New Rainbow Tank

**Peterjay** · 06-24-2011, 06:46 PM

I’ve had my new 90-gallon (more or less NPT) tank up and running for a month or so, so I figured a few fish might do the plants some good. I plan to do all New Guinea rainbows, so the first fish I picked up were four turquoise, two male, two female. (I wanted six, but four is all the LFS had in stock)

The fish have been in there for five days or so and are doing great on Spectrum pellets and whatever algae they feel like nibbling. They’ve already colored up a lot and the males have been flashing their gold stripes, which is something I never get tired of watching. The males are about 2 1/2 inches, the females a bit smaller, so I hope they’ll grow a bit.

I’m not really happy with the plants I bought online - I’ll be getting them all locally from now on, but the ones I have in there will do for the moment. I plan to keep 15 or 16 rainbows or something like that, depending on species and size. That should be plenty for what I have in mind. After watching these guys dart around, it’s pretty obvious they won’t like being crowded too much.

**funkman262** · 06-25-2011, 01:35 PM

Beautiful fish. I'll be looking forward to seeing the tank when fully stocked.

**Peterjay** · 06-28-2011, 03:17 PM

Funkman - I agree - they're little jewels. Amazing how different they look at home compared to how they looked at the LFS. Gonna concentrate on plants for a while before I do any more stocking. BTW - if my 90 turns out half as well as yours has, I'll be a happy man.

**sallywally** · 07-29-2011, 03:36 AM

Beautiful! I bought a Turquoise a week or so ago, and it's such a treat to watch those colors change. I want more when I get my 55 gal.

**Lady Hobbs** · 07-29-2011, 06:31 AM

I've had boesemani, turquoise and Austrilain Splendida's. Didn't care for the Splendida's. They are half nuts, get larger than the others and swim like manics. Got rid of them but still have the others.

If you like bows, you should like this site. Shows photos of all of them.
http://rainbowfish.angfaqld.org.au/Contents.htm

**Kayfish** · 08-01-2011, 05:20 PM

Nice Fish Peter! I love those turquoise and totally want some now!
That's a great link Hobbs. I got a Australian Splendida and he's hillarious! I throw a veggie wafer into my tank for my Bristle Nose and he protects it from the other fish. Doesn't try to eat it. Just circles it, chasing away the others. He will even go as far as to pick it up and carry it to the the other side of the tank, without eating any of it. He's like the tank bodyguard. :) I've seen this like 3 times now. I will try and get a video of it.

**Peterjay** · 08-05-2011, 07:34 PM

Here's my dominant male in his morning colors. He's trying to impress the girls, but it doesn't seem to be working. The vegetation is beginning to fill in nicely - I like the wild and "jungly" look. The tank definitely needs more fish. Went shopping for some more rainbows last weekend, but didn't find any I liked. Guess I'll give Aquabid a shot.