Livebearer that gives birht to largest fry?

[k2snowboards88]

I want some live bearing fish. Which one gives birth to the most advanced largest fish?

 

[WILDER]

I don't no what you really mean, they can't be to large or the fish will have trouble getting them out, they are all about the same in livebearers size.

 

[k2snowboards88]

So the fry from a swordtail and a molly would be exactly the same size under the same conditions?

 

[WILDER]

Probably, not sure only ever had platy fry, you will get some fry bigger than others, but all livebearers will probably produce the same size fry.

 

[sylvia]

Just choose the livebearer you like most (of the common ones) and which is most suited to your tank. Platies, mollies, swordtails and guppies do produce pretty much the same-sized fry but other liveberers have smaller fry - for example endler's are slightly smaller and mosquito fish fry are smaller still and I would say sailfin mollies (as in the wild not selectively bred) have the largest fry but are brackish fish by nature and don't do well in freshwater. I'd suggest you go with ordinary mollies though... and add a little salt to their tank (just a little for ordinary mollies) and feed the fry on powdered or crushed flake - they'll do fine plus there are so many color strains and varieties to choose from - sailfin, balloon, orange, black, white etc... On the other hand, if you want the easiest to breed and raise and for a small tank, go for guppies. They're very similar to mollies but have even more varieties to choose from and will breed like rabbits and, again, the fry will do fine on crushed flake. Lots of plants for the fry to hide in are essential as the parents are canibalistic and puting them in a breeder trap is stressful.

 

[k2snowboards88]

If the type of fish really doesn't make much of a difference then i'll probably just go for either some sword tails or platies. I like the way these fish look the best. My eel will probably jsut eat all the fry anyway unless i get a breeding net.

 

[BEEF11]

i breed livebearers. I just had a bunch of swords today (green). The mollie fry are always bigger than guppy or sword fry (probably twice the size) I don't know about platys but as they are closely related to swords i would guess that they would be small like sword fry, rumor is that platys are much less cannabilistic than the others though. I don't know i've never raised platys. Good luck

 

[sylvia]

Actualy I've raised all four and I'd say mollies are the least canibalistic.
Guppies also aren't too bad if the fry have lots of cover as the males aren't particularly fast swimmers and there are lots of fry so the chances of the many fry being eaten, by the few females, are minnimized considerably.
All the fry can survive though if provided with adequate cover and can get food without leaving that cover.

 

[k2snowboards88]

Thanks. Unless i get some more different information, i think i'll get some mollies. I'll have to wait til i see the ones that are colored in white and black speckles.

 

[guppymonkey]

A lot of it depends on the fish. Some are better than others. I have had livebearer mothers that completely ignore their fry and others that will gobble them all up. I think mollies are less likely to eat their fry but I would guess that the males might go after them because the males are usually much more aggressive than the females.

While most fry might be around the same size at birth guppies usually grow a lot faster than swordtails or mollies.

 

[Plecostrum]

I found that mollies and platys the easiest to grow on too. The mom left more alone and seemed to get more babies from the brood in community tank. The guppies i lucky to get 2-3 grown where the others had around 8 survvive the community tank.

Black mollies babies were real nice but had velvet all the time so i gave up!!

 

[k2snowboards88]

Do mollies hang out mostly at the top of the water? Where do other livebearers spend most of their time? I"m looking for a fish that likes the top of the tank, as most of my fish are substrate dwellers and the other fish never usually go above half way up the tank.

 

[newfishies]

mine is mostly at the top, but she goes all over the tank. i don't know if that is just her though!

 

[guppymonkey]

Do mollies hang out mostly at the top of the water? Where do other livebearers spend most of their time? I"m looking for a fish that likes the top of the tank, as most of my fish are substrate dwellers and the other fish never usually go above half way up the tank.

The common livebearers (Mollies, Guppies, Swordtails, and Platies) are all top feeders but that doesn't mean that they stay only at the top though. They will swim down to all layers of the tank.

 

[paulthegreat]

What would be a normal size fry for a swordtail? That is how many babies do they have at one time?