Few Questions

[Deadmau5]

.3. So I have a few questions regarding my fish in my tank.

1: do swordtails live long? What's their average life span? They both have out-lived my platys. (2 swordtails, Marlin and Coral, light pink and orange)

2: is it true platys are the easiest stressed out fish? (I have 3 platys, a mickey mouse(Mau5)
A silver blue-ish one(Sil) and a gold one(Goldeen) (words in parenthesis=their names)

3: I got a black mollie!!!!! I love her! Aren't they just the coolest thing? Her name is Shade.
(that's sorta a question ^)

4: which are better? Real or fake plants?

5: what's the best thing to get for fry to hide in?

 

[fluttermoth]

1. Average lifespan for a swordtail is 3 to 5 years.

2. I wouldn't say so, no. some of the smaller tetras and rasboras are more easily stressed than platies, IME.

3. Meh, I don't like mollies myself; one of the few fish I've nver owned, but it's all down to personal preference, isn't it?!

4. Real, without a shadow of a doubt. Real plants help (ok, not much, but a bit) reduce nitrate and use any free ammonia if your filter's not working properly. They also provide a good food source for fry, as they can pick at microscopic algae and microorgamisms on the leaves.

3. fine leaved real plants, like Jave moss, cabomba or elodea.

 

[OldMan47]

I must agree with fluttermoth on many points. I have no favorite livebearers among the more common ones. They are all too common for my usual desire for a challenge. I specialize in rare and hard to find livebearers. They do present more of a challenge because their specific needs are not widely published. That means it takes more trouble to find out the perfect care and breeding conditions.

4. Real plants can make all the difference when to comes to nitrogen. If I want to grow my plants more quickly, I actually end up adding nitrates to the water. The plants remove all available nitrogen if they are growing robustly.

5. Add najas grass, guppy grass, christmas moss, duckweed and water lettuce to the helpful plants. Both duckweed and water lettuce are especially helpful for fish where the fry seek cover upward as soon as they are dropped. The roots of both plants provide great cover for a fry that hangs out at the water's surface.