# Breeding Bosemani Rainbowfish



## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

you have crystal clear water...


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## plecosword (Jul 16, 2008)

I set the tank up 2 days ago. Do they like cloudy water?


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## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

lol no it just looks great. try adding more plants maybe? i know my pair of dwarf neons do the dance once and a while by my crypts but i never see anything happen. or if anything does happen the danios probably eat it all :|


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## confuted (Jan 31, 2007)

plecosword said:


> I set the tank up 2 days ago. Do they like cloudy water?


Is the tank cycled?


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## MikeS (Apr 27, 2008)

confuted said:


> Is the tank cycled?


Ditto


They both look like they are juveniles, so it is hard differentiate between the sexes. Not sure when they start to breed. Mine didn't start any courting or other weird behavior until they will larger, and more developed. Mine looked like yours for a while before turning into this:


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## plecosword (Jul 16, 2008)

Thanks for the replies. I believed for a second that murky water makes it more romantic for them lol. I think it will work out if the male plays along again. what are the ideal paramed for them?
and yes it pretty much cycles, used water form my 55g display. 
btw, baby tear drops, I had a pot and it died away. I think I dont have the right substrate.


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## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

theres hardly any beneficial bacteria in the water column.. you shuold probably move them back to their main tank. 

also i read up some info online. always check there before posting here, yields faster results 99.9% of the time.. 

Seperate the sexes into dimly lit planted tanks. condition them with live and frozen food. raise the temp to a bit more tropical. say 78-80. when you see the female plump with eggs put the two together, add either a mop or ALOT of moss. they spawn on top of that. theres a debate whether or not to remove the parents but it seems best to do so.


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## plecosword (Jul 16, 2008)

Thanks, I have found pretty little on breeding them.


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## SearunSimpson (Jun 5, 2007)

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4ADBR_enCA231CA234&q=breeding+rainbowfish

try that


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## plecosword (Jul 16, 2008)

Ha thanks, and yeah I searched those eact words. so im going to move the female back the the main tank and keep the male here in the 10g. I should probably get another java moss ball.


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## plecosword (Jul 16, 2008)

chris127 said:


> lol no it just looks great. try adding more plants maybe? i know my pair of dwarf neons do the dance once and a while by my crypts but i never see anything happen. or if anything does happen the danios probably eat it all :|


 I had Danies lay eggs before. I had alot of plastic plants i the tank. the eggs hatched but I didnt have any food small enough.


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## Juicetin (Oct 13, 2008)

*Major problem*

I think the main problem you are going to face is the fact that you are trying to breed two male rainbows. NOW if they are gay rainbows that are planning to adopt they might have luck but otherwise :icon_eek:, they're just going to sparr like that forever... male bosemani are half yellow and the front turns blue when displaying... and male rainbowfish grow vertically like that... females bosemani just have bits of pale coloring all over. its really clear when you see them next to each other...

TRUST ME!
-Juicetin ANGFA Victoria


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## seAdams (Jun 2, 2008)

> yes it pretty much cycles, used water form my 55g display.


That's not how to cycle a tank. Did you use anything else from your 55?

What are your readings - Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?



> I think the main problem you are going to face is the fact that you are trying to breed two male rainbows.


That would certainly make breeding more difficult!:eek5:


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## plecosword (Jul 16, 2008)

ammonia 0
nitrates 0
nitrite 0

ph 6.5 (I have'nt tested that lately

I used a lot of the gravel and plants from the 55g.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

try doing a water change with water that is 3 degrees higher then the tank water or so. just to give few hours of warmer tank temps. this is what triggered my boesemanis to spawn a few times. i kept them in my 20L for a while before they grew too big and they spawned almost weekly. i can check my records for the perameters at the time i had them if you want.


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## blang (Jul 10, 2005)

It sure does look like you have two males. My male is twice as wide as my female and they are full grown. The female has no bright colors, just the male. I have two male red rainbows and they act the same way as your fish do in the video.


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## plecosword (Jul 16, 2008)

well I guess they are both males then. the larger one has been getting in fights with my longfin swordtail! 

so when I go to a LFS, rainbowfish are usually smaller, what should i look for?


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## blang (Jul 10, 2005)

I am no expert but if they have any sort of coloring at the back end, they are probably a male. If they are real young, you probably won't be able to tell the difference. The females are slenderer and are a light silver with just a hint of yellow/green. They are not flashy at all. I will try to take a picture of mine.


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

Finding female rainbow fish in a LFS is nearly impossible. Stores don't carry them because they have nearly zero coloration (thus not very flashy for sales purposes).

You need to try and find a local breeder or fish club to track down a female, unless you can ask by special request from a LFS to order a few for you.

Good luck.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

absolutely fish near me had a good mix of both. my female was a dull yellow throught the whole body.
here is a pic:


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## plecosword (Jul 16, 2008)

@[email protected] said:


> absolutely fish near me had a good mix of both. my female was a dull yellow throught the whole body.
> here is a pic:


 My LFS has about 10 of them left right now. they are exacly the size as the one in the pic. mine are much bigger but not full adults.
with all the comments, Im convinced I have a male and female again.

the video does not show their true color at all*
so I will try to get a pic of both to compare. I moved the tank so the 2 rainbows are back in the display.

also I picked this pair in petco. they were much larger and I was choising by color. I had read that males have an orange color with greenish front. females are paler and almost no color in the tail. females seem to be much common than males.


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

plecosword said:


> also I picked this pair in petco. they were much larger and I was choising by color. I had read that males have an orange color with greenish front. females are paler and almost no color in the tail. females seem to be much common than males.


Thats a first. Are you absolutly sure they are Bosemani??? There are alot of rainbows that are just naturally pale as well.

I have never heard of females "being common" in fish stores. Especially at a Petco.

I hope your right and are successful!! Good luck with it!


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## blang (Jul 10, 2005)

Young male and female rainbows will look the same. The male's body type is totally different as they grow. I remember trying to pick out a red male to go with my female at home. Four months later, I realized I had two red male rainbows.

Although I didn't get mine from Petco, I did purchase my bosemani from a pet store. They too had lots of females mixed in with the males.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

I know approximately nothing about Rainbows, BUT I do know a bit about breeding fish and I would recommend, once you're sure you have a female, that you leave the female in the separate tank to build up a store of eggs in her nice cozy little home with no one to bother her, and then put in the male when she looks nice and plump with eggs. At least that's what's worked for me in the past, but like I said, I have no experience with ranibows of any kind so perhaps they work differently. But if you do have 2 males and are needing to find a female, you don't want the male and female in a tank together while you're trying to condition her to mate with the other male, because the one she's in with could entice her to drop eggs that might just get eaten by the other fish in the tank. 

I hope that makes sense. The gist is that it's usually the female you need to condition and get plumped up with eggs in a separate tank.


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## plecosword (Jul 16, 2008)

thanks, I think of these rainbows as sub adults, they are not fullly adults.
I was fullt convinced I have a male and a Female, they have many differences and the one I think is the female is deffinatly plumer. I got pics! :

here is the on I think is a female:


















and the one I think is the male, the female grew larger than him. he has a grenish, yellow orange on the front with a darker orange on the tail. note how the male has coloring on the tail unlike the female. 



















Now do I really have 2 males?


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

can't answer the sexing question, but those are fantastic pics!


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## plecosword (Jul 16, 2008)

Karackle said:


> can't answer the sexing question, but those are fantastic pics!


 Thanks:biggrin:


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

you're welcome!


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## blang (Jul 10, 2005)

If I had to guess, I would say they are both males. When you have two males, the dominate fish will have brighter colors than the other. I have the same situation with my Red Rainbows that sometimes the one male has very dull colors while the other is bright red. You are probably going to have to wait a several months until you can tell for sure. Good luck.


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## plecosword (Jul 16, 2008)

these are not red rainbows! and the dominant one is definatly the female, the one with less color. I seperated her into the 10g, I will see if she gets plump. also seperated her because she would not stop fighting with my algae eater and swordtail.


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## fishsandwitch (Apr 20, 2008)

most likely 2 males, and not even of breeding age...

a 10 gallon is too small for a bosemani rainbow! I would really rethink your breeding strategy.


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## blang (Jul 10, 2005)

Pleco, I was just giving you an example of what I experienced with my red rainbows. I was just trying to show you how difficult it is to tell whether your fish are male or female when they are young, that's all. I know you don't have red rainbows. :icon_roll


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

yeah both males. definately. they arent fully mature yet, but i have never seen a female with such bright coloration. too bright gold. and too round-bodied, my boesemani female was more streamlined then my male.


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## plecosword (Jul 16, 2008)

blang said:


> Pleco, I was just giving you an example of what I experienced with my red rainbows. I was just trying to show you how difficult it is to tell whether your fish are male or female when they are young, that's all. I know you don't have red rainbows. :icon_roll


 haha im sorry, I have just heard it a few times and red rainbows are different. btw do they grow larger than bosemani? my LFS had large ones and they were pretty expensive.



@[email protected] said:


> yeah both males. definately. they arent fully mature yet, but i have never seen a female with such bright coloration. too bright gold. and too round-bodied, my boesemani female was more streamlined then my male.


nooo! It can't be 2 males! They have so many differences. both males or not, I think I will get another rainbow or 2. will there be any problem adding more rainbows in a tank were larger rainbows are?


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

i think the reds grow an inch bigger.

post a pic of both then. but im telling you, that looked like a male.
idk, i have heard of some aggresion if you have both genders, but more males then females.


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## SpeedEuphoria (Aug 5, 2008)

I dont see much blue color in your "bosemani rainbows" which is interesting

I recently have gotten 6, in my 55G, they are smaller but change colors alot during the day, everyday seems at random.

I have 4(think males?), even though 2-3 are smaller, they still have blue on the front 1/2. The other 2 are normally paler but today these 2(ones i think are female) were darker blue/green all the way through. The ones I believe to be female do Not have a goldish tail section.

Also I guess these 2 of mine could be also turquoise rainbows? as the seller(on aquabid) sells those also. 

I really dont care and plan on letting them grow up more to make a more thorough determination.

BTW they are great fish, and active especially when fed. They could care less about my RCS/Oto's/Small Angel


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## plecosword (Jul 16, 2008)

SpeedEuphoria said:


> I dont see much blue color in your "bosemani rainbows" which is interesting
> 
> I recently have gotten 6, in my 55G, they are smaller but change colors alot during the day, everyday seems at random.
> 
> ...


Yeah I had turquise rainbows a while ago, both were the same gender for sure though.


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## plecosword (Jul 16, 2008)

I got a new Rainbow! I was lucky to find one the same size if not larger. This one has to be a female, she has a lot of gray to her. both of the rainbows have been after her but intstead of swiming across in oposite directions, they get close to each other and shake.










I also got a pair of these!, koi swordtails. as usual they were sick, but I saved one.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

yep that is a female. and eventually you will see them get together and shake and then they will mate like that, vibrating together.


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## plecosword (Jul 16, 2008)

@[email protected] said:


> yep that is a female. and eventually you will see them get together and shake and then they will mate like that, vibrating together.


 yes! thats great. So in a few weeks I will move the female to the 10g and let her get plum. then I will move one of the males with her.


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