Livebearers FAQ

[Big Vine]

Lotus,

Very good thread you've got going here---In fact, you've once again inspired me to get back into keeping and breeding platies! I can't wait.

And what you said here:

Originally Posted by Lotus

Many livebearers are raised in intensive breeding conditions, leaving some livebearers unhealthy and generally weak. A lot of interbreeding and lack of natural selection has not been good for livebears, and it is not uncommon for females to die soon after giving birth or to have fry with genetic defects like bent spines.

Excellent observation to point out to people who are new to breeding live-bearers.

When I first reared platy fry, I had probably 15-20 survivors (fry that grew beyond half an inch or so) out of about 30-40+ of the original tiny little fry.
After some weeks and months, I began noticing some poor little platies with deformed spines.

It was really a shame, because many of these deformed ones had some very unique color-combinations...I was sad to lose even the ones that looked like "little runts" too, of course---wish I had pics.

I thought that maybe I had done something wrong at the time that led to this spine curvature problem---when in fact it was merely poor genetics on the part of the fish.

Now that I've got a crayfish, my plan will be to feed these deformed fish to him as a "treat." After all, it comes down to a choice between culling them (a.k.a. 'freezer method') and feeding him to the cray anyway.

I don't believe in keeping deformed fish. An eye missing from an "accident" is one thing, but a genetically-weak, 'unsuitable for breeding-fish' is another matter altogether.

Just my 2 cents.
Big Vine

[tubbs24]

Big Vine,

I don't believe in keeping deformed fish either. Sure, if it is an accident when they are adults, ok. But if it is, like you said, 'unsuitable for breeding-fish', then I feel I should put them out of their misery, and just use them for live foods.

[Lotus]

It's important to try to introduce new genes into the pool if you're breeding livebearers a lot. I have one strain of swordtails I have been breeding for a while, and recently added some new males to the pack. I do the same with my Endler's every so often, too.

[Levana_Oriel]

Hello everyone,

I was browsing through the web searching for information on how to care for my Dalmation Lyre Tail Mollie and well found your forum and I was pleased to read the informative and detailed thread you've entered Lotus well done I am releaved to know that I'm doing good for my mollies except now I have to buy some brine shrimp and black worm (eww) but worth it. Do I really need to feed them this? Is it truly important for them?

I bought my mollie in just 1 set a male and female not knowing that I should've bought more but no problem. Now I know why the male constantly chased that poor female around . She had frys two weeks after I got her and that shocked me I took my biggest net and bent the long handle and placed the frys in there until I get my fry nets this weekend. No problem had to improvise but it worked out good they are alive and happy.

Thanks for the info...Happy Summer

[Lotus]

Welcome to the site, Levana!

Live or frozen food really do help in getting the females and males in good breeding condition. If the live foods gross you out too much, frozen are a little less "nasty" to feed, and do a good job of keeping the fish in top health. Just don't feed the live or frozen foods exclusively, use flake for some feedings.

[Levana_Oriel]

I will do what I must do for my babies I'll stick it out and if I can't do it that second option sounds just fabulous.

29 g

2 Dalmation Lyre Tail Mollies or Molly's

2 Emerald Green Catfish

[hawaii2nc]

Originally Posted by FroggyFox

Looks great Lotus! Consider yourself stickied

You might want to add a question about the actual birthing process...we get a lot of questions "is my female finished giving birth" , "how many babies will she have" , "Will she have them all at the same time" , "Should I seperate her into a breeding trap while she's giving birth" etc

I'm new to guppy world, and would like to know answers to these questions if anyone could help me. Thanks in advance!

[FroggyFox]

welcome to mft hawaii2nc! If you do some searching around the site (and in this livebearer forum) you should find the answers to most of those questions.

In a nutshell...the first time or two that your fish have babies it'll be hard to do any guessing, there's no way to know a lot of things about them. Usually they'll have a few (say 5-10) their first time, if you actually see her giving birth you'll see them fall every few seconds from the mother...but chances are good that you wont see it happening...and you wont know when its over. As for breeding nets/traps my personal preference is not to use them...I think it stresses the mother out too much and if you dont have another tank set up for fry or a plan in place for something to do with the fry, then you probably shouldn't be breeding anyway

[hawaii2nc]

Thanks for the Welcome FroggyFox. I had posted this lastnight knowing one female I got from the store was pregnant. Well I had a "tank" really a big jar set up for if she had them. I had some guppies when I was young and that's how I had done it before. Anyway, after I posted this she started giving birth. We saw 2 of them actually come out. My 5 yr old saw one of them, great science lesson! She had about 16 babies (if I counted them right.. so hard with them swimming all over! lol) I had put her in the "tank" and took her out this morning and put her back in her regular tank. Babies don't need to stay with the mom right? This forum gave me alot of info on being able to tell when she would give birth, I had noticed her getting alot more square yesterday, and looked like she was about to explode! So I figured it would have been soon. Without that "square" info I would not have known. Thanks for all the info from everyone! I will keep up on searching for info!! Thanks again!

[Lotus]

It's better for the babies to be away from the mom. Livebearers don't give their babies any parental care, and will eat them if they can. Good luck with the fry!