boesemani rainbow Head turning dark blue/black with new tank mates

[Matts90]

So I have had 1 boesmane’s rainbow for about 3 months, he was all alone with guppy’s and tetras. I set up my new 90 gallon planted tank with co2. And let put him in it after about 3 weeks.. he was doing fine for about a week and a half, but people kept telling me that he needs more boesmani rainbows as they are schooling fish.

so today I got 5 more looks like 2 females and 3 males. All the fish I got from the store seemed fine together but my existing rainbow has turned black in the face and looks like he’s trying to attack the others. It’s been about 3 hours since they all have been on the tank together, and 2 of the males heads have turned black/dark blue and a third is on the way... Should I remove thee aggressors to my 20 gallon or let them figure it out upon themselves?

 

[beau1990]

Mine change color similarly when the lights go out. I only notice it when. I turn the lights on in the morning but they quickly revert to regular colors

 

[tlindsey]

Welcome aboard

The males compete and will display intense coloration especially when lights come on. Also sounds like the dominant male.

 

[Matts90]

Welcome aboard

The males compete and will display intense coloration especially when lights come on. Also sounds like the dominant male.

Thanks for the info, but should I be worried? Will he eventually kill the others? Or will they eventually settle ?

 

[tlindsey]

Thanks for the info, but should I be worried? Will he eventually kill the others? Or will they eventually settle ?

I once had a group of 4 and never had one kill another.

 

[beau1990]

Should be fine mine get along fine I think it's the dominant one in my tank and in yours he wants to establish dominance but I could be wrong, I am far from an expert

 

[esoxlucius]

I have boosemani rainbows in my 180g. The males are always flanking each other with fins out trying to see who's the boss. But i've never witnessed any fighting. And changing different shades of orange and blue is what they do.

If you really want to see some action you need to get a few females. The females are drab looking but once them males start their courtship the males will brighten up even more and have an intense bright white stripe from their dorsal fin to the tips of their noses.

They coax the females into any greenery, you really need plants for any rainbowfish tank, and they flank the female, whilst flicking their heads simultaneously. This triggers the female to spray her eggs whilst the male fertilises them. And then there is a mass swarm as the other fish in the tank eat the eggs.

I've thought about seperating mine and breeding them, it would be easy. But I want to gradually reduce my stock now, not add to it!

 

[Matts90]

I have boosemani rainbows in my 180g. The males are always flanking each other with fins out trying to see who's the boss. But i've never witnessed any fighting. And changing different shades of orange and blue is what they do.

If you really want to see some action you need to get a few females. The females are drab looking but once them males start their courtship the males will brighten up even more and have an intense bright white stripe from their dorsal fin to the tips of their noses.

They coax the females into any greenery, you really need plants for any rainbowfish tank, and they flank the female, whilst flicking their heads simultaneously. This triggers the female to spray her eggs whilst the male fertilises them. And then there is a mass swarm as the other fish in the tank eat the eggs.

I've thought about seperating mine and breeding them, it would be easy. But I want to gradually reduce my stock now, not add to it!

Thanks so much for the good info, it’s now the next morning and they are not nipping/spinning around as much. As I turned of the lights last night things intensified but now they are chill. I have noticed when I turned on the lights their colours were bright and a couple had the white stripes on their head like you described.

I never knew how interesting it was to be keeping rainbow fish. But would they eat their own eggs? I only have one molly and one guppy in the tank and the rest are the boesmani rainbows.

 

[Cardeater]

Thanks so much for the good info, it’s now the next morning and they are not nipping/spinning around as much. As I turned of the lights last night things intensified but now they are chill. I have noticed when I turned on the lights their colours were bright and a couple had the white stripes on their head like you described.

I never knew how interesting it was to be keeping rainbow fish. But would they eat their own eggs? I only have one molly and one guppy in the tank and the rest are the boesmani rainbows.

Yeah the rainbows eat their own eggs.

Early on, I had a red millennium rainbow male and a albino red millennium male in my tank that were really trying to dominate the tank. (At this time I also had four Dority males as well). The two millenniums where not just flaring their find like they do daily but they really seemed to be trying to nip at each other.

Eventually they settled down when I believe the red one became the dominant male in the tank. There's still the sparring during breeding time but it was nowhere near as intense as it was in the beginning.

I find water changes (and I do three a week) really get the spawning behavior going.

 

[FJB]

They change colors constantly, depending on mood and development.
My single pair of bosemani rainbows produced many babies but I was left with 37 who are getting pretty big now. Parents are 3-3.5 inch male, and 2.5 inch female, the latter now passed. The brood are about 1.5 year olds and range 1.5-2.5". I gave away 20 and have the rest left. I need to continue culling them as it is too many in their 75gal. They display to each other, change colors, are already breeding but eating the eggs, and all change colors after weekly water changes. Cheers!
Photos- 1) the father next to Hemiodus and long-nose angelfish, 2-4) the growing crew with a stripped headstander.