Rainbow fishes

[ms]

Hi,
I have a 4ft planted tank consisting mainly Cardinals - about 40 of them. I am considering keeping some Rainbow fishes.

Anybody there with experience keeping Rainbow fishes? How many should I keep? Are they demanding? i.e. ultra clean water, temp., special food?
I now change 25% of water in my tank about once every 3 wks.

Saw some really nice colored ones in the few websites, anyone have any other suggestions?

Thanks.

MS

[Giant]

Try the dwarf type.
Have seen them swim together a few times in my dad's tank.

Should be ok to keep with tetras.
But not a good idea if you have shrimps, i think.

[ms]

OK, then its a No, No. Because I have shrimps......
It's a pity through, because I noticed that they have quite a variety with bright colors and unique shapes.

MS

[Giant]

Well ms,

That's just my observation.
Have a friend who told me that rainbow eat shrimps.
While I have not personally seen them actually eat shrimps.

Since my dad added his dwarf rainbow, the malayan shrimps he had (which was quite a number of them) all seemed to go missing.
No other fishes were added after them.

So I would suspect, they do eat them, unless someone else can shed some light.

[Cacatuoides]

i have seen rainbow fishes attach my shrimps n ate them up....so beware! hehe

[stormhawk]

Do not keep the dwarf rainbowfish Melanotaenia praecox, unless you're willing to have a fast moving bully in the tank. It will eat smaller animals like shrimps and will not hesitate to bully other fish in the tank. They are very big feeders and will eat alot of food even before the other fish get near. I had two last time and they terrorised my tank inhabitants.

Most rainbowfishes need salt in their water to keep them healthy since some come from estuarine habitats. Read up more on their needs online. Do a search on Google, you'll find plenty of info.

[StanChung]

there's Popondetta furcata and it's plainer cousin.[rainbow fish rite?] but not the other rainbows. chomp chomp. the dwarf neon rainbow is nice but when they grow bigger than 1.75 in er...