Rainbow fish shoaling?

deman3

Will different Rainbow fish species stay together or should you have 5 of each species? I currently have 3 and the profile says I need 2 more for them to be happy. I think they are Boesmans but I am not sure as I bought them on the cheap from an assorted tank at the LFS. They are all getting the same coloration so I think I got lucky when he chose three out of the tank.

bettababy

Based on the description of your 55 gallon tank in your signature, I would say that tank is pretty full as it is. There should be no reason to add more rainbows if it means over stocking your tank. 5 is not a mandatory number and rainbows are not as sensitive to school numbers as something like neons or cardinal tetras would be.
If you'd like help with ID'ing your rainbows please post a few clear pictures of them. There are plenty of people here who should be able to help with that.

deman3

I am moving all the mollies to the 29 and 3 cories over, there were 4 bronze but i found 1 dead on the last water change, looked like he had been eaten and was under a decoration. Either way I hadnt planned on getting anything but maybe moving stuff around to make room for them, I have an empty 10 gallon if needed. I just wanted to make sure not having 5 would not be detrimental to the 3 that were in there.

GwenInNM

I started out with 3 dwarf rainbows and they did some chasing until I got 2 more females. I know I have one male, but it's possible I have 2 and since I have 5 things are fantastic.

Gwen

Jakiebabie

Gwen the /Dwarf females have yellow fins and the males have red fins. I have 2 f and 1 m only cause that was all the store had. Hope to get more. As for my Lake Kutubu Rainbowfish... see my Avatar... I had One very large one, added two more much smaller and very bad fins but the large one did not harm or harass the little ones. In fact it is quite friendly and no worse for wear for having been on its own. Must be a girl. lol. Not sure how to tell the sex of LKrainbowfish. Want 3 more of them too. The bad fins have grown in nicely and they two youngsters are doing well.
Boesman's are yellow and green aren't they? Are yours yellow and green?
I love Rainbowfish.

deman3

Here are a couple pictures to I.D. them. This is only two of the fish, the third is quarantine for a wound on his side. He looks the same as the larger one of these two.

Attached Images

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	bath&fish3-23-2011 065.JPG (35.7 KB, 32 views)

Jakiebabie

here is a link to a Rainbowfish site... lots of species to have a look at. I'm on a very slow pc tonight so I'll let you do the searching. Does not look like Boeseman to me.

Melanotaeniidae and Pseudomugilidae

LasColinasCichlids

Looks kinda like Austrailians...?

Andarial

Those are Cairns rainbow fish I have one myself the males are rounder and the females are thinnner when looking at them from the side

jaysee

Yes, different species of rainbows will often school together. Not all the time, but often. I keep 4 species together in a 90 gallon - dwarf neons(8), boesmani(4), yellow(4) and turquise(4). The smaller groups will break away and do their own thing and meet back up with the others

I have to disagree about a couple of things. First, I think there MAY be room for more rainbows, and that would depend on a few factors such as filtration and maintenance.

Rainbows have an extremely high schooling drive, moreso than any other fish I've kept. I agree that they are not as sensitive to not being in a school as other fish are, but I don't see how that justifies NOT keeping them in a proper school size. They are one of the few true "schooling" fish in the trade, in that most fish "shoal" because they have no where to go. Rainbows always have somewhere to go - wherever they aren't.