Today I noticed my 6 Australian Rainbows chasing each other around a lot. I sat and watched the tank for about 20 minutes as they did this. Given their peaceful nature I just figured they're goofing off or maybe there are more males than females (can't tell which is which), but then I noticed them chasing my lone Opaline Gourami (who happens to be a lot bigger than them) and some of my small Corys. The only fish that they didn't go after at any point were my Krib and Rainbow Shark, and for all I know this was only because those 2 stayed in their caves. My tank is 75g, btw. So what's the deal? Are my Rainbows terrorizing everyone or just trying to play tag or something? I'm worried about some of these fish getting stressed.
Rainbowfish harassing the community???
- Thread starter Fishle
- Start date
By any chance, do you have a latin name for your rainbows? "Australian rainbow" is a very broad term, with several (I'm guessing atleast 10) different species commonly called that.
Melanotaenia splendida encompasses several different rainbowfish, it's not the proper name in itself:Fishle said:
M.sp. (Batanta) unclassified new fish
M. s. australis
M. s. duboulayi
M. s. inornata
M. s. rubrostriata
M. s. splendida
M. s. tatei
LiveAquaria has that fish labeled incorrectly -- big surprise. They are referring to M. splendida splendida, however that is the Eastern Rainbowfish, not the Western Rainbowfish. The Western Rainbowfish is Melanotaenia splendida australis and that is closer to the picture they have on their web site.
Most likely you have hybrid fish if they were not labeled correctly at the LFS.
As for their behavior: it's quite normal in some respects. Most likely your gourami has been in their faces and it's payback time. Rainbowfish don't really like gouramis and gouramis don't care for rainbowfish. They won't bother your bottom feeders at all, so don't worry about them. You will want to keep an eye on the gourami and bows, however. It could get nasty.
Roan
Well, other than the occassional chase my Gourami and Rainbows actually seem to like each other, as I often see the Gourami schooling with them. I was just suprised to see the Rainbows chasing the Gourami and Corys a few times this afternoon. I imagine they won't try this with the shark when he grows up, lol.