To all,
As I prepare to restock my 55 gal community tank, for one of the tank
inhabitants I debate between 2 Rainbows:

Boesmani Rainbow (Melanotaenia boesmani)
Neon Dwarf Rainbow (Melanotaenia praecox)

The former (Boesmani) are wonderful fish. I had 3 in the 55 gal
before. They're strikingly beautiful with the blue and orange body,
always active and "interesting". 2 of the 3 I had would often take up
stance side-by-side; sometimes snout to snout, sometimes snout to tail
and flare their fins. Sometimes they would shimmy and shake. I was
never sure if it was 2 males showing off or a male and female pair
(never did see any spawning take place). I would of loved to have
another 3, but as it was I felt they were crowded in the 55 gal (they
were getting large, but mainly because they shared the tank with 4
full-grown Angels). The Rainbows and Angels always seemed to get in
each others way.

I've never noticed Neon Dwarf Rainbows locally (although, in all
honesty I haven't looked for them although there always seem to be
some kind of Rainbows available in the LFS). From surfing the Net
they appear to be desireable as well. And being a bit smaller, a
shoal of six would do nicely in a 55 gal tank.

The Rainbows (whatever the choice is) will share their space with a
Bristlenose cat, a Yo-yo loach, a school of tetras and probably a
number of lower dwelling dwarfish Cichlids (debating between some
Kribs and some Bolivian Rams).

Our local water is fairly neutral (7.0 - 7.3) and slightly soft (about
6 deg hardness).

Anyone have any experience and care to comment about the 2 Rainbow
selections, and numbers based on tank size?

Thanks in advance.

.... Bill