Rainbow shiner

Notropis chrosomus

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 50–72°F; 10–22°C
pH: 6.0–7.5
Adult size: 3.1 in; 8 cm
Minimum tank: 20 gal; 75 L

Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Schooling
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: Egg scatterer · Hard
Rarity: Rare
Family: Cyprinidae
Origin: United States

Overview

The rainbow shiner is an active, peaceful shoaling minnow for a cool, unheated tank. It takes a little more care than the easiest community fish.

Did you know

The rainbow shiner often lays its eggs over the nests of other fish.

Caring for the rainbow shiner

Give a shoal of rainbow shiners at least 20 gal (75 L), with brisk current and a substrate of gravel and rounded pebbles. Some rock, driftwood and hardy planting round out the setup, but flow, oxygen and cool temperatures come first.

Keep the water cool, clean and well oxygenated, at 50 to 72°F (10 to 22°C) and a pH of 6.0 to 7.5. That keeps them healthy and colorful, so an unheated or lightly cooled tank suits them better than a tropical one. They are undemanding feeders that take flake, small pellets, and frozen or live foods such as daphnia and bloodworm.

Keep a group of at least eight, since good numbers bring out their color and their lively, coordinated swimming. They are peaceful and occupy the middle water. They do well in a coolwater community with other temperate, gentle species.

In the breeding season, males glow with pink, blue and violet iridescence and grow small white tubercles on the head. Rainbow shiners are egg-scattering spawners, and breeding them deliberately in an aquarium is difficult.

Good to know

Notropis chrosomus is a North American member of the family Cyprinidae, one of the true minnows. For most of the year it is a plain silver fish, but its breeding colors rival many tropical fish.

In the wild

The rainbow shiner is native to the clear, cool streams of the Mobile River basin in the southeastern United States. Its range covers parts of Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee, where it lives over gravel and stone in flowing water.

Weekly picks

Tank mates

The rainbow shiner is a peaceful, schooling species that keeps to the middle. These picks share a community profile with it, are safe together in both directions, and overlap on water type, temperature and pH.

Check the full mix in the stocking calculator