Survival Of The Fittest Is Now Working

[pippoodle]

Ok so i decided to do the survival of the fittest with my livebearers to make sure i dont have too many young , the problem is the fish arent eating many of the fry there is lots in the tank swimming around with the adults and they arent interested in them
Have i just got well behaved fish or are they just well fed

 

[Nick16]

dont feed them, then they will be hungry and eat some fry.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

are you talking about the 180l?

looking at the stock i'm not all that surprised, you've no big fish in there, they'd only be able to take the fry in the first day or so after birth then they'd get too big. Get yourself something like a ram/apistogramma/kribensis/honey dwarf gourami..... that sort of size and agression level and you'll see a dramatic reduction in the number of fry who make it!

 

[Truck]

it could be both.

 

[Truck]

as miss wiggle said there arent any predatory fish. the only fish with a vague chance of eating them are the guppies but only for the first few days

 

[pippoodle]

are you talking about the 180l?

looking at the stock i'm not all that surprised, you've no big fish in there, they'd only be able to take the fry in the first day or so after birth then they'd get too big. Get yourself something like a ram/apistogramma/kribensis/honey dwarf gourami..... that sort of size and agression level and you'll see a dramatic reduction in the number of fry who make it!

they hardly eat them on the first day lmao got to be careful i dont get a fish that is too aggressive cos the kids spend ages watching the tank so which one of those is big enough to eat the fry but a nice placid fish

cheeers Sarah xx

as miss wiggle said there arent any predatory fish. the only fish with a vague chance of eating them are the guppies but only for the first few days

its the platys that eat them more than the guppies do apart from my red blond female guppy she eats the fry (which still isnt much) but she is my biggest oldest guppy and she had a huge batch herself the other day , she gave birth on the riccia on the ornament and we counted at least 50 fry and she was still going when i couldn't sit there any longer

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes any of the fish i mentioned would be fine for that, they won't pick on the other fish at all but they're just fiesty enough to want to have a pop at the fry.

 

[pippoodle]

i like the look of one of the apistogrammas i think it was listed as an opal red faced or umbrella (forgive me if i'm totally wrong) i saw them at my LFS last time i went and wanted them but wasn't sure they'd be ok .
So glad i can get a couple of them now cos they were really pretty little fish , i have lots of plants in the tank so some fry will survive anyway but not the great deal that are at the moment
Thanks for your help

Take care

Sarah xxx

 

[Miss Wiggle]

No problem, not heard of that particular common name for the apisto so not sure exactly what species it is, but they're all pretty similar - colourful, hardy, little bit fiesty but not OTT.

Perfect community fish, I'm sure you'll really enjoy keeping them.

Not looked back at your sig to check the space you have in the tank, but if you have room for a group of them then get something like 3 females and 2 males, that way you'll see some fascinating sparring behaviour with the males as they try to compete for the attention of the females!

Although it should be said that it's entirley possible that apisto's will breed, but as they're much more in demand if you do get fry then most lfs's will take them off you unlikely molly/platy/guppy fry which you often struggle to give away.

Or if you just get 2 males or 2 females then no more fry problems, just lovely fish and some birth control!!!

 

[pippoodle]

going to have to wait before i get them cos i'll have to get rid of some of the larger fry first before i get them cos i have 38 platy fry that are nearly a month old and dont want to add anymore fish till they have gone
i'm sure i'll sort something in the end lol

kids like the gouramis so they might win out in the end - they usually do

 

[Bigbadbaz]

http/www.forum.apistogramma.com/

Have a look on here, it may be able to answer some of your questions

Baz

 

[pippoodle]

Got 3 congo Tetras today for free and they are wonking fine at helping to reduce the numbers a little bit