Livebearer Vivarium Help

[ncguppy830]

Hey guy, i currently am working on making a south american themed vivarium which includes a waterfall backround and a drip system.I wanted to include a fish that is indegenous to the area and i noticed some livebearer fit the bill. I was wondering which type i should get and which would be the most natural for the setup.

 

[DerpPH]

south american? livebearers are from central america... well some mollies, if not tetras.

 

[ncguppy830]

ok well i guess i could make some changes to it but i really want to have livebeaers.

 

[DerpPH]

ok well i guess i could make some changes to it but i really want to have livebeaers.

 
The generic guppy will work. THe wild strain if you can get some. For a natural feel to your tank, what size is it anyhow?

 

[ncguppy830]

65 gallon

 

[DerpPH]

65 gallon

Great for some mollues as in giant sailfin types! And even some swordtail or you cab do somethig different lika anableps or girardinicthys sp.

 

[ncguppy830]

ok i like the idea of salfins but dont they need salt

 

[helterskelter]

Onesided livebearer is from the amazon

http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onesided_livebearer
 
You can get natural wild mollies in the amazon
Amazon molly or Poecilia formosa (exists only as females. as males are not needed for breeding)
http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_molly
 
or Poecilia amazonica.

 

[ncguppy830]

okay saw the one sided livebearer on a website for sale and was wondering what is care for this fish.

 

[helterskelter]

their an intresting and unusual fish, not an easy one thats for sure, but well worth a try.

 

[ncguppy830]

yeah i guess so but i will try to breed them i dont know if its been done before

 

[helterskelter]

I've breed them back in the early 90's. The gonopodium on the males can only move either left or right, the females also have a guard scale on the vent again  either left or right.

So to breed you need a left handed male with a right handed female or visa versa. so you need a group of 6-8 fish to start off with.

 

[ncguppy830]

ok so is it easy to distingush male and female?

 

[helterskelter]

sexing is easy, male's have a long gonopodium like guppies and mollies

 

[ncguppy830]

ok and i suppose females are larger or am i wrong, and one quesstion could i feed them flakes and bloodworms?