Endler fry survivability in a heavily planted community tank

[Heebath]

My two female tiger endlers have a dark gravid spot and are starting to box up, so I expect to have fry very soon.

I originally planned on letting "nature take its course" and seeing how many can manage to not become food for the larger livestock, but perhaps I should consider a breeder box or fry trap?

My question for you more experienced live-bearer folks is: how many fry can I reasonably expect to survive to adulthood in my heavily planted 60 gallon community tank?

There is lots of cover along the bottom, and once I noticed the girls were preggo I allowed some hornwort and wisteria to float for top cover. I've also placed coarse sponges over both intakes to protect the fry from being sucked up.

The other livestock in the tank:

3 Gourami, 5 botia, 1 very small spotted raph, 4 angels, and 1 random platy (he came in the bag as a stowaway fry from lfs when we bought loaches)

I figured the angels and raph would keep the live-bearer population from exploding, but I would like a few more endlers, so, would I need to intervene or is it likely a few will survive?

Thanks!

Pic of the tank so you can get an idea of how much cover there is:

https://imgur.com/gallery/k3UhX


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[betta fish]

Hi, probably none with that stocking I'm afraid to say, some may survive for a while but the angels if not the gourami will soon find them and then go actively looking, I am surprised the angels have not already made a meal of the adult endlers to be honest if you really want to breed them it is probably best to set up a dedicated tank for just them.
Also your tank could do with a lot more plants especially tall growing ones, it will help the fish feel more secure.

 

[Toney]

My gourami and angelfish actively hunt for fry

 

[thrujenseyes]

the angels if not the gourami will soon find them and then go actively looking

My gourami and angelfish actively hunt for fry

I didn't realize that they'd actually "hunt"! Thats interesting!

 

[Heebath]

Hi, probably none with that stocking I'm afraid to say, some may survive for a while but the angels if not the gourami will soon find them and then go actively looking, I am surprised the angels have not already made a meal of the adult endlers to be honest if you really want to breed them it is probably best to set up a dedicated tank for just them.
Also your tank could do with a lot more plants especially tall growing ones, it will help the fish feel more secure.

Thank you, this is what I was concerned about. So far the angels completely ignore the adult endlers, and I assume this is because I feed 2x daily (and they were raised together?) but I knew it was a gamble once fry came into the equation.

Do you think capturing the females and putting them in a breeder box that I hang inside the tank, or perhaps a DIY fry trap could be sufficient for a few weeks until I can let a small tank cycle a bit for them?

Thanks again for your reply!

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[Heebath]

Hi, probably none with that stocking I'm afraid to say, some may survive for a while but the angels if not the gourami will soon find them and then go actively looking, I am surprised the angels have not already made a meal of the adult endlers to be honest if you really want to breed them it is probably best to set up a dedicated tank for just them.
Also your tank could do with a lot more plants especially tall growing ones, it will help the fish feel more secure.

Forgot to mention: normally I do have quite a bit more tall plants with hornwort and Wisteria kind of stretching all over the top half of the tank, but when I noticed the preggo endlers I pulled that up so it could float so the fry would have some top cover, kind of like those baby hideout plastic floating plants I've seen at the stores. If I move the endlers I'll put the big tall plants back into the substrate.

Thanks again, appreciate you!

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[Yarkii]

Forgot to mention: normally I do have quite a bit more tall plants with hornwort and Wisteria kind of stretching all over the top half of the tank, but when I noticed the preggo endlers I pulled that up so it could float so the fry would have some top cover, kind of like those baby hideout plastic floating plants I've seen at the stores. If I move the endlers I'll put the big tall plants back into the substrate.

Thanks again, appreciate you!

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Hi! I'm new to this too, but I've noticed that my guppy fry tend to swim up really high in the tank most of the time, and only sometimes venture down through the mid-height section. They tend to stay where the plants are. I've got elodea & blue stricta through the back of the tank, and that's where they like to hide. Elodea grows pretty quickly, so you could plant some and let it grow or have some floating loose too as you said. Apparently they eat it too.

I've got a little breeding net just for the fry. I didn't like the idea of segregating pregnant females as it would stress them out, plus I wouldn't know when to put them in there anyway. Instead, when I see a whole lot of fry, I try to catch them before they get eaten by the adults. They've got lots of elodea & milfoil & a little blue stricta loose in there, as well as some floating lily leaves. It looks rather nice in there.

BUT... I think I'm stressing out all the fish in the tank each time I chase fry around with a net, plus it takes absolutely ages to catch them all.

So I think I'm going to retire the breeding net idea, once I've planted more elodea & milfoil (it's prettier) for the fry to hide in, and just let nature take its course.



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