Porthole Livebearers

[dwarfgourami]

Just had a phone call from Trimar. No fish will be coming today, as there was something the matter with the car. Also, the fish they thought were female limias turned out to be porthole livebearers, so they can't do me the limias- did I want portholes instead? I asked for half an hour's thinking time, dashed to the bookshelf and got my Baensch down...porthole mollies, very sickly prone to tuberculosis....oh, no, that's a different species....porthole livebearers...porthole livebearers...oh, here we are, volume 4...this pacific species...community tank...no special water requirements...ok, I'll go for those.

Again, he wanted to sell me two pairs, but I opted for a couple of extra females, so will be getting 2 males and 4 females, unless something else goes wrong with the car or these fish turn out to be something else.

Have temporarily bunged 4 female platies in big tank to keep it from uncycling.

So- does anyone know anything about porthole livebearers? They look quite cute in the pictures, even if the colours aren't as good as the limias. And they are a poeciliopsis, so even if I do want to go for limias later, I'd be able to keep them in the same tank. But any experience, advice, encouragement would be appreciated.

 

[nmonks]

According to the John Dawes livebearer book, these are Poecilopsis gracilis. The photographs suggest rather attractive little fish. He says they need neutral to slightly alkaline water, lots of plants, and a higher temperature for breeding (22-28C is the range suggested). Live and dry foods, some veggies. Fish have 5 to 10 spots. Broods up to 60 fish.

No personal experience, but I thought I'd report what was in the book. Incidentally, Poecilopsis is very closely related to Heterandria and Phallichthys, so those two might be risky if you're worried about hybrids.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[dwarfgourami]

According to the John Dawes livebearer book, these are Poecilopsis gracilis. The photographs suggest rather attractive little fish. He says they need neutral to slightly alkaline water, lots of plants, and a higher temperature for breeding (22-28C is the range suggested). Live and dry foods, some veggies. Fish have 5 to 10 spots. Broods up to 60 fish.

No personal experience, but I thought I'd report what was in the book. Incidentally, Poecilopsis is very closely related to Heterandria and Phallichthys, so those two might be risky if you're worried about hybrids.

Cheers,

Neale

Thanks a lot, Neale. I haven't got John Dawes' book yet, so that was really helpful. It complements the information in Baensch nicely. Looks like I'll be able to look after these little fellows.

Thanks about the warning, too; haven't got either phallichthys or heterandria as yet, but if I am able to get hold of them (which is what I'm hoping), they'll go in different tanks anyway.