Suggestions For A Livebearer?

[Ibrahim]

I'm getting into the hobby again, and I'm looking to take on a livebearer breeding project. Guppies and platies don't really interest me, endler's did for a while, but I've decided against them.

Right now I'm kind of leaning towards girardinus metallicus, but I'm completely open to suggestion. Are there any goodeids or anything of the sort that are at least a little forgiving for a returning aquarist?

Thanks!
Ibrahim

 

[helterskelter]

Firstly where are u.

UK, big auction in corby in march which I'll be at and girardinus metallicus are usualy there, shops do order them in but their not very good fish in general, home breed fish are always better.
Goodeids are still rare in the hobby, but I'm lucky to have a friend nr me who has about 30 of the 50 species of Goodeids.

US, some usuers here do keep rare livebearers and I'm sute their post what they got soon.

Or you can view my forum in my sig, or American Livebearer Association at http/livebearers.org

Also View Viviparouses photo ablum for fish here

http/www.livingfish.co.uk/forum/photo_album.asp

 

[nmonks]

Hello Ibrahim,

A lot depends on what's in your neighbourhood. Small aquarium shops often don't get rare livebearers at all, and the bigger shops may only do so periodically. That said, things seem to be getting better all the time, and if you look carefully and visit a variety of stores, you're likely to come across various halfbeaks and some goodeids. At least one shop in London regularly has unusual livebearers (Wholesale Tropicals). Alternatively, getting in touch with a livebearer club is a very good way to obtain stock. The British Livebearer Association has auctions on a regular basis where you can pick up young fish from other breeders easily and inexpensively. They also have a "trade page" for people to swap or sell excess fish.

You might also want to think about context. Goodeids are, on the whole, poor community fish so these are generally fish you keep in their own tank or perhaps with other goodeid species. Halfbeaks are much better community fish, and poecilids even better provided you have nice hard water for them.

Cheers, Neale

 

[Ibrahim]

Ah, sadly I forgot to add my location.

I'm in the US, I live in Detroit, Michigan. I've already mailed in my application/dues to the ALA, too. So should I just wait and see what's available?

I would love to get some ameca splendens or something of that nature.

This isn't going to be a community tank. I had a lot of aquariums lying empty at my parents' house from when I was younger, so I've a 55g community tank, a couple of empty 20 gallons, a slew of empty 10 gallons, and 2 empty 30 gallons. I'll be setting up a single-species tank for whatever livebearer I end up picking as a breeding project. Well, maybe some snails or something too if algae gets to be a problem. I know goodeids don't care much for cories.

Anyway, thanks for the link!

 

[nmonks]

If you have a number of small tanks to play with, then trying some of the more difficult livebearers can be a lot of fun. So yes, wait until you hear back from the ALA, but also check out some of the mail order places to see if there's anything you fancy online. In North America, you should be able to obtain a variety of native livebearers through biological supply houses; while not terribly colourful, a lot of these are hardy and interesting fishes. Heterandria formosa is just lovely to watch and one of the smallest freshwater fishes in the world. It also has an odd way of breeding, droping a baby or two every few days rather than all in one go.

In a big tank, then something like pike livebearers or Anableps might be an option, or even some giant sailfin mollies (these are not the ones traded in the shops, but get to about 6 inches long!).

Cheers, Neale

 

[helterskelter]

I've got my ALA trader here

The main ALA Convention on April 27-29th in Cleveland OH. would be worth getting there if u rearly wanted to find out what's out there and meet other people who are interested in this subject.


As for Ameca splendens in the wild their almost gone, their has only been a few fish found in the last 5 years how ever in the hobby their still quite common.
Good luck though and let us know what u get.

 

[Ibrahim]

Thanks for all of the help, it's really appreciated.

Neale, when you say biological supply house, what exactly do you mean? Do you know of any websites or anything where I could find them? These tanks are going in my studio, not anywhere public in the house, so looks don't matter, as it'll only be me in there. I've seen heterandria formosa for sale on places like aquabid.com and the like, but never really knew anything about them. I'll do some research!

Edit:

Yea, I read about the convention in Ohio. That's actually what prompted me to get a membership, as it's only a 2 hour drive and I've a number of people in the Cleveland area to whom I owe visits.

 

[nmonks]

These are the places that supply fish for labs and universities (livebearers and killifish are used quite widely in, for example, behaviour experiments as well as for teaching). An example (though not an endorsement, I've never used them) would be a place like Sachs Systems. I'm sure there are plenty of others if you spend a little time on Google or Yahoo. I happen to have them bookmarked because I like to see what brackish water fishes are in the coldwater trade. Anyway, I see they have some Heterandria in batches of 10 for $16.95 including shipping, which seems like a steal to me. They have some Gambusia and wild mollies as well. A tank of Heterandria with Java moss and freshwater shrimps is one of the nicest mini-projects out there, and would make a lovely addition to a fish room collection. Gambusia are to livebearers what Jack Dempseys are to cichlids: mean. Approach with caution. Fun, pretty, lively, but don't trust 'em with anything other than maybe plecs.

Cheers, Neale

Neale, when you say biological supply house, what exactly do you mean? Do you know of any websites or anything where I could find them? These tanks are going in my studio, not anywhere public in the house, so looks don't matter, as it'll only be me in there. I've seen heterandria formosa for sale on places like aquabid.com and the like, but never really knew anything about them. I'll do some research!

 

[kribensis12]

Could someone give me some common names. I want to breed rare livebearers but I cant remeber the latin names!

 

[helterskelter]

The thing with common names is what's common in the UK may be different in US, Knowing the latin names would mean where ever u are looking for fish your get the right fish.

Thats why some fish have several common names.

 

[kribensis12]

Well could someone give me some latin names of fish that have placentas, and umbilical cords?

 

[Ibrahim]

I've been reading diligently about h. formosa and I've decided that this may be the fish for me, for now, anyway!

Thanks a lot for the suggestion, Neale, as well as the source!

I'm really looking forward to my tank of heterandrias and will keep them with either some shrimp or a tiny bottom dweller.

As soon as I set their tank up and get everything ready, I'll take some pictures.

 

[helterskelter]

Sounds perfect, formosa are lovely little fish and rearly seen in the hobby.

Well could someone give me some latin names of fish that have placentas, and umbilical cords?

Well their are quite a few, here is a list of most the fish their are a couple more added to the list now, but that about 98% correct.

Family Goodeidae
Subfamily Goodeinae


Genus Allodontichthys

A hubbsi
A polylepis
A tamazulae
A zonistius


GENUS Alloophorus

A regalis
A robusstus


GENUS Allotoca

A diazi
A dugesi
A goslinei
A maculata


GENUS Ameca

A splendens


GENUS Chapalichthys

C encaustus
C pardalis
C pardalis peraticus


GENUS Characodon

C audax
C germani
C lateralis
C species Collected at Algalon Gonzalez 1994


GENUS Girardinichthys

G multiradiatus
G viviparus


GENUS Goodea

G atripinnis atripinnis
G A garcilis
G A luttpoldi
G A martini
G A xaliscone
G toweri


GENUS Hubbsina

H turneri


GENUS Ilyodon

I ameca
I furcidens
I lennoni
I whitei
I xantusi


GENUS Neoophorus

N catarinae
N daizi
N meeki


GENUS Skiffa

S bilineata
S francesae
S lermae
S multipunctatus


GENUS Xenotoca

X eiseni
X melanosoma
X variata


GENUS Xenoophorus

X captivus


GENUS Xenotaenia

X resolanae


GENUS Zoogoneticus

Z quitzeoensis
Z tequila

 

[kribensis12]

Wich would you say is best? What about pike livebearers?

 

[nmonks]

Pikes are lovely, but they are *not* easy to keep unless you have lots of live food. Livebearer fry are the ideal food (home-bred, not feeder guppies from the store*) but earthworms and large insects are eaten too.

Ameca splendens is very pretty and easy to keep. Apart from goodeids there are some lovely oddball poecilids. Look out for "swamp guppies" Micropoecilia picta. These are pretty, small, hardy, but do need slightly brackish water. Gambusia mosquitofish are great fun, but violent thugs, so keep them alone. Halfbeaks are my favourites, but they need space because the males are incredibly violent. If you like fish that fight all the time, halfbeaks are great! They also become very tame, to the degree you can hand-feed them. There's a lot of variety among livebearers, and visiting some of the specialist livebearer web sites and forums has to be carried out before you choose what to go with. Keeping livebearers is like keeping cichlids -- it can cover all kinds of things.

Cheers, Neale

*For one thing, cost. Pikes will eat a guppy a day. That gets very expensive very quickly. Weaning them onto mealworms and suchlike is well worth doing.

Wich would you say is best? What about pike livebearers?