Can you mix rainbows?

[LIrunaway]

I always thought you could mix rainbows. I've had Dwarf Neon Blue rainbows for years in my 70g corner bow. My Mom gave me some guppies and I haven't seen the rainbows as much as the guppies multiply. The weekend before last I bought some Austrailian Rainbows because they were available and wanted to see more than guppies. Last night I lost all my Neon Blue Rainbows and some guppies. I have other suspicions where I have done wrong, but still question this before I buy more.

All I'm really looking to know is the compatability of the rainbows. I know my fishkeeping practice has been bad to say the least after losing interest years ago. No need to talk about my parameters.

Thank you in advance.

[MCHRKiller]

Various species of rainbows are compatible. However you should have utilized a quarantine tank, it seems you have probably introduced some sort of pathogen with the new fish. What symptoms did the deceased have prior to death?

[Lady Hobbs]

Losing that many fish, I suspect you have not cycled your tank. You should not be adding more fish to the tank right now if it's not cycled. (Cycling links in my signature)

The two dead links you added to your post went no where so they served no purpose and were removed.

[Stlouisfish]

I always thought you could mix rainbows. I've had Dwarf Neon Blue rainbows for years in my 70g corner bow. My Mom gave me some guppies and I haven't seen the rainbows as much as the guppies multiply. The weekend before last I bought some Austrailian Rainbows because they were available and wanted to see more than guppies. Last night I lost all my Neon Blue Rainbows and some guppies. I have other suspicions where I have done wrong, but still question this before I buy more.

All I'm really looking to know is the compatability of the rainbows. I know my fishkeeping practice has been bad to say the least after losing interest years ago. No need to talk about my parameters.

Thank you in advance.
You are right to question before adding more!

Why no need to talk about your parameters? That either means they are good so the fish deaths don't make sense, or your tank isn't ready to house any new fish at this time due to parameters not being monitored or appropriate at this point.

[Indian Woods Angels]

Bows are very high oxygen fish. You need a lot of water motion in the tank to prevent bacterial problems in the fish. You also need to use veggie type foods for most of them. Some are aggressive some are not. Interbreeding between species is frowned upon.

I have M Parva, M Kamake, M trifasciata goyder, M Bosemani German strain, G. wannamensis, and Oryzias woware ( daisy's rice fish). Have bred them all.

[Michael W]

Bows are very high oxygen fish. You need a lot of water motion in the tank to prevent bacterial problems in the fish. You also need to use veggie type foods for most of them. Some are aggressive some are not. Interbreeding between species is frowned upon.

I have M Parva, M Kamake, M trifasciata goyder, M Bosemani German strain, G. wannamensis, and Oryzias woware ( daisy's rice fish). Have bred them all.

+1 to the high water motion, my friends also keep Bows and all their tanks have power heads making the flow massive and I find that the bows liked to ride the current.

[hydra01]

you can mix Rainbows, but it is discoruaged because of hybridizing and effectively erasing entire species and forms. It's important to keep species distinct. Otherwise it beomes the whole platy/swordtail mess complex and creates a bottleneck in genepools. It wouldn't be a problem if Rainbows were aquacultured, but most of them still aren't.

[escamosa]

Bows are very high oxygen fish. You need a lot of water motion in the tank to prevent bacterial problems in the fish. You also need to use veggie type foods for most of them. Some are aggressive some are not. Interbreeding between species is frowned upon.

I have M Parva, M Kamake, M trifasciata goyder, M Bosemani German strain, G. wannamensis, and Oryzias woware ( daisy's rice fish). Have bred them all.

This depends on what kind of Rainbows you get. When you start looking to mix different kinds of Rainbows together, you really have to do some research to see exactly where they come from, and what environment they come from. Some Rainbows come from running water environments, so a good strong current is advisable. But some Rainbows come from lakes, and parts of rivers that have very minimal current.

[Indian Woods Angels]

This depends on what kind of Rainbows you get. When you start looking to mix different kinds of Rainbows together, you really have to do some research to see exactly where they come from, and what environment they come from. Some Rainbows come from running water environments, so a good strong current is advisable. But some Rainbows come from lakes, and parts of rivers that have very minimal current.

They are susceptible to mycobacteriosis. Fish TB. The top surface of a bow tank should be agitated to prevent the layer of protein film that develops on the surface of their aquarium. Surfactant layer. This disease most readily attacks their liver, kidneys and their fat reserves. By agitating the water surface you take away the ideal environment for this disease to take hold. If you see a film on your bow tanks water you must act to keep it from happening. All species.

[escamosa]

Yeah, fish TB does pop up from time to time, but i think it's getting to be more of a rare occurance. Personally, I have never seen a fish with it over here, in Australia. Not saying that it doesn't happen though.

As far as agitating the surface of Rainbow tanks is concerned, I totally agree with you. Really 95% of any type of tanks should have some kind of surface agitation to allow for gas exchange and such. But you still have to be careful about HOW MUCH agitation/current you introduce to the tank, depending on what kind of Rainbows you choose. If I were to buy myself some Turquoise Rainbows or Crimson Spotted Rainbows then the current would be minimal to none at all. There's not to many Lakes, Billabongs and still muddy dams or ponds - which both of those types of Rainbows come from - that have a current.

[Indian Woods Angels]

Most of the recent bow types are being brought in from PNG (Papua New Guinea). Sadly it is very difficult to obtain them because they are almost immediately endangered. We find that if we do not provide something to break the surface and allow bacteria to grow in the top layer of water that they develop a strange disease in which they whiten or fade and plump up.

[Lady Hobbs]

We're still answering the OP and he hasn't been here since May when he wrote that post.

[escamosa]

Most of the recent bow types are being brought in from PNG (Papua New Guinea). Sadly it is very difficult to obtain them because they are almost immediately endangered. We find that if we do not provide something to break the surface and allow bacteria to grow in the top layer of water that they develop a strange disease in which they whiten or fade and plump up.

I'm wondering if that disease is something that has been bred into them through being in captivity. Or maybe the water is just a completely different condition for them to be in, compared to over here, in Australia. They're beautiful little fish, and it's such a shame for them to struggle like that, once they're taken away from a natural environment.

[Indian Woods Angels]

They seem to be very prone to environmental conditions. The colors are not quite the same after only a very few generations and so an emphasis is placed upon wild or recently imported specimens. Sort of the same with local area types of angels from the various rivers, they tend to change into different specimens from the wild.

Fascinating little fish and hopefully they will survive the pressures being placed upon their environments as I understand that PNG is under heavy development. Very possible they have picked up on something, although in general most bow species are not brought into the traditional distribution cycle here, they are passed via home breeders.

[Lady Hobbs]

I had the Australian, turquoise and boesemani. I could not stand the Australian. They were large, fast, aggressive and since I had a spawn of them, also had too many of them. I also had a 55 gallon which is too small for these fast swimming fish. I spent the better part of one summer shipping them out here until they were gone.

The turquoise arrived with Velvet that was treated easily enough. Probably of the 3 species I had, I like the boesemani the best. If you stock only males, you will have more color and not so much frantic swimming but they really belong in long tanks. I would not encourage anyone with 55 gallons to keep bows unless they were the smaller species.

I still have 3 in my 55 and they are the dominate in the tank. Not bossy......dominate in space. Each of my species stuck to their own. They did not mingle together. My turqoise is a female and my remaining two boesemani are males. They show zero interest in the female.