What Livebearer Is Right For Me?

[RamboFish]

Please see my tank size and stock in my signature . Looking for a few fish a a centerpeice for my tank and keep coming back to Livebearers. However not sure which to get. I know i dont want guppys as I fancy something a bit larger than my tetras so i have a bit of variety. So I think its between Mollys, Plattys and Swordtails. My LFS sell all types, although unsure if they are sexed (can't remember )
I think I will go for 2 or 3 (2F or 1M:2F or 3F). So ideally I would like something fairly easy to sex, i hear swordtails are a good one?
Finally, while I love the idea of having fry, I dont have the space and am not in a position to set up a fry tank (My 90l is in my bedroom in my family house, so i cant really take over with my hobby lol). However, I can buy a breeding box or net at my LFS, then could probably take the fry to the lfs. Ideally I don't want too many fry though as I dont know how much my lfs would appreciate it after a while lol. I know they will probably be eaten , but if they had fry i would like to keep them as alive as possible . SO BASICALLY - something that will either drop fry not too often (maybe or month+ in between? I dont really know) , or something that i can keep all females of?

Thats my little babble over lol
Thanks in advance for any advice! Would be much appreciated

 

[LucyB]

Please see my tank size and stock in my signature . Looking for a few fish a a centerpeice for my tank and keep coming back to Livebearers. However not sure which to get. I know i dont want guppys as I fancy something a bit larger than my tetras so i have a bit of variety. So I think its between Mollys, Plattys and Swordtails. My LFS sell all types, although unsure if they are sexed (can't
remember )
I think I will go for 2 or 3 (2F or 1M:2F or 3F). So ideally I would like something fairly easy to sex, i hear swordtails are a good one?
Finally, while I love the idea of having fry, I dont have the space and am not in a position to set up a fry tank (My 90l is in my bedroom in my family house, so i cant really take over with my hobby lol). However, I can buy a breeding box or net at my LFS, then could probably take the fry to the lfs. Ideally I don't want too many fry though as I dont know how much my lfs would appreciate it after a while lol. I know they will probably be eaten , but if they had fry i would like to keep them as alive as possible . SO BASICALLY - something that will either drop fry not too often (maybe or month+ in between? I dont really know) , or something that i can keep all females of?

Thats my little babble over lol
Thanks in advance for any advice! Would be much appreciated

PLATIES. I adore platies! they are so playful with eachother, friendly, and hardy aswell. Honestly, I rarely get platy fry, but that is just because my 2 male platies seem too interested in eachother to, erm, you-know-what with the females

PLATIES FTW!

 

[FishBlast]

Please see my tank size and stock in my signature . Looking for a few fish a a centerpeice for my tank and keep coming back to Livebearers. However not sure which to get. I know i dont want guppys as I fancy something a bit larger than my tetras so i have a bit of variety. So I think its between Mollys, Plattys and Swordtails. My LFS sell all types, although unsure if they are sexed (can't remember )
I think I will go for 2 or 3 (2F or 1M:2F or 3F). So ideally I would like something fairly easy to sex, i hear swordtails are a good one?
Finally, while I love the idea of having fry, I dont have the space and am not in a position to set up a fry tank (My 90l is in my bedroom in my family house, so i cant really take over with my hobby lol). However, I can buy a breeding box or net at my LFS, then could probably take the fry to the lfs. Ideally I don't want too many fry though as I dont know how much my lfs would appreciate it after a while lol. I know they will probably be eaten , but if they had fry i would like to keep them as alive as possible . SO BASICALLY - something that will either drop fry not too often (maybe or month+ in between? I dont really know) , or something that i can keep all females of?

Thats my little babble over lol
Thanks in advance for any advice! Would be much appreciated

If you go with swordtails, be aware of them possibly turning out to be males, or for some odd reason females turning into males (growing swords and gonopodium too).
Swordtail pregnancies can take up to 2 months. Mine's 1.5 months pregnant and still no drop.
Also, I'd say stay away from the bright-red ones. They become very bossy.

 

[Cazgar]

Most livebearers will drop fry at regular intervals, usually between 28/30 days.
If you try to save them all, you'll soon be very overstocked, & very few Lfs will take them.
If you like livebearers you could have a couple of male platys.
I wouldn't go for mollies or swordtails in your tank as you're pretty much stocked

 

[RamboFish]

How are male platys together?? Will they fight?
Thanks for all the quick responses guys!

 

[LucyB]

How are male platys together?? Will they fight?
Thanks for all the quick responses guys!

No, mine follow eachother around, they love eachother...

 

[RamboFish]

aww sounds cute! is it swordtail males that fight then? i remember reading something about males fighting

 

[Cazgar]

Male platys don't fight if there's no females to argue over

 

[RamboFish]

Oh ok thanks so is it best to have all males rather than all females?

 

[DB2593]

If you get all females then for the first 1 or 2 months they can still drop fry without any males in the tank, personally I'd suggest mollies, they are lively and bring a lot of character to your tank, as with most livebearers the males are more pretty then the females, but yeah, mollies are so easy to keep and they bring your tank to life, they are always up at the front of the tank

 

[FishFanatic04]

If you have a fish store that will take your fry, then get 1 male and 2 females, it's really fun to see the babies


See if you can find a Gold twin bar platy! I just got one and she's soooooo pretty!


Platies!!!

 

[Neptune54]

I'd say go for platies! They're so cute, and there's a type of platy that has three dots in the shape of Mickey Mouse's head near their tail! They're really great, so I recommend them!

 

[RamboFish]

Hmmm platys - 4, mollies -1

thanks for all the advice its very helpful. I've just ordered a livebearers book off amazon too

 

[Salam]

Another vote for platys! They are great to watch, playful and make use of the whole tank (well, mine do). But as others said, if you don't want babies then stick to males. We got seven surviving fry and at the moment I am trying to find friends who would take a few once they are old enough. And the female is ready to pop again in the next fortnight Once I have the betta, they might just be live food for him (hey, it's nature, right?).

 

[FishBlast]

aww sounds cute! is it swordtail males that fight then? i remember reading something about males fighting

Pretty much any can fight. Females between them, males with females or males between them. Mine just bicker over food and the female seems to dominate the male.