Tiger Teddies are like magic little fairies

[Magnum Man]

I started with 2 immature pairs, and lost one in shipping, I haven’t really been changing water on their 10 gallon, as they are so tiny, I don’t want to accidentally suck them up on a water draw, so I have just been topping it off with straight well water… I kind of expected it to be a disaster, but right now I have at least a dozen 1/4 inch long fry swimming around… even the adults are tiny, and everyone is super slow growing, but I have a tank full of “sea monkey” sized fish… I’ll have to read up
on them more, as they appear to be thriving here… I don’t even have a heater in that tank, so it’s around 70 degrees, and there is a small breeding colony of yellow neo shrimp in this tank, and they don’t appear to bother the babies, even as small as they are… I can’t imagine them being a live bearer, as small as the adults are…

anyone else raising them???

 

[Magnum Man]

Neoheterandia elegans

A species description of Gambusia holbrooki, the Eastern Mosquitofish

www.chicagolivebearer.com

 

[Magnum Man]

everything I’m reading talks about the importance of water changes… Maybe I’ll have to use a small gravel vacuum, with the gravel attachment removed, and a fine mesh added over the suction end… there currently is not much bio load on the tank, with maybe a dozen neo shrimp, and a dozen fry, and a few adults, with the tank being highly planted… I have been using hard well water in the tank, and it’s been working… I could start blending some RO into it, as a lot of reading shows people using soft water???

I’ve been trying to buy a few more pairs, to obtain a supportable colony, but everyone is sold out… so I’m happy mine are doing so well… again I can’t believe how little these guys are…

 

[emeraldking]

My experience with Neoheterandria elegans is that they can be kept in both soft (no too soft) up till harder water. But they shouldn't be kept with other fish otherwise at some point, they'll be wasting away. If you look at other dwarf livebearers such as Heterandria formosa, Phallichthys tico and Quintana atrizona, those can be combined with other not too large friendly fish. But preferably, all of them are better off in a single species tank. But these last three mentioned are stronger than those teddies.
And yes, they're all that small like those teddies. And all these dwarf livebearers are superfetative. The teddies can be kept at 20°C and up. But be sure that they won't be kept at 28°C and up for a long time. For also then they'll waste away. The other dwarfs mentioned are hardier. And they can also be kept at temperatures starting at 18°C and up. A short time at lower rate than 18°C (minimum 16°C) won't harm them. But that should happen gradually, of course...