Breeding Swordtails Or Mollies

[williamc]

I was wondering if i should breed swordtails or mollies?
which is easier?
should I feed them brine shrimp?
and how long till i start feeding them food?

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forums WilliamC. If you have just set up a tank, please read the sticky on cycling a tank before you get any fish at all. It is so much easier to do a fishless cycle than to be caught up by the local fish store's typical idea of putting fish into the tank right away so they can sell you replacements every few days.
I find that swordtails are easier to care for than mollies. Mollies seem to need closer control of water condtions and the swords just don't. Either one is very easy to breed. If you feed them a healthy, varied diet, they will breed. The difficulty is in saving the fry. In any of the more common livebearers, the parents are a very real threat to the fry. Several methods can be used to save fry but the most common are to use a very heavily planted tank so the fry have lots of cover or to use a breeding trap. I personally don't like breeding traps but other people swear by them. Each fish keeper needs to find the methods that he can be comfortable using. As far as feeding fry, most livebearers are born big enough to take crushed flake food as their first food. Other things that can be fed include microworms, baby brine shrimp and specially formulated baby growth foods. The real essential in raising fry is lots of very small feedings and lots of partial water changes. The heavy feeding regime will make your water quality degrade quickly if you don't do frequent vacuumings to remove spoiling food.