Favourite thing about livebearers?

thisisajoke5364 · Jul 4, 2026

I want to know what’s everyone’s favourite thing about livebearing fish, whether its their colours, shapes, or behaviors.

Personally what I love most about livebearing fish is their behaviour. My favourite thing is going over to my guppy tank and seeing the males do their courtship displays, or my sailfin mollys ‘fighting’ each other to determine the hierarchy in the tank.

CaptainBarnicles · Jul 4, 2026

Probably the amount of colours and varieties they come in, particularly guppies

anewbie · Jul 4, 2026

They eat their babies.

GaryE · Jul 5, 2026

I really got into livebearers for years, and what attracted me was the diversity of species. There are many many oddball ones that rarely appear in our tanks, but are very intriguing (not colourful) creatures. If you ever get a chance to see and appreciate all the Xiphophorus species, or the many natural Poecilia species the hobby throws together and hybridizes (ruining them) , you can be amazed.

The behaviour is part of the diversity. If I had hard water, I would still be enjoying their odd shapes and strange behaviours.

thisisajoke5364 · Jul 5, 2026

GaryE said:
I really got into livebearers for years, and what attracted me was the diversity of species. There are many many oddball ones that rarely appear in our tanks, but are very intriguing (not colourful) creatures. If you ever get a chance to see and appreciate all the Xiphophorus species, or the many natural Poecilia species the hobby throws together and hybridizes (ruining them) , you can be amazed.

The behaviour is part of the diversity. If I had hard water, I would still be enjoying their odd shapes and strange behaviours.

I totally agree. I like things like corydoras or tetras as much as the next guy, but if I had to choose between a Neon tetra or something like Priapicthys nigroventralis or Xenophallus umbratillis, I would choose the ladder any day of the week.

GaryE · Jul 5, 2026

I had my Priapichtys nigroventralis in the next tank to some other fish from their broader evolutionary line - Aphyosemion killies. If you like colours, who needs linebred, unnatural beauty? Nature has produced far nicer things.

bgarthe · Jul 5, 2026

I like the colors, varieties, and activity in the tank of livebearers. Fancy guppies and Wagtail Platies are my two favs.

TwoTankAmin · Jul 5, 2026

This

Xiphophorus montezumae

bgarthe · Jul 5, 2026

Didn’t think to post pics of my livebearer favs…..

GaryE · Jul 5, 2026

Just some mollies - a metal sphenops form, a salvatoris or orri, gillii and petenensis.

gwand · Jul 5, 2026

I keep a 29 gallon tank with line bred livebearers to help offset the cost of the hobby. Although I am more excited when I get my A. thomasi, J. transcriptus and A. cacatuoides to spawn, the local fish stores are more interested in my colorful line bred livebearers. Go figure. Although one fish store will take as many N. multifasciatus dudes I can give them. They are breeding machines.

thisisajoke5364 · Jul 5, 2026

bgarthe said:
Didn’t think to post pics of my livebearer favs…..
View attachment 382933 View attachment 382931 View attachment 382932 View attachment 382934 View attachment 382935 View attachment 382936 View attachment 382937 View attachment 382938

The Dumbo is stunning

GaryE · Jul 5, 2026

Fancy form livebearers are nostalgia fish for me - they remind me of the tanks I and other family members had when I was young and frisky.

A lot of stores in Canada have trouble with imported guppy health, so they're very glad to get good ones from hobbyists. One of my biggest problems with wild form livebearers was that no one wanted them. I used to sell them online within Canada, but once shipping became more expensive than the prices I was charging, it was a problem. A lot of livebearer keepers are new to this and would blame me for the shipping cost, which was far beyond my control. It stopped being fun to distribute the fish.

Xiphophorus:
nezahualcoyotl
montezumae
birchmanni
variatus
milleri
I still have milleri, but over time they have become extremely spotted compared to how they were when I first got them 12 - 15 years ago. I do no selecting, they just breed themselves.