Rainbowfish compatibility questions

[smcclure415]

We are a bit confused and need some advice as to how to proceed. Our
tank contains:

2 dwarf neon rainbow
2 bosmani rainbows
5 clown loaches

Tank size is 75 gal

Our general plan was to add some gouramis and Angels to the mix, but
the LFS recommended against it. They said that the bosmanis would get
aggressive, and they suggested something along the lines of barbs, or
just more rainbows. However when we look online at liveaquaria.com,
they say that rainbows are peaceful and get along with most other fish.


We would appreciate personal experiences or knowledge regarding the
paring of rainbows and gourami/angels.

Also what do rainbows get along well with?

thanks

[Charles]

On 30 Oct 2005 19:29:12 -0800, "smcclure415" >
wrote:

>We are a bit confused and need some advice as to how to proceed. Our
>tank contains:
>
>2 dwarf neon rainbow
>2 bosmani rainbows
>5 clown loaches
>
>Tank size is 75 gal
>
>Our general plan was to add some gouramis and Angels to the mix, but
>the LFS recommended against it. They said that the bosmanis would get
>aggressive, and they suggested something along the lines of barbs, or
>just more rainbows. However when we look online at liveaquaria.com,
>they say that rainbows are peaceful and get along with most other fish.
>
>
>We would appreciate personal experiences or knowledge regarding the
>paring of rainbows and gourami/angels.
>
>Also what do rainbows get along well with?
>
>thanks


My rainbows killed each other, constant harrasment. the gouramies did
the same, a moonbeam was the eventual winner.

I don't know if I had bad luck or what, just tried them one time and
had poor success.

As I remember the lacustrus were the worst ones for fighting.

[Victor Martinez]

smcclure415 wrote:
> Our general plan was to add some gouramis and Angels to the mix, but
> the LFS recommended against it. They said that the bosmanis would get
> aggressive, and they suggested something along the lines of barbs, or

Excuse me? Bosemanis aggresive? Angels are tenfold more aggresive than
bosemanis will ever be! So are gouramis.

> just more rainbows. However when we look online at liveaquaria.com,
> they say that rainbows are peaceful and get along with most other fish.

That they do. :)

> We would appreciate personal experiences or knowledge regarding the
> paring of rainbows and gourami/angels.

I keep bosemanis and turquoise rainbows with peruvian angels with no
problems. I had dwarf gouramis for a while, but gave up on them because
of the nesting aggression.

> Also what do rainbows get along well with?

In our big tank we have the following species and absolutely no
compatibility issues:
loaches: clown, yoyo, striata, angelicus, kuhli
peruvian angelfish
rainbows: bosemani, turquoise
ottos
ancistrus: albino and regular
siamese algae eaters

It is a planted tank, btw.

--
Victor M. Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam here:
Email me here:

[Larry Blanchard]

smcclure415 wrote:
> We are a bit confused and need some advice as to how to proceed. Our
> tank contains:
>
> 2 dwarf neon rainbow
> 2 bosmani rainbows
> 5 clown loaches
>
> Tank size is 75 gal
>
> Our general plan was to add some gouramis and Angels to the mix, but

My suggestion would be to add more rainbows. They are a shoaling fish
and most sources suggest at least 5 of the same species. And unlike
most, you want more males than females (like 3M, 2F). That way the
males display more and are generally more colorfuil.

And with 2 different species in one tank I hope you're not breeding them.

[smcclure415]

The sentiment that Angels would be considered more aggressive than
Rainbows matches what we had been planning. I figured the Rainbows
would be fine with Angels and Gouramis because they are good sized fish
that are very fast. I have some trepidation about mixing Angels and
Gouramis, but the Rainbows never entered into our thoughts as a
possible threat.

The LFS guy said that the Rainbows would shred an angel's fins in no
time. He said the Angel was a community fish, while the Rainbows were
semi-aggressive, and could easilly be paired with Cichlids. The shore
has a couple of nice Irian Red Rainbows in a display tank with some
largish African Cichlids, so they appear to be experienced in their
assessment. I really thought Angels would be considered more
aggressive.

[Mean_Chlorine]

Thusly "smcclure415" > Spake Unto All:

>The LFS guy said that the Rainbows would shred an angel's fins in no
>time. He said the Angel was a community fish, while the Rainbows were
>semi-aggressive, and could easilly be paired with Cichlids.

Rainbows will chase eachother. I have never seen them damage anything.

Rainbow males kept alone can become extra aggressive, and will chase
other fish too. I've still never seen them damage anything.

Rainbows can be kept with many cichlids, not because they're
aggressive (they'd lose if they tried to fight) but because they're
fast and fairly big.

If you're worried about rainbowfish aggression, just add more
rainbows.

Angelfish *will* kill any fish small enough to register as food, e.g.
neon tetras.

Angelfish *will* fight and damage especially other angels during
breeding.

Angelfish *are* cichlids.

I have never seen rainbowfish nip fins.

I have very often heard LFS guys say things which were not true.

[Gill Passman]

Mean_Chlorine wrote:
> Thusly "smcclure415" > Spake Unto All:
>
>
>>The LFS guy said that the Rainbows would shred an angel's fins in no
>>time. He said the Angel was a community fish, while the Rainbows were
>>semi-aggressive, and could easilly be paired with Cichlids.
>
>
> Rainbows will chase eachother. I have never seen them damage anything.
>
> Rainbow males kept alone can become extra aggressive, and will chase
> other fish too. I've still never seen them damage anything.
>
> Rainbows can be kept with many cichlids, not because they're
> aggressive (they'd lose if they tried to fight) but because they're
> fast and fairly big.
>
> If you're worried about rainbowfish aggression, just add more
> rainbows.
>
> Angelfish *will* kill any fish small enough to register as food, e.g.
> neon tetras.
>
> Angelfish *will* fight and damage especially other angels during
> breeding.
>
> Angelfish *are* cichlids.
>
> I have never seen rainbowfish nip fins.
>
> I have very often heard LFS guys say things which were not true.
>
>
My Boesmani Rainbows are peaceful and don't chase anything much apart
from eachother occassionally (1 male/2 females)

My male Red Rainbow who is slightly larger than the others will chase
anything that is orange (Platys, Clown Loaches - hmm could be the stress
factor on the Clowns that is making the ich persist) and when first put
in the tank had a few stand offs with the alpha Blue 3 spot Gourami.
They pretty much leave one another alone now. Never seen any damage to
any of the fish but I don't have any cichlids in the tank. Tank mates
are Flying Foxes, Guppies, Neons, Otos, Plec, Gouramis and CLs - it is
heavily planted (bit like a jungle right now) and has plenty of hiding
places if anyone needs to get away.

Gill

[Victor Martinez]

Mean_Chlorine wrote:
> Rainbow males kept alone can become extra aggressive, and will chase
> other fish too. I've still never seen them damage anything.

I have only male rainbows and they only flash one another, trying to
mate I guess. :)

> Angelfish *are* cichlids.

Yup. And they fight *all* the time.

> I have never seen rainbowfish nip fins.

Me neither.

> I have very often heard LFS guys say things which were not true.

Many, many times. :)

Cheers. YMMV.

--
Victor M. Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam here:
Email me here:

[Mean_Chlorine]

Thusly Victor Martinez > Spake Unto All:

>Mean_Chlorine wrote:
>> Rainbow males kept alone can become extra aggressive, and will chase
>> other fish too. I've still never seen them damage anything.
>
>I have only male rainbows and they only flash one another, trying to
>mate I guess. :)

I was a bit unclear - I meant "kept singly". A lone male may turn
aggressive.

For instance, I had a lone praecox male, and as there were no other
rainbows in the tank to act out rainbowfish social behaviors on, it
started chasing/posturing against other fish. Some of the more mellow
fish got pretty spooked, but no actual harm came of it.

I've seen it in other social fish, like cichlids, too: lone males tend
to go a bit ballistic.

[NetMax]

"Larry Blanchard" > wrote in message
...
> smcclure415 wrote:
>> We are a bit confused and need some advice as to how to proceed. Our
>> tank contains:
>>
>> 2 dwarf neon rainbow
>> 2 bosmani rainbows
>> 5 clown loaches
>>
>> Tank size is 75 gal
>>
>> Our general plan was to add some gouramis and Angels to the mix, but
>
> My suggestion would be to add more rainbows. They are a shoaling fish
> and most sources suggest at least 5 of the same species. And unlike
> most, you want more males than females (like 3M, 2F). That way the
> males display more and are generally more colorfuil.
>
> And with 2 different species in one tank I hope you're not breeding
> them.

Rainbows are quite active, especially the Irian Reds. I would not be too
surprised to see a couple harass a lone Angelfish out of boredom, but a
shoal of rainbows would tend to behave more predictably, ignoring the
Angelfish. jmo

The Angelfish might be a carnivorous cichlid, but they hunt by stealth,
and are not fighters or built for combat. If the Rainbows are too big to
eat, then they will drop from the Angel's radar (even if he could catch
them).

Do keep plants, driftwood etc as your tank is large enough, and these
fish thrive on the activity. I kept all my Rainbows together except the
Reds (which lived with the larger gouramis) and the Neons (which liked
quieter waters).

Overall, add 3 or 4 more Boesemani, perhaps 4 more Neons, 3 Angels and
for gouramis, Pearls or Moonlights might fit the bill nicely (3 or 4 of
one or the other). That should more than fill your tank :o).

ps: really nice Rainbow site:
http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/Contents.htm . I really like the
way he set up the information by species.
--
www.NetMax.tk