Livebearers FAQ

Big Vine

Elite Fish
Feb 7, 2006
3,895
9
0
47
Florida
#21
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. *BOUNCINGS

And what you said here:
Lotus said:
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. :eek:

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

Large Fish
Jan 29, 2006
460
2
0
33
USA
#22
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

Ultimate Fish
Moderator
Aug 26, 2003
15,115
13
38
Southern California
home.earthlink.net
#23
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.
 

Jun 4, 2006
2
0
0
#24
New to Livebearer world

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 *laughingc . 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

Ultimate Fish
Moderator
Aug 26, 2003
15,115
13
38
Southern California
home.earthlink.net
#25
Welcome to the site, Levana! :D

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.
 

Jun 4, 2006
2
0
0
#26
Thanks for the welcome!

*twirlysmi

I will do what I must do for my babies*BOUNCINGS 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
 

Jul 7, 2006
6
0
0
#27
FroggyFox said:
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

Forum Manager
Moderator
May 16, 2003
8,589
10
38
42
Colorado
#28
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 ;)
 

Jul 7, 2006
6
0
0
#29
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!
 

Jul 7, 2006
6
0
0
#31
Thanks Lotus.. I didn't think they needed to, but wanted to make sure! The other female is also pregos... but now the mamma that just had fry isn't looking so good today..... gotta keep an eye on her....
 

Triple88a

Small Fish
Jul 9, 2006
16
0
0
#32
I also have one pregnat fish (green-swordtail) looks preatty edgy... i bought some equipment but from what i think the holes in the net are really tiny.. how big are the fry? ruler wise, maybe 1/32"? also do i put the mother in the net and wait for her to do her business? i allways though the net should have bigger holes so the fry can get out from it to the bigger space... any pictures and setups are welcome...
 

Zman16

Large Fish
Aug 1, 2005
865
1
0
31
Pennsylvannia
#33
If your talking about a breeder net then the fry should be fine.

This is a little of the topic but does anbyone have pics of a muppy (half guppy half molly)? I think they would be really cool to see.
 

Big Vine

Elite Fish
Feb 7, 2006
3,895
9
0
47
Florida
#39
Female 'X' has been impregnated by male 'Y' a month or two ago and has NOT yet had fry.
BUT, female 'X' has---within the past week---just been mated with by male 'Z.'

Does the former male's (Y) contribution override the more recent male's (Z) contribution because it happened first, or does the more recent male's (Z) override the former male's (Y) contribution because it happened more recently?

I can try to re-phrase this if you find it difficult to make sense out of it.

Big Vine

P.S. This is with regards to platies, specifically, but I'm sure it would apply equally to all other livebearers.
 

FroggyFox

Forum Manager
Moderator
May 16, 2003
8,589
10
38
42
Colorado
#40
What you're saying makes sense....but I'm not sure of the answer. If I had to guess I'd say that IF there is still sperm from the first male in her (since they can store it for quite awhile) then that'd be used first, but then the next batch or the next batch could be the new male's sperm. Again though, thats just my best guess I could be totally wrong.