Stocking: livebearer colony & community?

[turophobe]

I have the following stock in a 29 gallon right now. I'm going to set up a heavily planted 55 gallon in its place, and move the 29 gallon across the room. These need a home in the new scheme:

• 1 swordtail (f)
• 6 neon tetras
• 3 cherry barbs
• 1 albino cory

I'm intrigued by a livebearer colony, if I can keep the population stable. Easier said than done, I know. Proposed 29 gallon, lightly planted livebearer:

• 4 swordtails (3 f, 1 m)
• 4 platies (3 f, 1 m)
• 4 guppies (3 f, 1 m)
• maybe some shrimp?

Proposed 55 gallon, heavily planted community:

• 1 blue gourami
• 14 neon tetras
• 7 cherry barbs
• 7 zebra danios
• 12 albino corys

Other ideas:

• livebearers in the 55, a smaller community in the 29. More room for error on the fry, but if the population booms, then I have even bigger trouble.
• split livebearers across tanks with some hunters (barbs, gourami), and avoid possible swordtail/platy hybridization.

Thanks for any tips!

 

[Darkseid76]

You can keep the swords and platy together, they can cross but are more likely to pursue their own kind. Out of the three livebearers though I would stick to just 2. With only 2 tanks and that many females, you'll be up to your arms with fry.

I have ONE female sword who drops fry like nobody's business. They're taking over my tank like duckweed lol

 

[turophobe]

I've read the cherry barbs and gouramis are both decent fry hunters, and they're fish I'd like to keep anyway. I wonder about putting a group of livebearers with one, and another set of livebearers with the other. Then again, that's two tanks they could overrun, and I'd lose the livebearer theme.

Platies are my favorite, but one kid likes swords and the other kid likes guppies, and platies+swordtails complicates things. I could live without the platies.

 

[Darkseid76]

Some livebearers will eat their own fry anyway. I had a pair of platy who wouldn't give fry a second look too though.