Some Proper Livebearers

[fish48]

 

[DyArianna]

Very beautiful fish!  Goodeids?  Still learning...  I don't know what the one with the long nose is.  Can you tell us what they are?  It's very easy to think of Livebearers only being Guppies, Mollies, Platies and Swordtails. 

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Oooo, I've not seen most of them before.

 

[DyArianna]

I know right Prairie!    Would like to know more.

 

[helterskelter]

1. Zoogoneticus tequila?
2. Hemirhamphodon pogonognathus
3. Characodon sp. Los pinnos?
4. Characodon lateralis los beros
5. Wild Guppy
6. Xiphophorus gordeni? (wild platy)
    

How many out of 6 did i get?

 

[DyArianna]

Okay now.. lol  Let's be fair.  I could have tried my damdest and googled.  Did you or did you just know them?

 

[fish48]

5 out of 6   helterskelter this  Xiphophorus was very popular about 20 years ago I give you a clue it has a very small sword lol,
 
Hemirhamphodon pogonognathus not seen in the lfs very often
The one in pic is the male female not so colour full the fry are not born all at once
1 0r 2 fry evry  2 0r 3 days she have had 5 fry inlast 2 weeks the fry are small although
Thay don’t seem to have very many fry

 

[helterskelter]

I know them as I've been keeping Livebearers for over 20 years, Fish48 got me into them back into 1990.

Fish48 I'm guessing it's a poor looking X. xiphidium then (one of your better looking fish clearly )

http/www.ecologyasia.com/verts/fishes/forest-halfbeak.htm

 

[fish48]

• 
   
  

  Oooo, I've not seen most of them before.

  There is a family/ group of about 35 types of Livebeaerer speces and over 250 individuals. the largest group are the   goodeids and very few people keep them mind you though you would need a lot of tanks to keep all of them lol.
  

 

[fish48]

 helterskelter did you keep xiphophorus andersi  

  

 

[helterskelter]

Not in a long time

 

[the_lock_man]

Okay now.. lol  Let's be fair.  I could have tried my damdest and googled.  Did you or did you just know them?

 
Both Fish48 and Helterskelter are incredibly highly knowledgeable about rare livebearer species, they both gave me lots of advice when I was looking to get into rare livebearers. I really like the look of the Characodon Lateralis (the 4th picture), but they're best off in species tanks, and I think my 34l would be too small for a pair (correct me if I'm wrong, please, F48 or HS)

 

[TallTree01]

Before now, I wouldn't of been to tell you any livebearers except for guppies, Endlers, mollies, platies and swordtails.

 

[the_lock_man]

Before now, I wouldn't of been to tell you any livebearers except for guppies, Endlers, mollies, platies and swordtails.

 
Most shop-bought endlers are endler/guppy hybrids. Same with platies and swordtails. Even mollies are often hybrids between the various species.
 
But there's so many lovely, natural species out there which are over-looked because the common ones are the VERY colourful ones.
 
This is my old avatar and his missus, they are Limia Tridens.
 

 
As with guppies, the female is the drab one, but the male had this lovely neon blue colouration. These are just the same to care for as platies/guppies, they are also poecilids, the male has a gonopodium, the female stores sperm packets for 6 months. I had some success breeding these in a fairly inhospitable tank (ie the fry were mainly predated upon, due to lack of hiding places. I originally saw 3 fry, one of whom survived to adulthood. They've all recently passed.
 
That one that I said I wanted to keep is a Goodeid. Males do not have a gonopodium, they have an andropodium, which is used for the same purpose, but is shaped like a mitten, and the sperm, I believe goes along the "thumb" of the mitten into the female. The female does not store sperm like the poecilids. Goodeids are often quite feisty species, and need to be in species tanks.
 
I'd really love to have a fish room where I could set up breeding projects for a number of these species. Many of them are nearly extinct in the wild.

 

[TallTree01]

They're very pretty TLM, like a sparkly platy . Is the male the one at the back or the front?