# Rainbow fish with Yellow labs and Rusties - Can it be done?



## patten (Mar 5, 2010)

I was as the LFS this morning and they had neon rainbow fish and checkered rainbow fish. They look very pretty and active.

I have been wondering for some time if I could get a schooling fish that would get something happening in the top part of my tank.

I have a 50 gal tank, with 5 yellow labs and 4 rusties (plus about 9 (but who knows) fry).

Has anyone tried rainbows as a dither fish with Malawis? Did it work? My understanding is that at least some of the Rainbows have similar water requirements to the Malawis.

I have searched on this site and there are some mention of Rainbows with Cichlids but no mention of the actual species used.

One concern I have is that they are not vegetarian but like some insects etc. Can I get around this by feeding the NLS cichlid food. I did read that some of them like a diet primarily of algae. .


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

What are the dimensions of the aquarium? It certainly has worked with me, but you need the more robust, hardier types of rainbow. Food isn't particularly important.


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## BigJagLover (Oct 25, 2006)

Yes: it can be done but your going to want the neon rainbows, because your tank is a little smal(IMO) for the larger ones with your current stock. 
I currently have 3 yellow rainbows in my malawi set up. I contains peacocks, yellow labs, and acei. It's a 6"125. They love it. when they were small i had them in the tank but it was a planted tank and they looked drab in coloration. Then when i changed over to the africans they brightened up almost instantly. My africans are about the same size as the rainbows and everyone is happy.

I think you should go for it if you like them. they work great as long as they have open room to swim.


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## patten (Mar 5, 2010)

Thanks heaps for the replies.

Tank is a little on the small side, 36" X 18" X18". But it does have quite a bit of open swimming space as I have rocks only stacked 1/3 of the way up the tank, with plants (val) along the back and half the side edges.

This is one of the reasons I am a bit limited as to the type of Mbuna I can keep.

Did lots of reading on line yesterday, and agree the neons look to be the best fit. But the sizes I was getting on line were all over the place with the stated max size for the Checkered anything from 3.5" to 6". The neon rainbows grow to 2.5"-3.25". I didn't find anything on yellow rainbows, do they have another name?

Do you think there is any danger that the cichlids will eat the rainbows? The neon rainbows in the shop are fairly small around 1.5" my Labs are up to about 4.5" and the rusties about 3.5". They do not seem to be very threatening to the fry, except when they are really small, under 0.5". But they hide very well. whereas the rainbows, I assume and I am hoping, will be swimming around.

My last question is how many should I get?

Thanks again


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## BigJagLover (Oct 25, 2006)

I think your fine with the 1.5" size my yellow labs are 4-5" and they don't even go after fry anymore. As for the yellow rainbows, sorry i don't know the latin name for them but they are 6" right now, so i'd say there a little too large for your 50.

for quantity, I would go for about 6. They are schooling fish and they will love the vals along the back of your tank. Their max size is 3-4" at best. A LFS near me had a 210 7 ft tank with all sorts of rainbows and none of the 30 plus neon rainbows were over 3" and they were 5 years old. I forgot to mention before but there's another group of rainbows, know as blue eyes, that might work as well. they are even smaller then the neons.

Hope this helps you out in your quest for the perfect stock, good luck.


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## patten (Mar 5, 2010)

Thank you so much for your help. I will get 6 neon rainbows when I am back from hols, next month. Can't wait


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