Thinking of starting a livebirth aquarium

[jkun17]

Before I begin, let my just say that I think I am such a jerk.

I bought a Dempsy based soley on the word of a saleswoman who said that it would be "just fine" in a 10 gallon tank. Seeing as I now know that I need a 30 gallon and have no way of buying one I'm going to be returning that fish before I cause it any more harm.

I bought the Dempsy because it was something different from the bettas and goldfish I'm already caring for as second nature. Still wanting something different after I return the Dempsy, I was thinking of trying my hand a live birth fish.

Seeing as my 10 gallon will be empty I was thinking replacing it with live birth fish.

What should I get and how many should I buy to keep my tank interesting but with enough space to accomodate the new fish?

I know I should probably buy one of those miniboxes to put the little babies in once they're born, so about what size box should I get?

I know that there are certain conditions that the water must be in in order to promote reproduction; what are those conditions?

If there are any other things that I should know, the help would be incredibly appreciated before I go do something stupid again.

 

[Zenn]

Which livebearer most suit your liking?

You got:

Swordtails (My personal favorite)
Mollies
Platies
guppies
Enderlers (sp?)

Now when it is a livebearer, it is best to get more females than males, only keep one spiece of one male in a tank, or they will attack each other if you get more than one, and you should get at least two or three females at LEAST to that male, to reduce stress on the females, the more females the better it will be...

And before you know it mate, you might find yourself dealing with little fry with 2 to 3 months

they are randy buggers

 

[Def]

Yep, good advice. Also, add some big plants etc to the tank, and don't bother with a breeding net if you keep platy/swordtails. Their fry are smart, I've had 20 fry from one birth survive in the tank (check my sig) along with adults and big fry no problem. Before you start on this, make sure you have somehwere to put the fry as they grow (ie: find a local shop that will take them). You ABSOLUTELY WILL have more fry you can handle within a few months. If you want to keep breeding them etc (which is what I'm doing), keep all the females and give away all the males every time. Keep only ONE mature male in the tank at any one time. Each time your fry mature to breeding age/size, give away your mature male and get a new one - if you don't do this, you can't prevent inbreeding.

 

[Zenn]

Yeah plenty of hiding places would be ideal, i tend to let my fish birth in the main tank, and over time i slowly hook out the fry and either put them in my raising tank that is next to the main tank, or into my breeding net, which i dont keep thm in for very long, because they dont grow that fast in a small space...

But very weedy plant are ideal, not so much big leaved and probably some rocks or slate that you can make caves with, small ones that they can escape the bigger fish in

 

[Mogurako]

You will probly have enough room in you 10 gal for:

SwordTails (my fav): 1male and 3-4 females.
Mollies: Probly just a Trio seeing how mollies can get quite large.
Platties: 2 trios
Guppies: 2-3 trios

If you are planing on swords,mollies or platties their fry will be fine just plant the tank well and Just scoop them out to another tank later if you have one. Gupp fry on the other hand aren't the brightest fish in the the tank they will probly need a lil net to live in untill they are a lil larger

 

[Carolinesugar]

hiya, just adding to wot every1 else has said already, your prob best off gettin alot of floating plants, that way the sprogs have a hiding place at the top of the tank, and can just rest up there. the main thing you will notice though, is that if your fry arent very bright, they will get sucked into the filter, so be prepared for that, as i know it can be really upsettin if you hadnt thought about it.

Depending on if your going to have another tank for the fry to grow up in or not, you may want to keep that growing tank without pebbles, as their silly lil buggers, and try to hide in them, and end up working themselves in so deep that they cant get out again.

I hope this helps you out. you might also want to get either a few ottos, or mayb a small pleco in there, just to keep the glass clean, and also help with the maintance of the tank. or if you like the apple snails, their perfectly safe in there with live bearing fish.

Good Luck!

 

[Da_Oz]

I would pick one type of fish to breed. Go to the store and look at your choices. If you get a couple of trios you could in just a few days be having around 200 fry. If you got 4 females and each had 50 fry. And 50 is not a crazy number. I have BB's haveing around 70 each time. And about the time you set up your 15 fry tank you will be asking yourself why did I do this. So pick one fish if platy I would just get a male and female, they tend to pair breed. But on the rest a trio is the way to go. And don't forget some females are preggy when you get them. I hade a platy get birth in the bag on the way home from the store. another good thing about just picky one type of fish is that when they give birth you can take the fry you like the best and rebreed then toghter this is called line breeding. But forwarning with swords this can take a year to do. Swords are slow growers.

 

[Mogurako]

hiya, just adding to wot every1 else has said already, your prob best off gettin alot of floating plants, that way the sprogs have a hiding place at the top of the tank, and can just rest up there. the main thing you will notice though, is that if your fry arent very bright, they will get sucked into the filter, so be prepared for that, as i know it can be really upsettin if you hadnt thought about it.

Depending on if your going to have another tank for the fry to grow up in or not, you may want to keep that growing tank without pebbles, as their silly lil buggers, and try to hide in them, and end up working themselves in so deep that they cant get out again.

I hope this helps you out. you might also want to get either a few ottos, or mayb a small pleco in there, just to keep the glass clean, and also help with the maintance of the tank. or if you like the apple snails, their perfectly safe in there with live bearing fish.

Good Luck!

I have never had any problems with my fry being sucked up into my power filters. For the most part sword and molly fry are very smart.

Jesse

 

[Def]

Happens all the time to me. I don't think they get sucked in, I think they see a dark safe place to hide and head for it. Then grow too big, get lost and can't get out. I've taken to crackign open the filter canister into a jug every week to make sure there aren't any fry.