Rainbows in a 10gal

[Mustang Boy]

I just bought a 30gal that came with 4 rainbow fish, 3 african cichlids, and a peacock eel and i was wondering if the rainbow fish would be ok in a 10gal by themselves for awhile. The largest one is a little under 2in i would say and the smallest a little over an inch.

[Fishalicious]

Depends on the Rainbowfish <winks> Have you got a foto or can you maybe explain what it looks like? Rainbows tend to be busy swimmers that need a lot of zipping up and down space...

[Mustang Boy]

i dont have any pics yet but ill have some soon and until them i can describe them(now i have to say im not the best at descriptions though)

2 of them are blue and yellow and from what the person i bought her from says when the water quality starts to go down it turns purplish

1 is like a pearlescent color with red fins

the last iskinda bluish green with blue fins

i hope my descriptions help and ill post some pics later tonight hopefully when i take pics cause i have tons of places to post them showing off my awesome buy

[Fishalicious]

From the description I would think that the first are Melanotaenia Bosemani's and the second ones are Melanotaenia praecox

Not sure on the third as there are loads with those colorings...

Check the above two out on Google and see if they are right.... :11:

[Lady Hobbs]

Rainbows are social fish and like several of their own kind....the bigger the schools the better. Many of them get 4-6" as well and your tank hasn't much room for them.

[Mustang Boy]

yea i know they prefer to be in schools and get pretty big but i will be probably be trading them in soon to my LFS and i am preparing my 10gal and will be adding some gravel and other nit bits from the already cycled 30gal to it and just wanted to put the rainbows in there temporarily to keep the cycle going in it while i find out which of my LFS's will accept them as trades and then ill go ahead and trade them in and get my tetra for the 10gal


and the ones you listed are correct Fishalicious and the third looks kinda like the second but with different color fins and a slightly different coloration but the same shape

[Fishalicious]

The third is probably just a female of the 2nd then....they don't have the red fins and due to this the coloration can look slightly different...

It all depends on how quickly you can trade them...the bosemani get pretty big.

[Mustang Boy]

im hoping to trade them in as soon as i can which will probably be in the next few weeks

[cer]

You Should Keep Them In The Ten Gallon And Wait Until They Outgrow It Then You Can Put Them In Your Other Tank

[Northernguy]

You Should Keep Them In The Ten Gallon And Wait Until They Outgrow It Then You Can Put Them In Your Other Tank
The 10 is too small for a fish that swims the way they do.They can kill themselves as soon as they get spooked simply by hitting the tank wall.

[cer]

Ok Just Keep Them In The 30 And Then Wait For Someone To Buy Them Or Give Them To Your Lfs

[mac]

You Should Keep Them In The Ten Gallon And Wait Until They Outgrow It Then You Can Put Them In Your Other Tank

There is no way he can keep Melanotaenia Bosemani's in a 10 gallon tank when they are around 2 inches. They are way to big. And if scared most possibly seriously hurt or kill them selves by hitting the glass.

So please don't keep your Rainbow fish in a 10 gallon till they get to big, the chances of them surveying is nil. Really you do have a problem.

Are you able to exchange the fish first, and avoid placing them in the 10 gallon???

mac