Livebearer Troubles

[Spishkey]

thank you for telling me that, i shall introduce some floating plants from my oscars tank

 

[Neo8223]

Ok, seems like problems are still persisting. Yea i know ur an experienced fish keeper but lets hit home to basics.

60L tank according to your profile. Thats a 13 gallon tank. Rule for n00bs is 1 fish per gallon. Im guessing you have a good filter so you can overstock confidently.

Temperature 23-26C - Water change every 2 weeks of 30-50% for best conditions. put aquasafe in the water jug you use to add water (not into the tank after the water change)

Feed once a day varying from flakes to dried, frozen or even live daphnia/blood worms etc etc, mainly feeding flakes as meat gives fish laxitive effect.

Ensure surface movement by adding an airstone/pointing filter to agitate the surface for example to ensure oxygenated water.

Hiding places. - Plastic or live plants. Live plants is best because they can nibble on the plants getting food whenever they want. Few floating as mentioned above. Mine have always thrived in a live planted tank even with other community fish. Plants also help the tank cycle. Hornwort is good for that.

Filter cleaning - Once a month. Using water which has been treated with aquasafe or just fish tank water to clean it. I normally clean the sponges under tap, then the bio balls using the tank water (not right but ive never had a spike)

Light - Not mandatory unless you have plants.

Tank mates - Community fish will do.

Introducing - Lights off, float bag for 30 mins, then add bits of water every 5 mins until the hour mark, tilt the bag on its side and let the fish swim out on their own accord. Keep lights off for rest of the day.

All basics, but theres no reason why live bearers should be dyeing with these precautions.

 

[Spishkey]

Ok, seems like problems are still persisting. Yea i know ur an experienced fish keeper but lets hit home to basics.

60L tank according to your profile. Thats a 13 gallon tank. Rule for n00bs is 1 fish per gallon. Im guessing you have a good filter so you can overstock confidently.

Temperature 23-26C - Water change every 2 weeks of 30-50% for best conditions. put aquasafe in the water jug you use to add water (not into the tank after the water change)

Feed once a day varying from flakes to dried, frozen or even live daphnia/blood worms etc etc, mainly feeding flakes as meat gives fish laxitive effect.

Ensure surface movement by adding an airstone/pointing filter to agitate the surface for example to ensure oxygenated water.

Hiding places. - Plastic or live plants. Live plants is best because they can nibble on the plants getting food whenever they want. Few floating as mentioned above. Mine have always thrived in a live planted tank even with other community fish. Plants also help the tank cycle. Hornwort is good for that.

Filter cleaning - Once a month. Using water which has been treated with aquasafe or just fish tank water to clean it. I normally clean the sponges under tap, then the bio balls using the tank water (not right but ive never had a spike)

Light - Not mandatory unless you have plants.

Tank mates - Community fish will do.

Introducing - Lights off, float bag for 30 mins, then add bits of water every 5 mins until the hour mark, tilt the bag on its side and let the fish swim out on their own accord. Keep lights off for rest of the day.

All basics, but theres no reason why live bearers should be dyeing with these precautions.

my profile is seriously out of date sorry! swords (6) are in a 120L tank fully cycled temp 25 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 20 (this mornings readings) tankmates 4apple snails and 2 bn plecs has a spray bar to ensure water surface aggitation, i have a strict water changing regime (over 10 aquariums including 2 x 600L tanks, no tank under 100L..i spend a lot of time checking water quality and performing weekly water changes on the smaller tanks, fortnightly changes on bigger tanks if required. you should never clean your filter sponges under ordinary tap water..always in tank water) sword tank has plenty hiding spaces.

i think its a bit to early to tell if im still having problems with fish dying, that usually happens a few months after purchase, they go skinny and wither away. ok ive lost one fish so far but think that may have been shock of some sort? for now the remaining swords look fab, i plan on adding 3 or 4 more females as i have too many males at the moment. just gonna see how it goes.

 

[Spishkey]

ok im confused



swordtail 1 dropped her fry today.....all bar 5 were still born any idea what would cause that?

 

[tropic_john]

Most livebearers usually have stillborn fry [about 1 or 2] that are usually un fertilized eggs [my little siblings call these blobs ] undeveloped eggs, or fry that never fully developed i.e body with small head and no eyes

And I think swords are the most prone to having dead fry

 

[fish48]

Most livebearers usually have stillborn fry that are usually un fertilized eggs [my little siblings call these blobs ] undeveloped eggs, or fry that never fully developed i.e body with small head and no eyes

And I think swords are the most prone to having dead fry

that's nonsense if your livebearers usually have stillborn fry you are doing something wrong

 

[OldMan47]

I must agree with fish48. I seldom see any undeveloped fry in a normal drop. I wish I could tell you what the problem is Spishkey but it is outside my experiences to have that kind of trouble. Maybe you have whatever problem that Tropic John has but to a greater degree.

 

[tropic_john]

I mis-read, i thought it said all bar 5 weren't still born

 

[Spishkey]

all 5 fry doing well....thinking the prob may have been temp related? plug to heater was not fully in so heater was off, temp was just under 20 degrees. could that be enough to kill so many fry? i guess it would. have seperated 2 males away from the group and put those in my community tank due to fighting..apart from the loss of fry all seems well in my sword tank so far!!

 

[OldMan47]

With temperatures under 20, the fry will tend to develop much slower than at 24 or so, but I don't know that it actually harms the fry. In some fish like endlers, the male / female ratio of the fry increases at low temperatures because some of the female fry just don't make it through the gestation but I don't know if the same kind of thing happens in swords.

 

[Amberleaf]

I would recommend keeping platies, at least, at around 75 - 80 degrees Fahrenheit.... I don't know if this is the same for swordtails, but higher temperatures will help the fry grow faster. Just make sure you don't go over 85!

 

[OldMan47]

Spishkey's temperature was less than 68F so yes the heat might have been a factor. BTW 24C is 75F. I usually do the conversions in my head when responding to someone who is accustomed to the other temperature scale Amberleaf.

 

[Amberleaf]

Darn it! Sorry, I'm from Canada and they teach us all this about litres and Celsius but for the life of me, when it comes to fish, I am always talking in pounds, gallons, and Fahrenheit.

 

[OldMan47]

I live in the US where they never did bring in the nice decimal based metric system so I must deal with that crap measurement system every day. That does not mean that I am not ready to change over. When I ride my motorcycle to work, it would be fun to say that I rode in 3 degree weather instead of 36 degree weather but the way it is going, I will not see that day. I am 62years old already and this has been a subject of conversation since I was less than 20. Years seem to convert much easier than other things. Either system treats a rotation about the sun as a single year although there are calendar years and sidereal years depending on the perspective of the person giving the number. A global perspective means you think in terms of calendar years where a more cosmic viewpoint means you use sidereal years.

 

[Spishkey]

sorry should have said heat wasnt off all the time, it had gone off somewhere between the day before the fry were born and the day after. just wondered if the sudden grop in temp had contributed to the deaths? (one moment warm then the next cold, temp drops quickly if it was in the night?)