Male rainbow harassing juvenile female

[Potluck]

My red irani will not stop chasing and shimmering to one of my juvenile females/males (assuming trying to get her to spawn but she's literally only 1" long and I can't even sex the fish yet so I dint even know if the fish is a female) , I'm just assuming it's a female anyways, his head gets super neon orange chases her/him all over and shimmies violently when he gets him/her cornered, he doesn't hurt the other fish but im worried about him stressing the juvenile out and possibly causing it to die, I've never seen this before but this is rediculous he will not stop, he/she doesn't seem to be bothered except swimming fast away from him, can i do anything to stop him from doing this?

[V227]

Rick
Might consider adding one or two female Iranis. I know they are kind of bland looking but it might help.

[ZxC]

My rainbows would always do this, made it so adding any new fish smaller than some of the males was basically impossible. Any new livestock, regardless of species, would hide in behind plants for weeks until the existing rainbows got used to them. Only solution was getting stock the same size or bigger than the dominant male. More females might help, but the small ones will always get picked on, usually end up hiding stressed out and living out a poor life until they pass. Just my experience anyway, part of the reason I got out of keeping rainbows. If you don't have plants you could keep the lights off for a while, maybe reduce stress on the little one

[Potluck]

Originally Posted by V227

Rick
Might consider adding one or two female Iranis. I know they are kind of bland looking but it might help.

I don't think it would matter as every fish I would get would be way way smaller than the one I have unless I found a couple that were older it's odd he only chases flashes to my parva, she's beautiful so I get it lol, but I don't know if it's a female but I'm assuming it is our he wouldn't be doing this right?

Originally Posted by ZxC

My rainbows would always do this, made it so adding any new fish smaller than some of the males was basically impossible. Any new livestock, regardless of species, would hide in behind plants for weeks until the existing rainbows got used to them. Only solution was getting stock the same size or bigger than the dominant male. More females might help, but the small ones will always get picked on, usually end up hiding stressed out and living out a poor life until they pass. Just my experience anyway, part of the reason I got out of keeping rainbows. If you don't have plants you could keep the lights off for a while, maybe reduce stress on the little one

I believe I have 1:1 ratio male to female but I can't really tell because they are so small, my boseman chases the irani red if he gets to out of hand because he's the boss of the tank, my tank is planted lightly will be adding taller plants soon, I will take a video of him and the parva, when he does this I do turn the lunars on so he chills out, the only alternative I can think of because I can't find any bigger bows is isolating the irani till the others get bigger but that wouldn't be fair to him he's only doing what they would do in nature.

[V227]

I kept several different varieties of Rainbows, including Iranis, in a 65 gallon. I remember that the males chased the females relentlessly in the morning, but slacked off in the afternoon. No fatalities ever came from it.

[Potluck]

Originally Posted by V227

I kept several different varieties of Rainbows, including Iranis, in a 65 gallon. I remember that the males chased the females relentlessly in the morning, but slacked off in the afternoon. No fatalities ever came from it.

Okay I'm just getting frustrated because no male should ever pester a female like he does lmfao jk, on a serious note though he really only does it after feeding time or a water change she just swims in and out of areas he can't fit through then he stops but as soon as he sees her again its back on ugh, fish needs a hobby lol

[ZxC]

Originally Posted by Potluck

Okay I'm just getting frustrated because no male should ever pester a female like he does lmfao jk, on a serious note though he really only does it after feeding time or a water change she just swims in and out of areas he can't fit through then he stops but as soon as he sees her again its back on ugh, fish needs a hobby lol

Like I said, it's basically what they do lol. I also kept mine in a 65 gal, and the most I witnessed them doing that was when I turned the lights on and after water changes. It's just their instinct, and you my lucky friend, have gotten yourself a frisky male. I guess you will have to keep an eye on him and the fish he is harassing, I found the more rainbows I added, the more of this behaviour I was seeing. But, the more rainbows I added, the less harassing I would see on other tank mates like tetras and Denison barbs. (I only added rainbows the same size or bigger than the dominant male)