the color in the transition to my tank. Just seems weird as my research had always suggested that Rainbows will not have much color in the store, and should be more colorful as they get larger.

 

There so cool there color changes due to gender differences , age, stress, and readiness to breed. I'm sure other factors as well. Figuring out why the color change can be tough.

 

I hear you. Although, with mine, it's more figuring out why NO color change on my larger ones. Unless I have three females, it just seems weird. Even, just taking readiness to breed into consideration, to me, common sense would suggest the larger ones would be closer to being ready than the small one.

 

Agree. I say patients. There all still young.

 

Cool! Thanks. I wasn't worried until I got one that was much smaller and much more colorful.

 

Cool! Thanks. I wasn't worried until I got one that was much smaller and much more colorful.

That 1 is almost certainly male.

 

Right! I think so, too. Maybe the others are just female. Who knows.

 

I'm sure everything is fine, but lets cover the bases real quick. Ammonia , nitrite, nitrate good? No PH swing? No recent fish deaths? No sick fish?

 

I haven't tested lately, but I'm all but positive all parameters are good. They always are when I test, always stable, etc. So, my answer is the same for possible swings. Plus, I just did a water change today. The other fish seem to have better color, although the other Rainbows obviously still have a ways to go. Bosemanis have noticeably less color than the Reds, though.

 

Then we just wait and watch them color up in the next 3-6 months.

 

Oh, wow! I knew it'd take awhile, but I didn't know it'd take THAT long! Ok, patience it is...

 

I only said 3-6 months because I don't know how old they are, and a whole lot of other factors. It probably won't be that long.

 

Just decided to add a few pics of the larger/uncolored Bosemanis. I'm really thinking they're female but figured I'd show them on this thread. I was able to get two out of three of them.

 

No thoughts on the Bosemanis?

 

I think you're over thinking this. Likely females if they're not coloring up well. They don't look sick or anything.

 

Of course I'm over thinking! That's my middle name! They appear to be healthy. I'm only so concerned with it because what else I do depends on how much color I can expect with these.

 

You could always trade them out for males? But I have heard of males sparring (not outright fighting), and since you like peaceful, keeping more females than males may be the way to go.

 

Agree there kind of like guppies. You want all males or more females then males.

 

That's a good point. If I had to guess, I'd say I have 3 females and 1 male right now. My decision is probably between keeping it as is and adding one more male.

 

I would add a male and a female. That's so hard to do, special if you get them as juveniles.

 

Why would you add both? If my guess about what I have is correct, is 3 females to 2 males not a good ratio?

 

I thought you had 3 females 1 male. You'd want a 2-1 female-male ratio. 4 females 2 males would work perfect.

 

Gotcha. I do have 3/1 (I THINK) currently. But my original thought was one more male, for 3/2. But, if that's not great, I'll re-think it.

 

Gotcha. I do have 3/1 (I THINK) currently. But my original thought was one more male, for 3/2. But, if that's not great, I'll re-think it.

It may work fine most of the time. There will be times where only 1 female is ready to spawn and that might get both males competing for her. As texasdomer was hinting at.

 

Gotcha, ok. I'm just looking for a bit more color in the tank, but also want to leave room to increase each species a bit. Maybe it's best to leave it alone, or to add one of each, as you said.

 

A 3 to 1 ratio is better, but 4 is an incomplete school. Wait you have other rainbow species in there?

 

Yes, that's what this thread was originally all about. Whether I could get a mixed school, or if 6 of each separate species was necessary. Although most said the more of each species, the better, but the overall consensus was that a mixed school of several Rainbows, but not exactly 6 of each species was fine.

 

Yes, that's what this thread was originally all about. Whether I could get a mixed school, or if 6 of each separate species was necessary. Although most said the more of each species, the better, but the overall consensus was that a mixed school of several Rainbows, but not exactly 6 of each species was fine.

Yea I remember. As long as your not planning on breeding and the temperature works for all, I'm on board with that. There will be spawning, or attempted spawning lol. What the total number of rainbows, and what's the male/female ratio?