I keep some of my Rainbows in a "community" 4ft tank (48*20*18) and I stock
to the level that the water conditions allow.
Water Conditions: Hardness, 150 ppm.
Ammonia & Nitrate, as close to zero as possible.
PH, Neutral to cater for all species I have in the tank.
Plants: I'm hopeless with plants but I use the "garden variety"
aquatic plants, Fox Tail, Java Fern, 'Val', ...... My Rainbows really
like to munch on 'Val' so it doesn't last long. There are a couple of others
too that they make short work of for there dinner but I can't remember the
names. I feed duckweed and they love it but be careful about your source.
Like I said I'm hopeless with plants but my aim is to keep the tank
sufficiently planted to give the fish a feeling of "comfort". IMHO, some
Rainbows in bare tanks can get really timid.
Substrate: I like to use black gravel.
I keep a number of smaller 'species' type tanks and breeder conditioning
tanks and from my observations it appears that fish held in smaller numbers
are more likely to be timid and not show their full colour. I have one
conditioning tank that contains a pair of praecox & 3 eachemensis that has
not been touched (no new fish, plants, renovations, etc.) for 3 weeks. These
guys dive into the plant for cover whenever I get close to the tank. The
same fish held in a community type tank want to jump out of the water to get
to you! Safety in numbers theory is suppose.
Can't really think of anything else that may be relevant to your question.
Gail I'm not ashamed to admit I'am a novice when it comes to Rainbows but
the ideas above work well for me and my fish.
Cheers.
Scott Hunt
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From: bowkerg at NTU.EDU.AU
To: rainbowfish at pcug.org.au
Subject: Re: colours lost by breeding?
Date: Wednesday, 02 October, 1996 12:23PM
>I keep what i consider to be a very beautiful C.Bleheri.
What are the best conditions to keep rainbows. Can you be specific about
the water quality, plants, substrate, the size of your tank and any thing
else that might be relevant?
Thanks
Gail