rainbow fish

[martin day]

ive just brought a fig 8 hes in with two mollys they are being bullys and very skittish i dont want the behaviour t rub off on my puffer i would like to keep 2 rainbow fish insead im not sure what there called but half is yellow and the other blue would they live in a brakish tank

[Peregrine]

Back half yellow (orange) , front half blue....
Boesmani Rainbowfish...The fish appreciate some salt...I dont know if F8 level brackish water is what is intended by that...but I keep some in with mine at a SG of 1.005 (I dont think I would go higher than that). But I have seen no signs of environmental stress since they have been in those conditions. Drip acclimate them slowly over several hours...if you get them at a LFS. it is likely they were kept in FW...I got mine from an LFS with a brackish section...but even there, I doubt it was over 1.002.

Personality wise, they see to get on ok...initially a couple of nipped fins...but the aussie are fast enough to get out of the way. My only concern would be, the aussies sudden fast movements may unsettle the puffers...by mine see to take no notice of it now...

[manutius]

Wow I'd never have tought Rainbows tolerate salt . Ive had my oldest bosemai, though she passed away today , for 4 years in fresh. How long have you had yours Peregrine?

[Peregrine]

The boesmani's, only for 6 months, so the jury is still out on if it will be a success or not.

[manutius]

I was pretty sure that they are striclty FW, do they display great colours? or are they fairly washed out out of interest?

Personally Martin I would not get these fish for your tank

[Peregrine]

They are not washed out...I believe they are still young, and female, so their colors are not as vibrant as most images you see...Their sleep colors are much more intense, than their day colors.

What source do you draw your conclusions from?

EDIT:
(not meaning to be argumentative)

(IMHO) : A SG of 1.005 is barely brackish...at such a low level the salinity is less of a factor than the hardness and alkalinity, Marine mix facilitates that.
Rainbows in general are hardy...I have seen Bosemani in Brackish tanks..FW tanks (even with Discus). I am neither promoting the idea or disclaiming it...I am merely stating what I have done, and how I would do it. I leave the choice to the individual...

[manutius]

Hey no bother I wouldn't have taken that as argumentative I agree that rainbows are very hardy and fairly adaptive, most of the info I have seen on bosemani states they are FW, but fish can't read these statements so if they are healthy then thats all that counts I suppose

[crazy loaches]

(IMHO) : A SG of 1.005 is barely brackish...

That might be somewhat true but take about 75% or more of the freshwater plants out there and put em in 1.005 and watch them quickly die. Just another way to look at it. Another thing to look at is simply because the fish is hardy doesnt mean we should put it in an improper environment, though I really have no idea about rainbowfish and salt, it could be ok, just making a few points.

[Pufferpunk]

Although there are some BW species of rainbows, Bosmani rainbows are FW fish. I don't consider a cup of salt/5gal to be a small amount. They also grow quite large. Mollies can be bullies. If so, then they need to be removed.

[Myaj]

Most rainbowfish are freshwater, but some of the smaller species actually do well in low brackish levels. Threadfins and/or celebes I believe, you'd have to double check. I'm pretty sure its the celebes, which are more and more common.

What size tank is it? Bosemani's also get pretty darn large and are very active fish, you'd need a big tank for them. So I'd avoid that type, personally, between size and water requirements.

Even with the celebes though, I'd be worried about nipped fins. They are kind of "dumb" fish that don't really worry about territories or aggression, so a puffer might completely destroy them.

[Peregrine]

I may have been mis-informed...or over generalized what I have read.

Quote from WWM article : http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/rainbows.htm

"About Brackish Rainbows:

Most notably the Celebes (Marosatherina (Telmatherina) ladigesi), Madagascar (Bedotia geayi), Red New Guinea (Glossolepis incisus) and many of the Rainbows of the genus Melanotaenia (e.g. the Queensland, M. maccullochi and Australian, M. fluviatilis) do much better with a modicum of salt (spg of 1.005) in their water, though they can live in straight freshwater. "


The profile on the boesemani neither states FW or BW (as some of the other do)...and the examples they give for the Genus: Melanotaenia (of which boesemani's are part of)...are not profiled for comparison purposes. So I may have mis-interpeted it, AND overgeneralized. That, and given I got them from a brackish section of my LFS...may have contributed to my decision to attempt this...

As for my statement of 1.005 being "barely brackish"...it may not be the most appropriate phrasing, but when looking at BW as a spectrum of values from 1.000 to 1.018, you cant get much lower brackish, and still be considered brackish.
I also take a "modicum of salt" to mean a small amount..especially when speaking in-terms of SG and not absolute salinity.

I am not trying to be argumentative, and as previously mentioned...I am not promoting it or saying it is impossible. Heck, I am not really even defending my choice...just clairifying. There are many other factors that should affect ones decision as well (tank size, configuration, flow, individual aggression ect...). This is merely some information that influenced my decision

[Pufferpunk]

I also take a "modicum of salt" to mean a small amount..especially when speaking in-terms of SG and not absolute salinity.

To me, that would mean, at the most, 1tbsp aquarium salt/5g.

[Peregrine]

I am not disagreeing that 1tbsp/5gal would be a modicum of salt...it was the author of the article that tied that word to 1.005sg...not myself. I am not sure who exactly wrote that article...but would assume he/she is more fish/tank savvy than myself...and as WWM is a relatively trustworthy site...I would, at the time, have seen no reason not to trust the information it presented.

[Myaj]

I would think if the author gave a specific gravity, they meant a specific gravity.

I still hesitate to say they are all brackish, some of the species for sure, but now you have me wondering.. Maybe I'll move a few of "the boys" over to low brackish one of these days.

[crazy loaches]

I cant say one way or another, but dont take one article for fact. There is a ton of misinformation everywhere, I would definately look into it more. For example, some rainbowfish specific places would be better, take a look here http://bowheads.org/forums/showthread.p ... t=brackish at bowheads.org, the Roan gal is quite knowledgable and I've talked with her on some other forums. Also take a look at rainbowfish.info http://www.rainbowfish.info/viewtopic.p ... t+brackish