What Kind Of Easy Breeders Can Go In A 55gal.

[steppy104]

I'm inheriting a wide 55gal. aquarium, and im looking to use it for breeding smaller fish for feeders.

I was wondering if any small feeders can be bred, within the sametank, if so which kind can.

I'd appreciate it anyone could help me out THANKS!!!!

Oh yeah, and I checked out the guide pinned at the top, and see that the main live bearers are Mollies, platies, swordtails, and guppies.

Can they all live and breed in the same tank?

I want to have as much variety of breeding fish as I can in one tank, so I would like to know which species can live togther and still breed. I plan on using a majority of the babies as feeders for a very hungry trio in one of my main tanks.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and can these species make inbreds? Not that I want them to..Just wondering.

 

[aquagirl]

Guppies will probably be your best bet, but platies are quite good as well. For the most part, yes, they can all live together, but some are larger than others and you can count on fancy guppies or sailfin mollies getting quite ragged. I would go with either all guppies or you can do combinations of the others. Guppies can be a bit mean, in my experience, and will not only get nipped up but pester the others.

Sometimes, yes, they make inbreds, but not all that often. When this happens it tends to be platys and swordtails.

But uhm yea to sum it up, if you want different kinds, go with mollies&swords&platys. They are friendlier, but not quite as quick to breed as guppys. Close, however.

 

[blitztidus]

All the types of livebearers will work in that tank, yes they can inbreed, but by inbreed, do you mean bread with their parents and siblings and etc, because that is inbreeding, you must mean INTERBREEDING, the ones that can interbreed are mollies with guppies and platies with swordtails.

 

[steppy104]

THANKS ALOT!!!! That helps me out 100%........I really appreciate your reply......I guess i'll go with the trio you mentioned.....

Thanks again!




yeah i ment interbreed

 

[blitztidus]

No prob, common confusion.

 

[Annastasia]

I wouldn't get Mollies unless you are prepared to add salt with them. If you want to keep them in freshwater, it has to be hard and alkaline but salt addition is still best. Most other community fish you find will not like salt, or hard, alkaline water, so if you want Mollies, you'll need to choose selectively. Keeping Mollies in conditions that don't meet these will often lead to shorter lifespan and less immunity. They are particularly prone to shimmies and fungus when kept in less then ideal conditions. I'd personally stick to Swordtails/Guppies/Platies...or all three. Keep in mind Swordies and Platies can breed together, though, so you might want to pick one or the other.

 

[nmonks]

I'd just add that while tetras, barbs, and so on can't go into a brackish water aquarium, guppies, platies, and swordtails can, as can most of the "rare" livebearers like goodeids and halfbeaks. Guppies and Endler guppies can both be adapted to fully marine conditions, so a specific gravity of 1.003 to 1.005 (around 10-20% seawater) is harmless. In the wild, guppies are often found in brackish water, as are mosquitofish and many other poecilids, including the fearsome pike livebearer.

Swordtails and platies cannot take so much salt and do best in hard freshwater. Nonetheless, at a low SG, around 1.005, they will be fine. Perhaps not optimal conditions for them, but certainly not toxic either.

There are of course lots of cool brackish water fish that work well with livebearers: gobies, glassfish, freshwater soles, brackish water banjo catfish, and some of the rainbowfish to name but a few.

Cheers,

Neale

I wouldn't get Mollies unless you are prepared to add salt with them.

 

[steppy104]

Alright, thanks for all the info. =)

I think I'll go with guppies, swordtails and platies...Maybe keep as few guppies as I can at a time, majority of the others, so theres not as much violence.

And I'm now working with 25gal, not 50gal. The tank will be divided in half, and one half will be divided in another half, so I'll have 3 rooms total, a 25gal area, and two 12.5gal areas, which will be used for some other fish.

I posted all this before I actually had the tank. I mentioned getting it to my parents and they told me no, and my dad threw in 'You aren't putting a tank in the basement unless you get rid of all the tanks in your room'. So, I thought about it, and found out that it would actually work to the benifit of each fish, they'll be getting more room than they did in my bedrooms tanks.

Some babies may squeeze through the holes in the dividers, but I figure they're so tiny, they just might make some tastey treats for the other fish. =)

 

[nobody]

I find that, if gradually adjusted, livebearers withstand a wide range of salanity.

 

[steppy104]

Yeah, I think what I'll end up doing is try to find a fish store that sells them in fresh water. Then I'd assume that it's what they're used to and can live in it?

Also, if mollies were to be born in freshwater, would that make them ammuned to it? It's my guess, but I've never owned any type of fish like this. Just betta's for me.

 

[Annastasia]

Some stores put them in freshwater after they've been raised in slightly brackish. You can't go by what the stores keep them in, because, unfortunatly, they don't always keep them in the best conditions. To be safe with Mollies, either keep them in hard, alkaline freshwater or slightly brackish water.