Gertrude's Rainbowfish Questions???

16104 Views 17 Replies 11 Participants Last post by JustJen, Aug 22, 2013

duganderson

Discussion Starter · Aug 18, 2012

I have a planted 8 gallon cube with a peaceful Beta (he allowed ghost shrimp to take fish out of his mouth). I'm considering adding some Gertrude's Rainbowfish but I had some questions about them.

1. Are they relatively easy fish to care for?

2. Would they be more abt to be attacked by my Betat due to their finnage compared to a Celestial Pearl Danio?

3. Do they display their fins outward most of the time like in pictures I've seen or is this only occasionally? Do only the males do this?

4. Is it better to get males, females or a mix?

5. How many is the minimum you would want it a tank? Are they schooling?

Thanks

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pandamonium

· #2 · Aug 18, 2012

I have some gertrudae Aru II's. They are quite colorful and very active. I have mine in water straight from tap plus dechlorinator. No buffers added or anything and they take a variety of foods. If you are looking to breed them you'll either need a mop or a java moss bed though. I would say easy to care for
Not sure about compatibility with bettas. Their fins are colorful but no where near as long as a fancy guppy for example.
Males will flare once in a while. I have two males in the tank and 4 females so they often flare to each other. The females do not have as much color as the males do.
I would go with a 1:2 ratio of males to females. That was what the seller advised me to do. I have mine in a tank with furcata rainbows and CPDs so they mingle. schooling not so much I would say in my experience though maybe I need a bigger school (only have 6)

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duganderson

Discussion Starter · #3 · Aug 18, 2012 (Edited)

pandamonium said:
Males will flare once in a while. I have two males in the tank and 4 females so they often flare to each other

So it's only the males that flare? Do they do this display to the males or females?

Since they do not flare very often, do you like your Celtrial Pearl Danios or your Furcata Rainbowfish more (my tank is only big enough for one breed)?

Do the Furcata Rainbowfish flare there fins more often?

pandamonium

· #4 · Aug 18, 2012

Yes the males flare. The females aren't as colorful and don't have the fins that the males do. I think the males flare to both males and females in my tank. When I glance in my tank it's just flaring but I never notice if its to females or males. I assume its to both (mating and showing off). They will flare a fair amount so it's not like you won't see anything

I like Furcatas more than the CPDs to be honest. CPDs are kinda shy and will hide in the foliage unless they feel comfortable swimming around. In my tank they have since I have a ton of furcatas and gertrudae swimming everywhere. But the furcata have blue eyes (iridescent!

) and they are EXTREMELY active. They swim everywhere in the tank and it helps that they are fairly colorful as well (yellow stripes outlining their fins).
The furcatas flare but to me it's not as obvious as when the gertrudae do, since the gertrudae have more distinct designs and color. They still flare but their colors are more upfront anyhow so it's more clear.
If you would like to I can try to get a picture of my gertrudae Aru II and furcatas as well. I have both of them and CPDs in the same tank.

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jemminnifener

· #5 · Aug 18, 2012

What would you say is the difference in behavior between the furcata and the gertrudae aru IIs?

pandamonium

· #6 · Aug 18, 2012

Furcatas seem to be a bit more active, constantly swimming/chasing around than the gertrudae do. The furcatas are also a bit larger physically from observing my own tank. Also, in my experience, the furcatas are very top dwelling fish while the gertrudae are more middle dwelling. At lights on I see them rush around the top layer and then during the day, furcata tend to be hanging out up top and the gertrudae tend to dwell middle.
Besides for that difference, other behaviors seem the same. They are most definitely more outgoing than CPDs that I can say for sure.

50089

· #7 · Aug 18, 2012

Hi. I have Gertrude's. My replies below in blue....

duganderson said:
I have a planted 8 gallon cube with a peaceful Beta (he allowed ghost shrimp to take fish out of his mouth). I'm considering adding some Gertrude's Rainbowfish but I had some questions about them.

1. Are they relatively easy fish to care for? Yes, very easy.

2. Would they be more abt to be attacked by my Betat due to their finnage compared to a Celestial Pearl Danio? I have a betta in a separate tank so not sure but I think the possibility is there; the finnage on these fish might be tempting to a betta. You'd have to try it to know for sure. They tend to spend most of their time at the top (although they do venture to lower levels as well) so they would occupy most of the same space as the betta which could cause issues. I have CPDs with the Gertrude's as well and they are fine together; again not sure about CPDs and the Betta.

3. Do they display their fins outward most of the time like in pictures I've seen or is this only occasionally? Do only the males do this? Yes, they display fairly often; males will display to each other when sparring over a female and they'll display to females when they want to mate.

4. Is it better to get males, females or a mix? Definitely a mix. Get a large number and more males to females (3-4 females per male). I only started with 8 which is a pretty small number for these fish and I had 3 males and 5 females. The males stressed out the females so much they all died. Then with only 3 males left two bullied one to death. I only have two males left now and one is constantly chasing the other.

5. How many is the minimum you would want it a tank? Are they schooling? Depends on the size tank but I'd say as many as you can get as I mentioned above. I started with 8 and it didn't work out so well. They don't "school".

Thanks

shrimpNewbie

· #8 · Aug 18, 2012

the betta question is really going to depend on your fish, i have an alien betta, i was at first terrified about introducing my betta to 3 angelfish, however i put the betta in a breeder net box and eventually he jumped into the display, he has been with the angels for 2-3 weeks now and no fin damage to either, if you have a forest under water you will probably do better than say an iwagumi setup. if you have a large amount of the rainbows it may make the betta uncomfortable but it will also keep it at bay when it comes to nipping, they are aggressive but they also seem to know not to attack a fish in a group.

killaguppy

· #9 · Sep 12, 2012

I just bought 6 Gertrude Rainbowfish on Sunday on the advice of my LFS that they are very, very passive fish.

I almost never do impulse fish buys and I wish I read this first. So the fish are juves, but the males are already fairly aggressive. One male, probably an alpha, is chasing the other Gertrude males and is even more aggressive when it's feeding time.

We'll have to see what happens.

Also, I've read that Gertrude's are annuals. Does anyone know? When I asked my LFS, they told me that they were not.

sphack

· #10 · Sep 12, 2012

killaguppy said:
Also, I've read that Gertrude's are annuals. Does anyone know? When I asked my LFS, they told me that they were not.

I've never heard of annuals for anything other than plants. What do you mean? That the only live one year?

spyke

· #11 · Sep 12, 2012

I believe they are like annuals, but not exactly sure. So yea they don't live much longer than a year or two. Sadly.

LS6 Tommy

· #12 · Sep 13, 2012

I find my Gertrudes usually outlive my Furcatas. Don't know why. They do some chasing, but never harm anyone. They display constantly & are stunning once they color up!

Tommy

killaguppy

· #13 · Sep 13, 2012

There's definitely an alpha in the group and he's claimed the entire open area of the tank and drives every fish that comes into his territory.

Any advice? Should I pull him out?

50089

· #14 · Sep 13, 2012

How many males? Less than 4 often causes problems with these fish. Try adding more males if you can (of course then you'd need more females

). You could try putting it in a breeder box for a time out (a couple of days or so), sometimes this works as when he's introduced back into the tank he's the "new" fish again. You could also try re-arranging the decor to break up territories and this would force them to make new territories and might mitigate the aggression. If not, maybe rehome it.

killaguppy

· #15 · Oct 29, 2012

There are 3 males and 3 females. All the fish seem to be doing better now. The alpha is a lot less aggressive, even though sometimes he chases the other fish. I think it's because the other 2 males have gotten bigger.

I am thinking that I have lot of fish in a little 5 gallons. But they all seem to be getting along fine now. Most of the fish in there are over 2 years old. Some are 4-5 years old.

killaguppy

· #16 · Aug 22, 2013

Just an update on the Gertrude Rainbowfish. They're closing in on a year in the tank. I was actually wrong. There are 2 males and 4 females. They're still alive and healthy. But I am wondering about their lifespan.

jpappy789

· #17 · Aug 22, 2013

I don't think most small blue eyes live past 1-2 years. From what I was reading a dip in temp over the winter for gertrudes may prolong their lifespan.

I'm a bit worried since I was thinking of getting furcatus for my 20L and maybe some gertrudae for my 15g. Not sure I want to invest in fish that don't live very long...

JustJen

· #18 · Aug 22, 2013

Most of the questions have been answered, but I'll chime in on the betta part. I've had gertrudes in with at least a couple different bettas now, with absolutely no issues whatsoever. Both of the bettas were pretty "average" - not aggressive, not overly passive.

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