Livebearers No Babies

[moomaker]

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem?

I've never managed to get my fry (molly or guppy) beyond two weeks. Nor have I managed to breed from my own stock. I've upgraded my tank (see my post in the newbie section) and all params are ok, but after 10 days or so I thought there might be some activity.

Am I the only livebearer keeper whose fish don't reproduce??? and how on earth can I get the fry (if I ever get any more) to live beyond two weeks.

Advice, or similar experiences welcomed

 

[karlp]

Hi

Normally the problem is trying to stop them breeding ! I gave up with guppies at one stage because they were like a plague.

All the normal stuff for breeding and growing them on is:

Make sure you're water quality is good, no nitrite / ammonia and guppies and mollies prefer hard alkaline water.

Try to buy non-pregnant females that match your males in strain and put them all in the tank (preferably more than one female to a male, to prevent the females being harrassed all the time).

Feed them on a varied diet, ideally including some live foods (e.g, bring shrimp / daphnia), although frozen foods are fine. This gets them into good condition for breeding.

Don't use a breeding trap because it stresses the fish. I prefer just to move the female to a separate tank before she gives birth with lots of plant cover for the fry and then move her out once the fry are born. The tank can be a small one without lighting, just heater, condensation tray or lid and mature bubble foam filter (run a bubble foam filter in your main tank alongside your normal filter, so it's ready for use on the breeding tank on these special occasions )

Feed the fry on liqui-fry initially (you can use baby brine shrimp as well, but it's not necessary). When they get a bit bigger give them flake and all the usual foods.

You need to do more regular water changes when adding liquifry to a breeding tank because it pollutes the water (e.g, 25% per day) and use a mature filter (as above) so that you get no ammonia or nitrites.

As soon as you can sex them, separate them into two separate one-sex tanks to prevent constant in-breeding. Both with mature filters.

Good luck!

I'm sure in no time you will be pulling your hair out wondering where you're going to house them all!

Although having said all that.... If you have a well planted main tank, that's not over-crowded and you give the guppies / mollies a good varied diet, they will breed in the main tank and you should get a few survive each time anyway (presuming you don't want your house to look like a fish farm! )

 

[dwarfgourami]

Be patient, even livebearer breeding can be an unpredictable business. I had no fry out of one of my present female guppies, suspect she ate them all+ eventually stopped giving birth due to old age (though still with me); the other has had several pregnancies, but only 1 surviving fry (most of them eaten, one I had to euthanise due to stroke-like symptoms). One of my 2 female platies never gave birth to my knowledge, out of the other I have about 14 surviving offspring, from 3 successive pregnancies, approaching adulthood. All this the result of 10 months from setting up the tank.

 

[frazoo]

my strategy becides what the dudes up there said is cover box filter inlet thingy(place where water is sucked up) have barely no current, to feed your babies, stirr up their gravel and make all of that junk go flying up and they will eat it, or get some marsh plants from a nearby marsh put that in there, there will be snails which they will eat their crap, and the junk/alge on the plant is a good source of food.

i dont know if any of this stuff is good for the fish but it works

 

[Lexie3787]

My Platys dont go at it either. I think my male needs a lesson on how to mate..Ive had him for awhile now and hes never got any of my girls pregnant =(

 

[dwarfgourami]

My Platys dont go at it either. I think my male needs a lesson on how to mate..Ive had him for awhile now and hes never got any of my girls pregnant =(

I had one like that. But he got round to it in the end.

 

[juliehainsworth]

I have two males and three female sunset platies two out of the three have had babies and are pregnant again the other one just isnt interested.

I've found that feeding them plenty of live food such as daphnia and bloodworms help them to stay in good condition to breed.

Also I am in the process of rearing approx 45 of my 60 young in a seperate tank 29 are one week old and 16 are only a couple of days old all seem to be doing well in my nursery tank they love freeze dried tubifex at the moment. The other 14 fry I had I've left to fend for themselves in my community tank saw five yesterday not sure about today though.

Good luck in breeding

 

[Lexie3787]

Ok so I was just sayyying how my guy never gets my girls pregnant. Now all three of my females are pregnant AYYYE

 

[CobraGuppyMAD]

Myby you have to come the tank arrangement