New 29

[KevinES]

Hey guys. I know I said I was going to do a 29 active tank but my wife wanted fish that have babies (she's pregnant too...) and I have never done a liverbearer tank so I decided to do that instead. I threw my 1 Cardinal Tetra and 4 Neons in it. They spend a couple days in there and today I added 3 Guppies and 3 Platties.
I got all different types. I have mickey mouse platty, a bright red one and an orange one. For Guppies I got a male with a yellow and black stripped tail and a female with a red tail and a female with a black tail. I'm not sure what to expect for babies but it should be interesting.
I think tomorrow I am going back to the LFS to get a couple of Cardinals and a couple of albino Neons. I am also thinking about getting some red cherry shirmp. I wanted to get some ghost shrimp too but they don't have any. I might also try and get some cories that will breed.
It should be an interesting tank.

 

[mudraker]

Sounds interesting and fun.

Not trying to be a know-it-all but you'd better what out for tetras and parents eating the young if you truly want to keep the fry....and tetras and those live bearers WILL eat red cherry shrimplets and possibly the adults.

 

[KevinES]

I appreciate your opinion. Honestly I am not looking for many of the fry to survive. I have room for a few but I am not trying to be a breeder. I know some of you may not agree with it but I am looking for most of the fry/baby shrimp to be eatin. However I think there will be a very good survival rate.
A couple years ago I had a tank with neons, glow lights and black neons, along with 2 angel fish, a rainbow shark and 2 bristlenose plecos. I put in 3 guppies with them and a couple months later I had 15 guppies and 7 bristlenose plecos...Not only did the bristlenose or the angel fish eat the fry but the tetras or parents didn't either. Maybe it's because they had enough hiding places...either way this tank has more plants and hiding places. I actually wanted the shirmp to keep the fry in check.
From what I have read the shrimp should be fine with small livebearers and small nonagressive tetras. And as I mentioned they will have plenty of hiding places.
I am looking for some compitition to keep the numbers in check but I am looking for a few young to survive every now and then.
I could be wrong but from my experience and what I have read the shrimp should be fine and the fry and baby shrimp should stand a real good chance.
I mean if I get baby bristlenoses and guppies to make it in a tank with angels, I think I can do it with some neons...
Opinons are always welcome though.

 

[KevinES]

hmmm I have done some more searching and it looks like even even tetras and platties could try to eat them (as you mentioned.) I think I am still going to give it a try. I will get some more plants for them. Some java moss and some very fine plastic plants. I have a couple of caves that the other fish don't seem to go in so maybe I could surround those with the moss. If I could get a safe area for them and maybe even get them to breed it might be a nice little system...
If not does anyone have other suggestions? Are there any crabs that are totally aquatic that might nab a fry every now and again? I know there are lobster but I think they would grab my adults...
Hmmm doing more reading maybe RCS aren't an option...
time to read about ghost shrimp...

 

[KevinES]

I figured I would give an update...
Everything is going well. Didn't lose any fish. I also haven't added anything else yet. I had car problems so I couldn't make it back to the LFS. I still think I want to get a couple albino neons and a couple cardinal tetras. I still wanna get some shrimp but I guess I will go the ghost shrimp route.
In another post I said the male guppy was bothering my platty but he has laid off.
Both female guppies and both female platties look pregnant so I hope to have some babies in the next month or so.

 

[Purplegibbon]

If you want a lot of baby's go buy like 3-4 female molly's and 1 male it's crazy Ive had em for a week and every female I had was prego I just had two births this weekend

 

[KevinES]

I do want babies but I don't want to just jump into it. I want to get an idea of survival rate in this take before I go crazy. I have an extra tank sitting around right now and I could always take babies to the LFS but I want a set up that allows for a few babies to live every once in a while, but for the most part not make it...Don't know how this will work though...my guppies had a good survival rate with angels in the tank...

 

[KevinES]

Well I made a decision...
I picked up 2 albino neons and 2 cardinal tetras. I got 5 ghost shrimp for clean up and picked me up a snail to clean the sides.
Just after I got them in there I noticed a group of about 6 fry. One of my fish had babies already. I'm not sure if they are guppies or platys...all of the females still look ready to explode.

 

[Purplegibbon]

Awesome! how does it feel to be a grandfather haha just kidding

 

[KevinES]

Here are some pics of the tank...It is flooded with fry...

 

[KevinES]

There are 4 Neons, 2 albino neons, 3 cardinals, 4 guppies, 4 platys, 5 ghost shimp, a snail and a ton of fry.

 

[Purplegibbon]

Here are some pics of the tank...It is flooded with fry...

Buy a leopard ctenopoma I got one there AWESOME lol **** eat the fry.

 

[Vircomore]

Very nice.

If you want to make sure the fry are getting enough food, crush up some of your flake really really small when you feed.

You could also buy Hikari FirstBites (looks like brown sugar) but fry love it.

 

[KevinES]

Most of the flakes I feed them are leftovers from my other tank so they are very small already. I do crush some of them up a little more though. I have been watching the fry and they seem to be eating them.

 

[KevinES]

Ugh I hate Petco...I got a blue platy and a guppy there a couple of days ago just to make sure I got some fish from different families and sure enough the guppy just died. I think the platy is on the way out too. She doesn't move a whole lot and the male guppy bugs her pretty bad...but you can see in the pictures she has plenty of hiding room yet she just sits near the top and lets the guppy pick on her. I normally don't support petco but ****...I will probably lose the ghost shrimp I got from there too...dare I try a petsmart?

 

[KevinES]

Hey everyone...I know it has been a while. Just figured I would let everyone know that I am moving babies to a new tank for the first time. It is getting to the point where they will get over crowded. The babies are almost the size of the neons. I am just moving a few to start with to make sure everything is ok with the other tank. I will let ya know how it goes.