Livebearers Or Egg Bearers

[jpeterson]

I was wondering if rainbow fish were Livebearers or Egg bearers and, if they are egg bearers what I would have to do to start breeding them.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

They are egg scatterers in a sense, but do not breed their whole quota in a single day...

Practically the whole bottom of your tank needs to be covered with a layer of peat moss or similar strata and over a period (3/4days), they will scatter their eggs in the substrate (around 20 to 30 eggs per day)...

If they are fed an abundance of live Daphnia, mosquito larvae and bloodworms.... the fry may even survive with the parents in the tank. - they do however need special water conditions and are easier to breed than it is to hatch and rear the fry.

 

[jpeterson]

Sounds all to confusing me me as a noob. I may just get guppies for breeding. Only have guppies in the tank. Only thing is my tank is only 48 litres and i dunno if that's big enough. Once the babies were big enough I would not be keeping them.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Yes... Rainbows are reasonably specialised and Guppies allways recommended as a good starter fish for potential breeders... all you'll need is a well planted tank with plenty of floating Hornwort and you're away... (48l is good and start off with at least 1 male to every 3 females).. good luck!

 

[MBOU]

Guppies are a great fish to get practise in fish breeding and if you want to make it that little more exciting, there is the British Livebearer Association and some more unusual species of livebearers that are rarer but equally easy to keep

 

[jpeterson]

Ok back to plants and such. ATM I have no clue on what plants and how to plant them. Could you give me a good list of the plants guppies like, and what is Hornwort?

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Hornwort is a floating plant (very neccessary for successfully breeding Guppies) and then I'd suggest thickets of Cabomba on the lower levels.....

 

[jpeterson]

Where can I buy the plants? P@H or just a local store or something?

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Where can I buy the plants? P@H or just a local store or something?

I dunno where you are, but in South Africa, both those plants are prolific and available in all (or most) pet shops.

 

[jpeterson]

I am in the UK. I should be able to get them from my LFS