Livebearers

[chordita]

Hello all,

I'm very much interested in starting my new tank with some small livebearers, particularly platys. But my problem is, I do not want my fish to breed. I just want to keep the same number of fish.

Everything that I read about livebearers state that they should be kept in groups with males and females, but would it be okay to keep just females? Or if not, how do I prevent them from multiplying?

 

[Skyrmir]

The easiest way to keep them from breeding would simply be not to give the fry places to hide. Use open ornaments and only plants the fish can get all around. They're going to reproduce any time they're in a healthy environment, but if the fry have no place to hide, they won't last long.

 

[mr86mister]

leaving it with just females would be fine, there isnt much of a difference between males and females and except their anal fins and sometimes size but thats about it

there is no way to "prevent" them from multiplying but if you just leave the fry alone they will most likely be eaten

HTH

 

[mr funktastic]

well i agree with the first 2 about leaving it open because i have had 3 batches of fry and not a survivour yet because i didnt want them to. but i did have one straggler that just refused to be eaten and when he got big enough i just gave him to my local fish store for a credit. it was awsome i put it toward some new lighting in my tank. it was only like 80 cents or sumthing but i mean if u got a breeding tank or just the little one that floats in your tank you can raise them up and make some money off of it. i just decided to keep a batch of guppies and they are growing nicely. i have a bout 20 guppies that i will be trading into my fish store for a nice credit that i will put toward my new tank

 

[greenmaji]

I would stick to only males (they are flashier anyway.. )

 

[tkos]

I would also stick to males only as any female will have a good chance at arriving at your house already pregnant (happen to me). If it is all males they might fight a bit (not harmful) but since they have no female to compete for they won't get very aggressive.

 

[mr funktastic]

i am currently having problems in my tank because there are all males. they are desperate for some luvin so they are going after the other males and any other fish. my mickey mouse platty is currently trying to have a go with my red finned shark lol. but greenmaji is definatly right about them being more flashy

 

[Elmware]

Well, the nice thing about livebearers is that they are popular with the pet stores, so you won't have too much of a problem finding a home for the frys, providing that they are full grown or at least 2 inches.

Livebearers do breed, as I found out with my Marigold Swordtails, but because they are all level feeders and they tend to cleanup the tank a bit and eat some of the algea off the plants, as well as look nice, they seem to be very popular fish.

Now if only there was a way to get them neutered and spayed

 

[mishi8]

Now if only there was a way to get them neutered and spayed

Apparently, according to staff at my LFS, the balloon mollies they sell are sterile. (Something to do with the way they are bred?)

 

[talloulou]

You absolutely can not rely on platys to eat their own fry IME. Even in a bare tank some fry will survive. Platys often don't eat their fry at all. IME

 

[mishi8]

You absolutely can not rely on platys to eat their own fry IME. Even in a bare tank some fry will survive. Platys often don't eat their fry at all. IME

Of course it's a YMMV thing, but my 4 platies have managed, in only a couple of months, to gobble up two broods so far. I managed to save most of another brood, but I had to be fast. If the fry didn't drop to the gravel fast enough, the mom turned around and snapped it up. If one did swim free the others would all chase after it. My tank doesn't have that many effective hiding places for fry, but it's far from bare. I'd also expect that those fry that do survive would end up getting sucked into the filter (if it didn't have a prefilter on the intake.)