Rainbowfish?

[Rickybobby]

I was considering adding rainbowfish to my 55 buying have dirt and duckweed which make a lot of organic material. My water is clear but would rainbows work? I was thinking bosemoni's or turquoise.

[Noahma]

Originally Posted by Rickybobby

I was considering adding rainbowfish to my 55 buying have dirt and duckweed which make a lot of organic material. My water is clear but would rainbows work? I was thinking bosemoni's or turquoise.

They should be fine.

Most rainbowfish species are pretty darn hardy

[pandamonium]

I'm a fan of the pseudomugil rainbows. IME they are quite hardy. I have a few aru II and used to have furcatas as well. I think they should be fine. My tank is full of organic matter and they still look great, flaring and all

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Originally Posted by Rickybobby

I was considering adding rainbowfish to my 55 buying have dirt and duckweed which make a lot of organic material. My water is clear but would rainbows work? I was thinking bosemoni's or turquoise.

Hi Rickybobby,

Rainbowfish are excellent in planted aquariums; I love the Melanotaenia lacustris (Turquoise Rainbowfish) in my 45 gallon.

[Rickybobby]

Thank you guys I'm defiantly going to pick some up!

[RD3557]

Agreed. My Lake Kutubu Rainbowfish (Turquoise Rainbows) are my favorite species in my 210L. Watching the males "flash" to impress the females is simply stunning. Below is a picture of my of my colorful males.

[HD Blazingwolf]

the male species of any rainbow is fantastic to watch
most of them can even flash a colored line on their head back to the dorsal fin when displaying to females
most of the time this color is yellow.
Melanotaenia praecox are my personal favorite, followed by Glossolepis incisus
and then Melanotaenia Lacustris

[simplicitysarah]

They are such pretty fish!! My 55 is currently in a fish less cycle and i am really leaning towards rainbows!! Tell me more! Can you mix different types of bows? What are good tank mates?!

[Rickybobby]

The sweet terquoise I wanted sold... So I went with goider's and dwarf neons instead. In still kind of sad

[Rickybobby]

Originally Posted by simplicitysarah

They are such pretty fish!! My 55 is currently in a fish less cycle and i am really leaning towards rainbows!! Tell me more! Can you mix different types of bows? What are good tank mates?!

Yes you can mix them and their are a lot of different tank mates just do some research

[jstehman]

Rainbows rock.

I've got Turquoise, Boesemani, Kamaka, and G. Incisus in my 125. Tough little fish. Flash every morning. Never let food fall to the bottom though. If you've got cories or cats, you'll have to feed them in the dark.

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi jstehman,

It sounds like you have a nice collection. Last Sunday I was in St. Louis and was invited to visit the fish room of Gary Lange, the noted Rainbowfish breeder and collector. I saw tank after tank of F1 and F2 Rainbowfish species, including some he has collected in Asia that are not currently available in the hobby. It is a very diverse family ranging from large species to ones that can be kept in 10 gallon tanks.

[jstehman]

Awesome!

Did you get any pictures?

[Noahma]

I have heard stories of his fabled fish room. It is a Mecca for bowheads

He frequents Rainbow-fish.org. So far I have kept Praecox, Threadfin, herbertaxeorodi, kamaka.

I just setup a 40b to move my herbertaxelrodi into and hopefully get some M.Nigrans or M.pygmaea.

Here is my Male M. Herbertaxelrodi (his colors are a bit washed out, the lights were about to turn off for the night. rainbows really do show there best colors just after the lights turn on.

Originally Posted by Seattle_Aquarist

Hi jstehman,

It sounds like you have a nice collection. Last Sunday I was in St. Louis and was invited to visit the fish room of Gary Lange, the noted Rainbowfish breeder and collector. I saw tank after tank of F1 and F2 Rainbowfish species, including some he has collected in Asia that are not currently available in the hobby. It is a very diverse family ranging from large species to ones that can be kept in 10 gallon tanks.

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Originally Posted by jstehman

Awesome!

Did you get any pictures?

Hi jstehman,

As a matter of fact I did. I met Gary when he was a guest speaker at GSAS in May of 2011 (BTW, Gary is a very good speaker). I was bummed because I was unable to visit AGA in St. Louis last fall when they had a tour of Gary's fishroom but I was in St. Louis in January for a family gathering, contacted Gary, and he graciously offered an invitation to visit.

Gary and I


His large planted tank outside the fishroom



Some of his tanks, each tank is labeled with the species, where and when collected, and other breeding information. Gary is meticulously careful of diseases in his tanks.








Last but not least.....my new favorite 'bow!