Name this Rainbow please...

[mduros]

Hi y'all,
Just read the Boesemani post. I brought home two over the weekend. Great little guys. But the guy who caught them didn't know what he was doing and they kept on jumping out of the cup onto the floor and one has a really damaged gill. I know, I shouldn't have taken them, but I felt that they had a better chance with me than if they were put back in the tank there. After three days of Melafix he's doing great, but will probably never be too pretty because of his war wound.

Here's my question. I currently have a rainbow, I brought home a pair of them when I first set up my 55 gallon tank, one died awhile ago. The one I have left is being very aggressive towards the new Boesemanis. Now the fish shops keep on telling me that rainbows aren't aggressive unless it's a male that wants to mate. This may quite possibly be the case because it tends to do a little dance and gets a bright yellow streak up its nose before it takes off after the new rainbows. I am attaching my favorite picture of him. He's "yawning."

Can anybody, maybe Roan, shed some light on this and make some suggestions? I haven't been able to find another rainbow just like him and at this point am ready to pick up a couple more Boesemani's and New Guineas to create a school to try to calm things down in the tank a bit. Currently, my original fella goes after every light colored fish in the tank now once he gets started. And I really don't want to see everyone getting stressed out.
Thanks,
Mary.

 

[Roan Art]

Praecox.

"Dwarf Neon Rainbow". Personally, I hate that moniker. I mean, yah, it's dwarf for a rainbow, but 3" isn't small

Very popular and common in LFS.

I'll answer the rest of your qs in a sec, gotta get my little guy to bed.


Roan

 

[Roan Art]

Sorry for the delay, Mary. Got caught up in some stuff and didn't get a chance to sit down to this until now.

Okay, lemme see if I'm reading this right. You have a praecox in your tank and you just added two Boesemani. The praecox is being aggressive to the Boes. That right?

That's completely normal. I'm assuming your Boesemani are all male? If you aren't sure, post some close ups and I'll let you know.

Your praecox is displaying breeding behaviour. All rainbows in the Melanotaeniidae family do this. Even the females will display striping when they are being receptive to the male.

Male to male do this as well, and it's not uncommon for it to turn into a nipping match between the two. Sometimes it can get worse.

If your Boes are all male, then you need to keep a watch on them to make sure a fight doesn't break out. You don't have any females to tone down the aggression factor. If you decide to get females, two per male.

Yes, rainbows *can* be aggressive and some *will* fight, but it's interspecie. They don't usually bother other fish.

Usually it's the Boesemani that are the more aggressive, but since your praecox is older, it's pushing the Boes around. That tide will turn once the Boes get bigger. Boesemani are the most aggressive of the rainbowfishes.

As for adding the the school: they *really* do need their own specie and shouldn't be kept just with other bows. A lot of people do this and it's really not a good idea. It's not any different than keeping neons, glo-lites and cardinals as a school. We usually don't do that and we really shouldn't do it with rainbows.

Praecox are pretty common in LFS and chain stores. Keep looking. I had three stores near me that had Irians, Boesemani and praecox in stock. Wouldn't buy from an LFS, myself, but if they chanced upon a real rarity, I'd consider it.

Oh, and the "reds" you referred to, Irian, they grow to 6+ inches.

Hope this helps.
Roan