Livebearers In Pairs?

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Now I'm certainly far from an expert, but I did keep some livebearers a couple of years back! I was browsing my LFS website and noticed that they are selling livebearers in pairs.. are you not meant to have 2-3 females for every male?

 

[Lyra0727]

Your correct, 2-3 females per male. But are you sure by pairs they dont mean 2 females or 2 males? My lfs sold them as pairs as a holiday special. I never knew how many beginner livebearer breeders were in the area until then. Everyone would get 2 males and 6-8 females! The store was very happy that day

 

[KittyKat]

Some rare livebearers are sold in pairs, just because they are so rare. Also some irresponsible shops sell theirs in 1m 1f pairs.

There are very few which are an exception to the general rule (often where the females are very large and able to stand their ground against the males), but for the most part, they should be kept in groups of 1m 2-3f.

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

ah yes, maybe they did mean same sex pairs, I dont think it said!

 

[OldMan47]

I buy and sell lots of livebearers in pairs or sometimes trios at auctions. If you are serious about caring for your fish and take the time to separate gravid females to let them give birth in peace, it can work quite well with a single female. On the other hand, a large breeding colony will almost always have about equal numbers of males and females, that also works out well. The only time you worry much about the ratio is when you have a few but not very many of a species. If I am trying to keep just 6 or 8 of some species, I always try to make the ratio heavy in females. Since many fish keepers do not keep the large colonies that I do and are not simply trying to breed a selected pair of fish, the general rule works out well for them.

 

[TCfishies]

Now I'm certainly far from an expert, but I did keep some livebearers a couple of years back! I was browsing my LFS website and noticed that they are selling livebearers in pairs.. are you not meant to have 2-3 females for every male?

I was just talking about this on another post. I've got a pair of mollies and they get along just fine. She follows him as much as he follows her.

It may depend on the individual fish how well they get along? My male does not seem very aggressive. they have sex all the time and seem very happy together!

cheers
TC