Rainbowfish Sex Ratios

[bflem]

I am completing the stocking of my 125 gallon planted aquarium. I purchased 5 dwarf neon rainbowfish and 4 red rainbowfish on Saturday. After doing more research I realized I should keep at least 5 of each. I do not plan on breeding the fish. I would like them to mature into healthy colorful fish. How important is the ratio of males to females? I think I have 2 males : 3 females of the dwarf neons and 2 males : 2 females of the reds.

Thanks

 

[2xEcho]

Usually rainbowfish are recommended to be kept in groups of at least 6+, preferably 7+ in order to keep them happy and allow for a school to form.
I have 7 bosemani rainbows and currently 4 dwarf neon rainbows (I had 7, but one died 2 days after getting him and the other 2 died at the start of an ick outbreak I'm planning on getting another 4 in the near future to keep their numbers up. With the 4 dwarf neons I have 2 males 2 females, and bosemani rainbows (as best I can tell - they are similar looking as juveniles) are 3 males and 4 females.

Here's a helpful link that has recommendations for male/female ratio: Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish, Melanotaenia praecox, Neon Rainbowfish
Basically 1:1 for 6 total, 3 males 4 females for 7, 3 males 5 females for 8, 4 males 5 females for 9, then 5 and 5 for a total of 10.
It looks to be about the same for most species of rainbow fish.

Hope this helps!

 

[bflem]

I saw that page and that is why I asked. I guess I will have to get a couple more fish then. I'm getting really close to my stocking limit as per aqadvisor. If I get one more neon and two more reds that puts me at approximately 96% stocked. My unknown number of constantly reproducing cory cats kind of messes with my stocking.

 

[2xEcho]

Sounds good. I think the aqadvisor tool is really helpful, but it does have some limitations. Which type of red rainbowfish do you have? The red irian rainbowfish (Glossolepis incisus)? If you change the size of them to juveniles, around 2-3" it should definitely help bring down the percent stocked. The program calculates every fish at an adult size.

On a side note - Where did you find them, at a LFS? I can't seem to find them anywhere near me, when stocking my tank that was the species I was really interested in but couldn't find anywhere.

 

[bflem]

I'm 99% sure they are the Glossolepis incisus. My closest LFS is kind of disappointing. I had a few bad experiences there so I found a new one a little bit closer to Pittsburgh. They seem like a better place to do business. Everyone in there seems knowledgeable (although they didn't tell me to buy 6+ rainbows).

I prefer to leave the aqadvisor tool set to adult sizes, since I plan on them living that long and reaching maturity.