Questions On My New Fishies

[dunchp]

Right, OK Thanks.

Depending upon what type of Gambusia you have, you can even keep them in tubs in the garden.

I have posted a picture of a pregnant Gambusia in the Rare Livebearers section under Gambusia atrora.

I am not going to get into giving advice on getting gollies, goes against the grain, but I wish you luck with it.

 

[ally86ozzy]

i guess ill giv up on the golly thing..... ill get my boy guppy some female guppies to make him happy. he likey the ladies ! anyways i wuz thinking about putting fry in some type of big tub (just like dunchp said) or bucket when they r born, with gravel and elodea and things lik that. would they like it in there? oh and how many fry do mosquitofish usually hav?

 

[Butch]

The mosquitofish usually have 30 fry on average, most get eaten by the adults. Why not put adults in the tub and you will have lots of them by time the summer's over. And your mosquitofish are either Gambusia affinis (Western Mosquitofish) or Gambusia holbrooki (Eastern Mosquitofish), not sure which species you have.

They do well in long tubs, not tall buckets because they are surface dwellers. Yeah the mosquitofish don't care about the gravel or not, as long as you have lots of aquatic plants like elodea or java moss etc.

 

[ally86ozzy]

so it doesnt matter if the tub is only a couple inches deep?

AND THEY HAVE 30 FRY ON AVERAGE?!?!?! since im still in school (im only 12) we did a project in Science with them (and my teacher wuz giving the fish away she still is) and mine only had 7 fry but then my teacher took them out and put them in her big tank so they could grow (we were keeping them in halfs of soda bottles with elodea duckweed and snails)

 

[kribensis12]

^ WOW, sounds like a fun project. Im only 14 and i have never done a project like that!

 

[ally86ozzy]

oh and does anyone know if my mosquitofish is pregnant? i think it is in stage 2-3 of pregnancy if it is pregnant. its tummy isnt very big but its gravid spot is much visible. ill try to get pics. thanks!

 

[Butch]

Mosquitofish are very hard to kill as they can survive any water and small tanks (like soda bottles) make they excellent projects for school kids, like feeder guppies and other easy-to-care fishes. Mosquitofish is my favorite livebearer because they are hardier and looks like mini pike when my huge females feasting on the feeder guppies for breakfast.

The real reason why you get 7 fry from the female is because the rest of fry already got eaten by their own mother as the fry can't escape from its mother in small tank (soda bottle).

Its doesn't matter if the water is only 5 or 12 inch deep as the mosquitofish lives in the shallow waters anyways.

 

[dunchp]

Guys, although it may be true that mosquitosfishes can live in soda bottles (I have never tried) you should try and put them into the biggest aquarium you can reasonably afford / maintain.

'Mosquitofishes' are from the genus Gambusia and whilst the common ones such as Gambusia holbrooki and affinis might do OK in soda bottles, it is not true with all Mosquitofishes. Just thought I would give you a bit of a cautionary note. Some Gambusia, such as Gambusia eurystoma are among the most difficult livebearers you can come across.

 

[Butch]

Dunchp, she were never keep her mosquitofish in a soda bottle, she put them in her 10gal tank. But the soda bottle thing were just a school project in science, not permament home for the fishes. The soda bottle shows that how Gambusia affinis/holbrooki can survive anything. Can neon tetra do that? (no I don't try put neon tetra in the soda bottle). The other gambusia species were too hard to obtain anyways.

 

[dunchp]

Dunchp, she were never keep her mosquitofish in a soda bottle, she put them in her 10gal tank. But the soda bottle thing were just a school project in science, not permament home for the fishes. The soda bottle shows that how Gambusia affinis/holbrooki can survive anything. Can neon tetra do that? (no I don't try put neon tetra in the soda bottle). The other gambusia species were too hard to obtain anyways.

Oh, I am sorry Butch, I was sure that you wrote that Mosquitofishes can live in soda bottles?

No idea whether a neon tetra could survive in a soda bottle - I won't stay awake too long tonight wondering though

Other mosquitofishes are difficult to obtain, I have had to go to Mexico, Guatemala and USA myself to collect mine and have others that friends have collected from the Dominican Republic.