Good Parents?

[TimNorwich]

Hello everybody, I am just in the process of deciding 'what fish' next. I have a breeding pair of Angelfish in my 125L tank, and two pairs of Bristlenose Plecs on the bottom.

Ideally I'd like something else in there that I can expect babies from.

I was just reading the "A Molly's Story For One Drop To The Next" thread, and apart from being a good read I couldn't get my head round why the mother Molly hadn't eaten all her young yet.

I've owned Platys and Guppies before and before I'd even realised there were babies they'd all been eaten!

Are there any livebearers that won't eat their young for dinner.

Also I have a 17L shrimp tank, would this be a suitable size to raise fry or wouldn't they grow in such a confined space?

Many thanks for your time,

Tim.

 

[helterskelter]

If your wanting babies and you have a pair of angelfish then things are going to be very difficult.

Most livebearers you find in the shops if are well feed, will happily leave most of the fry alone. 90% of the time it's the other fish eating them.
I have several tanks with livebearers and they all have fry in there along side the adults and no problems.
Sure a few get eaten but then these are generally the runts.


As for the shrimp tank, you can put fry in there and their be fine, but at what number do you stop! Also tring to save them from the angels will be a good game.

 

[TimNorwich]

The angelfish seem to stick to one corner of the tank, and normally at the top of the tank.

What livebearers would you suggest looking into? I often see some XL Mollys or Platys (Can't remember which one) They are real big.

 

[helterskelter]

Mollies do get quite large, 4-6 inches in sailfin's.
Also as males are very active and flirtatious to femles it's always best to keep 2-3 females to each male.

 

[OldMan47]

The livebearers you find in the LFS all eat some fry. I am sure that the female in my molly thread ate some fry, she just left enough behind that I never missed the ones she ate. The only livebearers tat I know of that never seem to eat their fry are members of the goodeid group. The goodeid group of fish mostly have huge fry that are just large enough to not tempt their own species at all. It is not universally true of goodeids but is not a bad thumb rule. Unfortunately, for a typical starting hobbyist, they are hard to find outside of hard core livebearer people. You mostly only run into us folks in club meetings or conventions though. I know that Helterskelter and Fish48 are both also livebearer people along with a few others you will run into here.