10 gals and livebearers

[nguyen27]

Hi
What kind of live bearers fishs (easy to breed) that I can keep in a 10 galons tank? And also I want to set this up in my bedroom so I'm lookin for a good filter for 10 gals tank that doesn't make lots of noise Will a 104 too much for a 10 gals tank?
THanks

 

[Fruitbat]

nguyen27....

Since you're limiting yourself to livebearers your choices are relatively limited...mollies, platys, swordtails and guppies are going to be the majority of what you'll have available. ANY of these can go into a 10-gallon tank, though you'll want to avoid the big sailfin mollies. Additionally, most mollies like slightly brackish water. There are some absolutely GORGEOUS guppy strains out there that will make your tank look like it is full of swimming jewels!

 

[tkos]

Platies are great. But as Fruitbat has said your choices are limited. Are you breeding for feeders? Otherwise what are your plans for the fry. All of these fish will breed rather easy and can quickly fill up your tank.

 

[Allivymar]

Do keep in mind livebearers have LOTS of babies. Unless you are breeding them as feeder fish, or the adults eat them, your 10g tank is going to be too small pretty soon!

The Fluval 104 (I'm assuming you meant the Fluval) runs 125g per hour. You want at least 6-10x the tank amount running thru the filter per hour; the 104 puts 12.5 times the tank amount per hour so it'll be fine. The only concern I might have, and maybe someone with experience with the Fluval 104 can address this, is whether its powerful enough to suck up the fry. You may need to throw a filter sponge over the filter intake to prevent that.

 

[nguyen27]

I'm not breeding them as feeders but rather experiencing on live bearers, is there anything that doesn't give lots of fry/babies but also easy to care? And yet the Fluval 104 is pretty powerful for a 10 galons tank, so I think the intake need to protect from sucking the baby/fish in; bottom line is I want a colorful tank
Thanks

 

[tkos]

Sorry but that is the way live bearers do things. They generally have anywhere from 10 to 50 babies at a time. The thought being that many won't survive but some will. Depending on the adults in the tank a few or many will survive.

The experience can grow old fast unless you have a place to take the fry. After a few batches you can be overwhelmed.

 

[Fruitbat]

There are a few unusual live-bearers that don't have a LOT of fry but they are almost never available.

Dermogenys pusillus, the live-bearing Half-Beak, grows to about 3 inches (7cm) and makes a reasonably good aquarium fish. They have batches of between 10-40 fry but usually eat them pretty quickly unless they're removed from the tank. They're not the most colorful fish on the planet...being primarily a silver fish...but they do develop attractive red dorsal and anal fins. Even if you decided you wanted to try these you'd be hard-pressed to find them for sale.

Otherwise....you're pretty much stuck with Mollies, Platys, Swordtails or Guppies.

 

[puffergirl]

Another livebearer to look at is the Endlers Livebearer, they too can be hard to find though. Here is a pic of a couple of males. The femails are not colorful at all they are kind of light brown in color.

 

[Fruitbat]

Endler's livebearer, Poecilia sp. would be an excellent choice for that 5 gallon. I just saw a swarm (about 100) of them at one of my lfs today and my daughter absolutely fell in love with them. Keep in mind that they only live for about a year or two and that they'll breed prolifically in your tank.

That being said...they ARE beautiful....I'm sure we'll be getting a few pairs in the very near future.

 

[nguyen27]

uuhhh, that nice, I can get a whole school of it, sure will make a colorful tank huh Thanks for the info! I found a 10gals for like $7.00 at my lfs, gonna get one and then built small stand, canopy and put in a small filter like Penguin biowheel, just hope I don't wake up at night and look at the tank instead of sleeping

 

[Fruitbat]

You mean you don't ALREADY do that?? Heck...I've been known to get out of bed and sneak downstairs to my tank with a flashlight just to see my Farlowella cruising around!!!

 

[AJ]

If you don't want babies - you can just keep all males or all females. I have 3 male platies and 3 male guppies living quite happily and peacefully, and no worries about babies. If you add females, you will have MULTIPLE batches of babies very frequently. Guaranteed.

I would think any average HOB filter rated for a 10 gallon will do as long as you don't overstock the tank.

 

[Voodoo Chilli]

You can't go wrong with Endlers! I've got two ten-gallon breeder tanks going and I love the little buggers. If you don't want to deal with babies- simply go with an all male tank. However, I can't imagine that your LFS wouldn't be interested in taking the fry off your hands.

If you're looking for a quiet HOB filter for a 10 gallon- check out the Millenium 1000. They run like a top and are super quiet!

HTH-
Steven

 

[Fruitbat]

Yeeesh....speaking of Endler's....I was just at my favorite lfs today and they had a whole tank full of the little gems. A trio for $6.00...what a bargain! Only problem was that ALL of them were males (and they had about 100 fish). Not that there's anything wrong with male Endlers...but the darned things only live about a year (two at the max) and I'd much rather breed them than have to count on being able to buy new ones when the old ones go to that great aquarium in the sky!!

 

[nguyen27]

If you don't want babies - you can just keep all males or all females. I have 3 male platies and 3 male guppies living quite happily and peacefully, and no worries about babies. If you add females, you will have MULTIPLE batches of babies very frequently. Guaranteed.

I would think any average HOB filter rated for a 10 gallon will do as long as you don't overstock the tank.

Is there any chance of an offspring if I got like 3 males of this and 3 females of that? Like the case of bloddy parrot?

 

[Allivymar]

Yep. Platys and Swordtails are a good example. They'll interbreed.

 

[AJ]

Platies and swordtails are of the same genus Xiphophorus - they are very closely related and can interbreed.

You could get 3 male guppies and 3 female platies - they are not able to interbreed, guppies are Poecilia genus. Although I'm not sure what the difference would be 3 male guppies and 3 male platies. If you really don't want the babies - get all males - less hassle.

 

[Allivymar]

Just a FYI, but you can wind up with babies even with 3 male guppys and 3 female platys; most of the female livebearers store sperm (as mentioned before). You may wind up with fry even tho the species in the tank can't interbreed as the females may come in with that stored sperm. Plus theres no guarantee all those fry will be female LOL so you could easily wind up with a stuffed tank fairly soon.