Rainbow question need help?

[Eileen]

I found someone on craigslist that has over 100 1 inch baby Praecox Rainbows. She is asking $1 for each of them. My question is can 1 be kept with my other community tank fish. I have 6 Harlequen Rasboras, 7 Glow-Light tetras, 2 corys, 2 otos, 1 mystery snail, 1 blk. balloon molly, 1 gold dust molly with 10 1 week old fry she was pregnate when I bought her a Petco. The day after I got her she had the babies. I checked to see if the Rainbow would get along with the fish I have and the list had all my fish except the Mystery snail. She e-mailed me and said that they are schooling fish and 10 would be the minimum but 3 would be ok. I just wanted 1 big fish in my 55. gal. tank. My husband does not want to over crowd the tank. I plan on keeping some of the baby mollies. If 1 is not ok. I will get 3. Would 3 males be ok? Or would 3 females be ok? I don't want both sexes as I do not want a bunch of babies to over crowd the tank. Any help to the question would be great.

[Wild Turkey]

If it were me i would grab a few more corys, they want 5+ as they are a shoaling fish. Then i would hold off on any additions, especially since you have new fry. Your hubby is right, you dont wanna overstock the tank.

But if you decide to add them it could work. They are peaceful and i dont see why they would bother the mystery considering they dont get much bigger than 2", and the mystery will get around that size too. I dont know if 2" is considered a big fish though, maybe she misindentified the species? In that case i wouldnt buy from her.

[Eileen]

Thanks for reply back. I think they get to be 2-3 inches. I checked the thread on rainbows. I was thinking of getting 1 honey gourami for my tank. I need something to keep the fry population down. I know that the mollys can have 8 litters every 28 days without a male because they store sperm from the males.

[mac]

I found someone on craigslist that has over 100 1 inch baby Praecox Rainbows. She is asking $1 for each of them.

Man that is a bargain. It cost $15.00 each in New Zealand.


My question is can 1 be kept with my other community tank fish.

These Rainbow fish require a group of 5-6 fish. But you will need to take not that normally people keep them in a 1 male to 2 females. The males can get quite bossy with the females. I would do 3 males 3 females.


I have 6 Harlequen Rasboras, 7 Glow-Light tetras, 2 corys, 2 otos, 1 mystery snail, 1 blk. balloon molly, 1 gold dust molly with 10 1 week old fry she was pregnate when I bought her a Petco. The day after I got her she had the babies. I checked to see if the Rainbow would get along with the fish I have and the list had all my fish except the Mystery snail. She e-mailed me and said that they are schooling fish and 10 would be the minimum but 3 would be ok. I just wanted 1 big fish in my 55. gal. tank. My husband does not want to over crowd the tank. I plan on keeping some of the baby mollies.

These fish only grow to about 5 cm. So they are not very big at all.

With you tank stocking I would add some more Corys. to your tank. But keep to the species you have.


If 1 is not ok. I will get 3. Would 3 males be ok? Or would 3 females be ok? I don't want both sexes as I do not want a bunch of babies to over crowd the tank. Any help to the question would be great.

No you need more than one. But the chances of any fry from these fish surveying passing the stage of hatching from the eggs with Corys around is next to nil. So you will not have any problems with the fish over stocking your tank with young.

Cheers,
mac

[Eileen]

So if I got only 3 what should I get. 1 male, 2 females? I have the 2 groups of schooling fish already. It's funny because I was told on this site that 2 different groups of schooling fish would not school together. I have the Harleqen Rasboras and the Glow- light tetras and they school together in one big group in the tank. I was thinking the the Rainbows might school with the Rasboras. I was thinking of 2 more corys. I had 3 panda corys but 2 died and now I only have 1 panda and a peppered cory they pal around together it's really cute. So if the Rainbow layed eggs the corys would eat them. I just don't want alot of baby fish in my 55. gal. tank. I like to keep it under stocked with fish. The lady on Craigslist is from San Diego California. She says she has 100 or more of the babies that were born in Aug. about 1" big now. I asked how much they were and she said $1 each or what I can afford. I saw Rainbow fish at the LFS for about $12 or $15 each. I thought she was selling them cheap also. Sometimes when you have to many you can get some fish for free on Craigslist. I check every now and then. You don't want to over load you tank with to many baby fish.

[mac]

Hi,
Yes you can get 1 male 2 females alright.

And as for breeding you wont have any problems. Not only will the Corys eat the eggs, but the other fish would eat the Rainbow fry. So you are totally fine.

I would try and get more. Or just get males as they are more colorful. You could get 3 or more males. But you do have to have more males. They get a bit push from time to time. But please to try and keep at least 5 of the males. They are fun to watch and keep. Mine have given me years of pleasure.


mac

[Lady Hobbs]

Hardly worth the bother to pay to ship just one. They are schooling fish. If you get three, you will not have babies. They eat the eggs as soon as they lay them so to have babies, you'd have to separate them into another tank and remove them as soon as they spawned.

[LORENZO]

my three rainbows were too saucy lady HObbs so i brought them back today but kept one.