breeding - red tail sharks and livebearers

[debomb4u]

hello i would like to know the best ways to breed red tail sharks. and live bearers like mollys and swordtails or tetras. is there any kind of special food or water temps? how long are they pregnant for? and how long do they take to hatch? any special plant cover? or is there anything else that will put them in the "mood"?[/b]

[RoK]

I don't think redtail sharks breed in the aquarium, only in the wild.

[fish_4_all]

Platties, swords, and guppies are very easy to breed. I assume most live bearers are about the same but I only know about those three.

Simply get 1 male to 3 females and let them do all the work. I have found it is best to keep only one male of any species as they fight a lot and will stress each other out. If you have a well planted tank, the fry will hide in it. If you don't, then you need to use a v-trap live breeder trap so that when the female has the babies they will drop down out of here reach.

My last 2 batches or sword fry have been left in the same tank with the other fish and a lot survived. Almost too many have survived. I have over 50 little swords swimming around and have nothing to do with them until they are large enough to sell to my LFS.

Be aware though that swords and platies will interbreed. This is great for the person that wants cool colors but LFS ussually won't buy them or will at a lower price. Guppies and swords will not cross breed as far I know nor will platties and guppies. Fancy guppies and feeder guppies will interbreed with mixed results. The last ones I had there was 2 huge female plain guppies that were larger than fancies but completely plain and 3 really small fancy guppies that were very pretty but didn't grow larger than small feeders.

I have never fed my fry on anyhting but crushed fish flakes although I now have microworms and will be using them as fry food.

Hope this helps a little.

[debomb4u]

ya it does help. all of the guppies i've seen look pretty cool. are they active fish? how big is an average size guppy? do they like slightly salty water?

[fish_4_all]

Guppies, depends on if you get feeder guppies or fancy guppies. Feeders only get about an inch long. They are very plain and really kind of ordinary. Fancy guppies get up to about 1.5-2 inches or so and have much more brilliant colors, especially if you get a male that is different colored than the female. The cross colors can be quite intriguing. They do tolorate salt well and I use stress coat. Since I have set my tank up 8 months ago, I have never had a disease in my tanks.

One thing to make sure of is that the tank is well cycled before investing in fancy guppies. They are not as easy to care for as feeders. If you need to find out how, go to the general discusion, it has some really good information. Use feeders to get the tank set up if you use fish. When it has set up for about 6 weeks or so, then the fancy guppies will do a lot better.

Take all the feeders out of the tank and exchange them for fancies if you can or give them back to the LFS.

The fancy guppies are very active and will eat like there is no tomorrow. Don't overfeed them as this can be detrimental to their health. Make sure the ratio is no higher than 3:1 female to male. I would say 7 females and 2 males would be fine but watch them to make the males don't fight each other.

If you give them a good diet of flakes, shrimp pellets, blood worms and other good foods you should have real good luck.

Don't be discouraged if the females die after their first mating. This happens more often than not, even with swords. The only way i got my swords to live after their first brood was born was to not have male in the tank until the females were looking like they were comfortable and healthy. Then I added 2 males, one died and the females are now working on their 6th brood each in less than 6 months.

Be patient and they will breed with ease. Give them lots of floating plants and the fry will survive in the same tank. If not plants, take the female and put her in the breeder tank then transplant the fry to breeder tank. Do your water changes, follow the basic instructions, I use the recommended amount of salt from the box and I always use stress coat of some kind. Remeber to replace the correct amount of salt and stress coat after each water change.

You can tell when the female is about ready to give birth because the area before her tail will darken and you may be able to see the eyes of the babies.

Best of luck and if you really want to be adventurous, try swords, they are much more active, though maybe not as colorful.

[debomb4u]

if i dont get floating plants will just a medium cover of plants work?

[TomK2]

I used plastic floating plants that were also designed to be able to be buried in the gravel for ground cover too. I will give you a link. The green plastic floating plants in the breeding tank pic on the right can give the fry a place to hide. they can be seperated into smaller sections if needed. They were not expensive.

http://home.comcast.net/~tomstank/to...s/page0019.htm

[fish_4_all]

Any plants that gives the fry a place will work, I have just had best luck with the floating. I also have java moss in my tanks now and the fry are starting to use it. The key reason I use live plants is to give them infusorians and natural food so they get food right away if I miss the spawn. A sponge filter will do the same thing and also give them a place to hide if it is away from the edges of the tank.

There are many ways to do it, I am just giving you what has worked for me. If you have plants on the bottom, live or fake, the female should give birth near them and the fry hould survive in the tank as long as they can hide and not die from stress or get eaten. No agressive fish in the tank! Angels, ciclids, catfish, (not cory cats but other catfish), and other aggressive fish will eat fry in a heartbeat!

When I breed my cory cats, C. trilineatus, I will be using sponge filters, java moss, hornwort, wisteria and java fern.

Best of luck and keep asking questions. The best thing about these forums is you will get lots of different advice that all works so you can make it all work for you.

[debomb4u]

thank you all. is anyone sure about red tail sharks not breeding in tanks only in the wild???

[RoK]

Well, it may not be impossible but it is highly unlikely.

[odobenus]

Someone has to be breeding the red-tailed black shark, because I've heard that they are now extinct in the wild, but I'm guessing they have a hard time. This website [fish.mongabay.com] gives them a score of 9 out of 10 for breeding difficulty.

Good luck with your guppies!

[vzeqttum]

I have 9 white tip sharks (columbians) in a 55 gal. tank, all about 6 to 8 inches, & very healthy. My questions are, do they breed live or eggs,how will i know if there breeding ? PS My tank is a sand bottom, is was told that is better for breeding sharks, well they do seen to like it better. Can someone please help me. Thank You

[BrianNY]

What is a white tip shark? Do you have its latin name?

[Lonewolfblue]

This?
http://www.aquariumfish.net/catalog_...ite_tip_p2.htm

[RoK]

They would produce eggs when breeding. However, white tip sharks get very large and are only fine in FW when young. As they get older, they need more and more salt, until fully marine (SW). I don't think they are bred in captivity because the adults swim from the ocean to rivers to spawn and then back to the ocean. Very difficult to replicate this.