Livebearers For Soft Ph 6.5-6.8 Water?

[three-fingers]

I don't usually visit this area of the forums much, since I don't have any livebearers due to my water being soft and slightly acidic .
But I really want some! I'm not too keen on all the fancy guppies and such, but I really like platys, swordtails and female guppies...
I would like to keep my water the way it is though, since all my existing fish love it and some potential future fish may need it.

So can anyone suggest a livebearer for a 50gal tank with a fluval 305 , temperature between 23-25 degrees celcius, soft water pH 6.5-6.8 and with the following fish:
one Feather-fin Synodontis, various tetras and small fish of 2"+, marbled hatchetfish, one female dwarf gourami and one angelfish.

The tank will be heavily planted and with floating plants, bogwood and black river stones as décor, and a sand substrate (with plant substrate at places with the more demanding plants).

I'm not too fussed about any potential fry from livebearers (if there's any that will suit my tank) being eaten, as I will be able to save some and temporarily put them in my 5.5gal planted tank.

So can anyone suggest anything? Thanks!

 

[nmonks]

Halfbeaks will do extremely well in soft/acid water, in fact better than in hard water in most cases. The common Celebes halfbeak loves soft/acid water, and Dermogenys spp. adapt very well to it despite being sold as brackish water fishes in many places. I keep halfbeaks with hatchets and tetras, and them work very well. In a big tank the female Celebes halfbeaks get to a really nice size and look amazing, like little U-boats!

With regard to poecilids, I asked a similar question on the British Livebearer list a few months ago, and among the suggestions were:

Alloheterandria spp.
Diphyacanta spp.
Pseudopoecilia spp.
Poecilia hollandi
Poecilia heterandria
Micropoecilia spp.
Brachyrhaphis spp. including Brachyrhaphis parismina
Priapichthys puetzi
Alfaro cultratus with almost red fins
Phallichthys quadripunctatus

Someone also mentioned "guppies strong in red pigment such as blondes... soft/acid water is used to strengthen the colours".

I'm not sure about soft/acid water goodeids. There may be some but I'm not aware of any myself.

Hope this helps,

Neale

(PS. Apart from the guppies and halfbeaks, some of these fish are uncommon in the trade. Mail-order is one option, but getting in touch with the British Livebearer Association or visiting their auctions is perhaps the cheapest and most fun way to get oddball livebearers. There are a LOT of people keeping these fish, you just don't see them traded. Oddball livebearers are, in my opinion, the best-kept secret in the hobby.)

 

[three-fingers]

Thanks nmonks! That gives me alot of options! I think I'll go for a few Celebes halfbeaks and then later I'll look for some of those species you listed to go in the same tank too.
I've just read the fish species index, and I've noticed you said yours wont eat flake food? I feed my fish frozen food about 3 times a week, either bloodworm, mysis, daphnia, white mosquito larvae or brine shrimp...so do you think they will eat them? And will they eventually accept flake/pellet food?

Also, you wouldn't happen to know where I can mail order them? As I'm 15 I cant quite drive yet and my parents would not be willing to take me very far to an auction....
When the time comes to get some of these fish, I may consider joining the British Livebearer Association .

Thanks again!

 

[fry_lover]

my very basic response to this (as i have rock hard water with a pH of 7.8ish) i dont know personally BUT

a friend with a stable pH of 6.5 has had success with Guppies, but not quite the same with platies, and my general understanding is that guppies can thrive more than platies in below 7.0 pH

i know that only covers 2 common livebearers though, and i am not sure on the scientific facts of the above (what i just said)

 

[three-fingers]

In that case, I'll probably try some female guppies before I go searching for those rarer species, especially since I wont be able to travel .
Celebes halfbeaks sound great though, so I still want to try some of them.

 

[nmonks]

Celebes halfbeaks will eat flake, eventually. Mine prefer frozen bloodworms. I also use Spirulina flake rather than regular flake (they eat some plant material in the wild, so I'm happier giving them "veggie" flake food rather than carnivore flake).

Don't get hung up on the pH. Fish don't feel pH. What they feel is the hardness, or more specifically how much dissolved material there is in the water. So putting fish in hard water that's been acidified to pH 6.5 with buffering liquid and putting them in soft water that's pH 6.5 are totally different things.

Cheers, Neale

 

[helterskelter]

Hi guys.

Most livebearers prefer hard water and i've had around 200 species in hard water myself.
A friend has soft water and keeps endlers, halfbeaks, and a couple of Goodeidae one being Zoogoneticus tequila and their doing well.

I know ur in scotland, but their is a auction in Corby on march 25th, but thats a long way to travel, but you would meet many people who love livebearers.

 

[three-fingers]

Thanks, I also feed my fish peas and algae flakes at least once a week, so vegetable matters not a problem.

I have soft water here too...but the guppies In the shop I work in are kept in alkaline RO water and are doing fine...they should be OK in my tank.

I know ur in scotland, but their is a auction in Corby on march 25th, but thats a long way to travel, but you would meet many people who love livebearers.

I would love to go to that auction, but theres no way my parents would drive me down anyway....thanks though, its good to know endlers can live in soft water, as I want some of them for my planted tank...