Planning A Livebearer Tank

[pkppv]

So im thinking about starting up another tank, in addition to my semi-aggressive community. I want to try livebearers!!! I have a 15g tank so of course id need something small. Ive been thinking guppy or endler or even mosquito. What species do you guys like best? Should i just have one species in a tank or would more be good too? Any tips would be much appreciated. THANK YOU!

 

[Juggler75]

I wouldn't mix endlers with guppys, apparently you'd get hybrids which may be hard to rehome/sell.

 

[Liquid skills]

Yeh i agree for another reason though

Ive had endlers and normal guppies and the male endlers never liked the female endlers they just went for the larger ladies unfortunatly killing one

Guppies mollies or platies id mix some of them also male bloon platies in my exp are like the endlers lol they like bigger girls

 

[the_lock_man]

The issue with livebearers is obviously the ease with which they breed. What are you going to do with the fry? If you are going with the popular species (guppy, molly, platy, swordtail, endler), the fry have little to no sell-on value, because they are so popular. You may be able to give them to the LFS, but they are unlikely to give you anything for them, as they buy them ridiculously cheaply from their wholesalers.

On the other hand, the rarer species (mosquito, limia, girardinus, goodeids, etc.) are harder to move on because, generally, they aren't so colourful as the popular species, and that's what Joe Public goes for. You may have a certain degree of success with selling them on to other "serious" hobbyists, but then finding those buyers is harder.

When I first got rare livebearers, I bought 2 different species, in the hope that they would semi-predate on each other's fry. That worked too well, in that I've only had one fry survive to maturity!

If you want fry to survive, you need to have a section of the tank that is heavily planted, particularly with java moss, as the fry love to hide in there, and it provides some micro-nutrients that the fry love to eat.

Keep each species in a ration of at least 1m:2f, preferably 1m:3f, the males are terribly persistent towards the females, and if you have that ratio, it means that the females get a break, whilst he goes and pesters one of the others.

HTH.

 

[the_lock_man]

Another thing; if you plan to keep the fry in the same tank as the adults, then you need to allow for them in your stocking plans with regard to tank capacity. If you fully stock the tank, when you have fry, you will be overstocked quickly. The alternative is to have a second tank just for the fry.

 

[Liquid skills]

I agree with the second tank part thats what i do

 

[pkppv]

I was kinda planning on letting most of the fry get eaten (please dont call me a terrible person) and if by chance one or two survived then they got lucky and deserve to live with the original parents...haha. Also...is it terribly unethical to feed fry to more aggressive fish? because i kinda think i might do that. Im a fisherman, so i dont think i value fishes lives as much as most of you, as i use fish for bait or my own dinner all the time. OF COURSE i care about my fish in my tank, i love them! but if i let the fry be eaten, itd be before i got attached to them, ya know?

I feel like youll all hate me now =0

 

[Cazgar]

I have a mixed sex tank of guppies & I plan to let nature take it's course.
One of my females gave birth yesterday, don't know how many she had, but only 1 is still here..... So far

 

[fluttermoth]

I was kinda planning on letting most of the fry get eaten (please dont call me a terrible person) and if by chance one or two survived then they got lucky and deserve to live with the original parents...haha. Also...is it terribly unethical to feed fry to more aggressive fish? because i kinda think i might do that. Im a fisherman, so i dont think i value fishes lives as much as most of you, as i use fish for bait or my own dinner all the time. OF COURSE i care about my fish in my tank, i love them! but if i let the fry be eaten, itd be before i got attached to them, ya know?

I feel like youll all hate me now =0

I don't hate you! Let's face it; the reason most livebearers have so many fry is because so many get eaten. IMO it's better to let most of the fry get eaten and raise just a few, properly, than having tanks full of stunted, overcrowded fry.

I've often fed female guppies that have proved impossible to re-home to my oscar. I do not do it for fun (I don't even watch, let alone video it, like some of the sickos that post on YouTube); I just think it's one of the best, most humane ways of culling deformed or unwanted fish. As long as the 'feeder fish' (I hate that term!) are small enough to be eaten in one I think it's a pretty quick way to go.

 

[ripil]

i hate you lol my fry seem to enjoy getting eaten. they must do or they'd hide alot better. i have a seperate tank for fry. its quite big for fry and its slightly annoying as when they get put in their they hide twice as well as when their in the bigger tank. altho i don't like knowing a poor little fish is getting eaten i look at it as the same as organ donation. if its of no use, use it.

 

[pkppv]

glad to see so many of us disregard baby fishes lives! =p

 

[the_lock_man]

glad to see so many of us disregard baby fishes lives! =p

I appreciate this was meant in jest, but we have no less regard for babies' lives than Mother Nature - as Fluttermoth says, that's what happens in their natural environments.

 

[pkppv]

True enough, its a cruel world out there for most. We're quite lucky

 

[mrp3]

Yes and plus I don't agree with the first comment on not putting fish together that will create hybrids. What is wrong with hybrids? Everyone seems to hate them but I love my hybrids just as much as my so called "purebreds" but all fish are actually hybrids from some time or another. My pregnant platy is in her own fry tank right now because that is what I like to use. I'm actually hoping she has hybrids of my favorite original tankmate that sadly died last week. ;(. Out of my 6 original tank mates I've only managed to have 3 left after 6 mos. I want these fry to be a marigold wag swordtail red platy hybrid. I'll be sad if they're not but oh well I'll love them anyways.

 

[mamahuberty]

The original reason we started raising guppies was as feeders for our African Cichlids and African Frogs. And in regards to endler/guppy hybrids a lot of them are sterile. Hybrids have a bad reputation and are hard to get rid of them, but if you like them go for it