Please Share Your Wild Type Livebearers :)

[chrissfishes]

I have a random question. Probably a silly question but I am curious. Can two species of a seperate family in Goodeids that are found in the same water system be kept together in the aquarium without cross breeding? I don't want to crossbreed so if there is a chance I won't try it. I am against making hybrids. I want to keep all of my fish pure.
 
Species imparticular are Xenotoca melanosoma and A. zonistus from Rio Ayuquila?
 
Thank you!

 

[fish48]

It is very unlikely that  x melanosoma & A. zonistus would crossbreed, However in the home aquarium there may be some aggression among the two species . I strongly recommend keeping all goodeid species separate .
 
 

 

[chrissfishes]

Thank you very much Gary! Ok, sounds good. I will for sure keep all of my goodeid species in species only tanks. Thanks again!

Right now my a.tamazulae are in a foot and a half long x 18 in wide x 16 in tall aquarium. Its a 40 us gal breeder divided in half to make two sections. Is this ok for them or do they need bigger?

 

[fish48]

It should be okay for to or three pares , they can get aggressive among each other. They appreciate some places to hide. I use small or pieces of terra-cotta plant pots,  tamazulae are very good for eaten their own fry. I find it’s best to put the gravid female into a small well planted tank and as soon as the fry are born. Remove her back to main tank.

 

[chrissfishes]

Thank you very much Gary! I greatly appreciate it! I will be moving them to a bigger tank as I have another addition to the collection. Xenoophorus captivus "moctezuma". The ALA's convention is going on right now. I wish I had a fish room. If I did I could have gotten a good number of rare species. Thank you very much again!

 

[chrissfishes]

Well a bit has changed in just 2 days. I was able to find a small group of allotoca maculata. So, I went for them. I gave a friend of mine the "moctezuma" to keep until I get some room open.

 

[fish48]

pair of limia nigrofasciata

 

[chrissfishes]

Thank you Gary! Very nice pair!
 
When I find some time I will share some pics of the A.maculata. Right now I am rearranging aquariums to allow me with more available space without taking up too much room and setting up more tanks. I want to setup more tanks but can't right now.

 

[fish48]

It would be nice to see some pics Chris
 
How many tanks do you have? stop at 50 if you can lol.

 

[chrissfishes]

Here is a video of the maculata trio : 
http/s100.photobucket.com/user/cichlid_lover128/media/WP_20140611_0061_zps4ec3573d.mp4.html
 
I also have a video of a female A.tamazulae. Just was curious if she looks gravid/pregnant? 
http/s100.photobucket.com/user/cichlid_lover128/media/WP_20140611_0071_zps6cce8f31.mp4.html
 
haha hopefully one day I can have 50 tanks. Right now I have no where near 50. I have 7 going. I setup decent sized tanks and divide them in half with plexi glass. 2 of the 7  which are 10 us gal are going to be daphina magna culture. I have a 10 us gal for growing out the fry. I have a 75 us gal, 2-40 us gal breeders, and cycling a 55 us gal. 
 
My Xenotoca melanosoma have been very productive. I have at least 5-6 females pregnant. Should get a huge drop this year if everything goes well.

 

[fish48]

Thanks for showing videos Tamazulae looks gravid  it’s about as plump as they get, they sometimes fill out when well fed a good way to find out is to not feed for 24 hours. gravid females are best to be put into a small tank by themselves. with plenty of plants. These fish are very cannibalistic towards there fry.

 

[chrissfishes]

Thank you very much Gary! She was for sure pregnant. Just got 5 healthy fry from her today and she's only around 2 inches! I will get a video of the fry up as soon as I can. They are hiding in the plants right now so can't really get a good view of them right now. Just a quick description of the fry: they are small replicas of their parents and will sit on the bottom of the tank just like their parents as well. It is very interesting. 

 

[chrissfishes]

I found 2 more tamazulae fry from another female who is maybe around 1.5 inches. 7 total fry so far. Here is a video of the two fry I found. 
 
http/s100.photobucket.com/user/cichlid_lover128/media/WP_20140623_0011_zpsf6055f3d.mp4.html

 

[chrissfishes]

One of my female melanosoma had 6 fry. I will load a video of them in a little bit.

 

[chrissfishes]

I found 9 more melanosoma fry. 15 so far. Here is a video of the 6 fry I found. 
 
http/s100.photobucket.com/user/cichlid_lover128/media/WP_20140630_0021_zpsfd45d9f9.mp4.html