Livebearer Community?

[Kitten]

I have an empty 20g tall aquarium and was thinking of trying to get a mostly livebearer community tank going if possible. I am thinking of having a mix of guppies, platies, swordtails, and neon tetras. I'm not sure if all of these would be able to work out in a 20g though. I know the livebearers do best with the 1 male to 2 females ratio and the neons would need at least a group of six. Would any of this be possible or too over crowded?

 

[the_lock_man]

Yeah, it's possible. A few things to bear in mind, though.

1) Girl guppies are very drab compared to boys, so it might be worthwhile just getting boys, since it seems you're not after a bredding project.
2) Swordtails are big compared to platies and guppies, so if you have a load of those, you'll use up a lot of tank-space.
3) Swordtails and platies can interbreed, and IMO this needs to be taken into account with your ratio of males to females.
4) Consider what you will do with any fry you get. Many LFSs won't take privately-bred livebearers, even fewer pay anything.
5) 6 is the bare minimum for neons, the more you have, the happier they are (they live in shoals of 100s and 1000s in the wild).
6) 1m:2f is again a minimum, it's better still to have 1m:3f.

If it were me, I'd go with 6 male guppies, 1m platy, 3f platy and 8 neons.

Hope this helps.

 

[creeker]

+1 on Lock's advice.

 

[Kitten]

Thanks so much the_lock_man! That actually works out perfect for me cause I am more into the guppies, platies, and neons than the swordtails. I also prefer the male guppies more than the females. To decrease chances of breeding could I get 4f platies instead of the 1m 3f? Will the guppies and platies try to interbreed?

 

[Dieses Madchen]

The guppies may TRY to interbreed and livebearers try to breed with everything (had a platy try to have a go with my pleco) but they will not succeed.

+1 on locks advice. I have 6 female/2 males in my community. and the two males do make their rounds to all the female. If there is a website that will allow you to ad a "for free" advertisement, you may want to get aquainted. About once a month I have to do a stocking downsize and this is a 40g tank that I have.

 

[Cazgar]

If you don't want lots of fry, then go for just male guppies & platys.
+1 to what Lock man said, many Lfs won't take homebred livebearer babies

 

[Kitten]

Thanks! I was just about to ask if I could do all male platies as well so I wouldn't have to worry about any fry. So 6m guppies, 4m platies, and 8 neons. Thanks again for all the help!

 

[creeker]

I have to wonder if the males kept under those conditions are thinking "Where do does a guy have to go around here to find a female?"

 

[Dieses Madchen]

If you do try to go all male in your community, read up on how to tell the difference, as a lot of LFS workers will probably not know.

 

[Cazgar]

Lol @ creeker.
What you don't know, you don't miss

 

[the_lock_man]

To decrease chances of breeding could I get 4f platies instead of the 1m 3f? Will the guppies and platies try to interbreed?

Guppies and platies can't interbreed, however much they try. I had a platy try it on with mollies and cardinals......

Female poecilid livebearers (the sort you're after) can store sperm for up to 6 months, and use it to produce fry every 4-6 weeks. Therefore, if you got 4 female platies, if they have shared a tank with a male at some point in the previous 6 months, the chances are that they will be pregnant. But you would only have to wait for that 6 months period to end, and there would be no more fry. The better way to be sure of no fry, as you've twigged yourself, is to have all males.

 

[the_lock_man]

I have to wonder if the males kept under those conditions are thinking "Where do does a guy have to go around here to find a female?"

Nope, they just try it on with anything else that's convenient.