Livebearer Sudgestions

[TN Tanks]

I am seriously considering adding some livebearers to both my tanks

135 Gal w/ Barbs, redtailed shark, lobster, soon rainbows

150 gal w/ tetras, plecs, angels, and silver dollars

mainly for a yummy treat for the fish. Do I need to change peramiters, provide *Real* plants, ect to promote hatchings? Also, whats the story with the brine shrimp, if I just dump all of them in, they will all get ate, or should I buy one of the hatcheries?

 

[Fruitbat]

TN Tanks.....

Speaking of brine shrimp.....are you talking about dumping in the EGGS or did you buy some adults?? No fish will eat brine shrimp eggs and the eggs won't hatch out in a freshwater aquarium. If you have baby fish then it is a good idea to hatch some brine shrimp and feed the nauplii (baby brine shrimp) to your little fish. If you want to feed adult brine shrimp...it is MUCH easier to go to your lfs and buy some live brine shrimp (if they have them) or to buy frozen.

My fish seem to prefer frozen bloodworms over brine shrimp any day (though they'll eat both).

Either of your tanks will house livebearers like guppies. You don't say what KIND of barbs and what KIND of tetras or how big your Angelfish are so I can't say definitively whether or not your livebearers would survive long enough to breed.

 

[TN Tanks]

Sorry, in my 135 Gal I have tiger and rosy's, and the angels are young, about 1.5 in

 

[Fruitbat]

I'd definitely stay away from anything long-finned in the 135. Barbs just LOVE to chew on those!! Guppies or larger livebearers will be fine in with your Angels until the Angels get a bit more size on them.

 

[krap101]

are you sure about the bloodworm thing because i fed every single one of my gouramis blood worms and not one of them touched them i havent triewd brine shrimp yet though

 

[PlatyLady]

Since you're looking for a bigger livebearer to hold his own against barbs... how about some swordtails? The females don't have the really long swords on them, so long fins wouldn't be a problem there. I think mollies might be the biggest of the livebearers though. Either way, both swordtails and mollies can breed like wildfire.

 

[platylover]

I agree with PlatyLady, swordtails would be the way that I go in your tanks. Mollies would do fine also.

As far as the bloodworm thing goes, all my fish LOVE bloodworms. It is like a madhouse feeding frenzy in my tank everytime I feed them bloodworms.

I also don't think that you have to provide real plants to promote livebearers to breed. Most livebearers are almost a "just add water" type when it comes to breeding. The only thing that I would suggest is to make sure that you have some very heavily planted areas in your tank for the fry. They are going to need all the help they can get in order to get to a halfway decent size to provide a little more than an appetizer for your other fish.

 

[Deitta]

I so agree with platylover about the planted areas! If one area has a very dense planting (fake is easier to crowd without bad side-effects) the little fry have a fighting chance! All my fry got eaten until I was able to provide them with a really dense area, some fish are so flexible that they can get into the smallest areas. You almost have to shove the fake plants together until they practically "weave" with each other.
Your fry will thank you!

 

[Deitta]

I so agree with platylover about the planted areas! If one area has a very dense planting (fake is easier to crowd without bad side-effects) the little fry have a fighting chance! All my fry got eaten until I was able to provide them with a really dense area, some fish are so flexible that they can get into the smallest areas. You almost have to shove the fake plants together until they practically "weave" with each other.
Your fry will thank you!

 

[TN Tanks]

Thanks guys, and gals, I will try out some Platty's.

James