There are four Families of freshwater fish that are considered livebearers. This care guide deals with the Family Poeciliidae, which includes mollies, platies, swordtails, guppies and mosquito fish. They are called livebearers because the females retain their eggs until they are fully developed and give birth to free-swimming fry. Over the years, livebearers have been selectively bred to create a host of different colors, body shapes and fin types.
They make great beginner fish because they tend to be peaceful, colorful and hardy. For many experienced aquarists, their first aquarium fish was some type of livebearer. Guppies and mosquito fish have been introduced to many parts of Asia to help control malaria-causing mosquitos and are now established in virtually all tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world.
They inhabit streams, rivers, pools, lakes and estuary environments. Livebearers are native to hard, alkaline water, but farm raised fish sold today will thrive in a wide range of water conditions.
In nature, they are often found in brackish to full marine environments and will benefit from the addition of 1 teaspoon of sea salt or non-iodized aquarium salt per gallon of water. Make sure the other fish in your aquarium are tolerant of salt before deciding to add it.
Don't forget to treat tap water with Aqueon Water Conditioner before refilling your aquarium! Mollies are hardy and highly adaptable and they are therefore a good pet fish for the beginner aquarists. The mollies are also known to produce very many babies. In most stores, you will realize the most of the mollies in tanks are pregnant because they procreate more often without the help of the aquarists. Due to their fry producing nature, people use them as live feeds for the carnivorous fish.
After birth, the fry will start eating algae or pellet food in the aquarium tank immediately. They produce babies that are smaller than those of swordtails and mollies are, which means that they are harder to breed.
Mostly, the pet stores supply them when pregnant. If you buy platys that are not pregnant, you will generally need to maintain a one to three male to female ratio in your tank. That way, you will make the males less aggressive and reduce the stress in females. That way, the females will produce more fry. A female can produce around fry.
Swordtails are closely related to the platys. Swordtails come in various colors and you can easily differentiate males from females because they have sword-like tails.
They are non-aggressive and are therefore a great addition to your passive community tank. The swordtails can produce babies after every 28 days.
To make the males less aggressive, you just need to maintain a one to three ratios of males to females. The ratio will be perfect for breeding and it is the same ratio to maintain for platys. Franklyn F. Bond collected them for the first time in the s but Professor John A Endler collected the Poecilia SP in the Laguna de Patos in the northeastern peninsula in the s.
Kallman introduced it to the aquarium community in Germany. Those cross breed with other livebearers fall in the Class K Endler category. The fish are now more common among hobbyists. One of the things that have made them more common is their wild psychedelic coloration and the ease of care. The fish require a 20 gallons aquarium tank and are more tolerant to the changing conditions of aquarium water.
For them to flourish, you will have to add the hardy plant varieties like the Java Moss and the Java Fern. The plants will handle increased water hardness in your aquarium. The other peaceful livebearers will make great companions. The fish are an omnivore and require algae-based flake food and freeze-dried bloodworms, brine shrimp, tubifex will offer the guppies with proper nutrition.
Mosquitofish are a perfect addition to any outdoor pond or aquarium. A mosquitofish will eat hundreds of mosquitoes within a short period, which means that it is a good choice for people who would want to keep their backyard bug-free. To sex the fish, you will have to check their anal fins. In males, the anal fin is a long tube-like structure but females feature a triangular anal fin, which looks like that of other fish.
They are also among the tiniest fish. Guppies are especially sociable and prefer being kept in groups of 6 or more. This close cousin looks like an even more vividly colored wild-type Guppy.
With bright neon green and red stripes and spots, these tiny livebearers are becoming popular for nano fish tanks and planted tanks with cherry shrimp and other peaceful, delicate inhabitants. As close Guppy cousins, they will readily interbreed with one another, making separate tanks a good idea if you intend to raise and give away the offspring.
These tiny fish are food for a lot of creatures in the wild and prefer being kept in schools of 6 or more for a sense of safety. Although closely related to guppies Poecilia reticulata , mollies are the livebearer that looks least like them. Significantly larger than their diminutive cousins, mollies are salt-loving livebearers native to the warmer portions of the Carribean coast along North and South America.
While all livebearers prefer a touch of salt and veggies in their diets, mollies thrive on both. They are commonly found in brackish and even saltwater environments throughout their rage. Mollies have a taste for filamentous algae and soft-bodied plants like Elodea. Providing blanched soft greens like zucchini is paramount for good color and eventual breeding.
As a general livebearer rule, males are showier than females. While in terms of color this is less true for mollies, males carry showy dorsal and tail fins that they use in contests of dominance and sexual displays.
Of the three common molly species in stores, this is the most frequently seen species. Like all livebearers, they are often labeled by their strain rather than a single name. Dalmation Mollies a name shared with some Sailfin varieties are spotted in white and black. And a few other varieties exist, most variations on the black, gold, and spotted theme. Having been captively bred for hundreds of generations, Common Mollies are the easiest to keep of all the Molly family.
They will also breed readily compared to the others. Sailfin Mollies are the second most commonly found Molly species. Found in coastal brackish and salt water from North Carolina along the coast all the way to Southern Mexico, Sailfin Mollies are hardy in terms of water temperature but demand the addition of salt to their water.
While they tolerate fresh water, they become far more sensitive to parasites and poor water quality. Popeye, dropsy, ich, fungus, and other conditions manifest easily when Sailfin Mollies go without salt. Sailfins also happily munch on vegetarian food. As one of the largest livebearer species, Sailfins can grow to inches long but usually max out at 3 inches. The males have splendid dorsal fins full of color that they use like banners to showcase their fitness and attract females.
Yucatan Mollies are another showy Molly species and some of the largest livebearers in the Poecilia genus. Sometimes Yucatan and Sailfin Mollies are confused for one another.
If not fully grown or sourced from the wild, the best way to tell is to get a count of the dorsal fin rays. Sailfin Mollies have 15 or less, while Yucatan Mollies approach 20 rays. Most of what was said about Sailfin Mollies also applies to Yucatan Mollies. As the largest commonly found livebearers, they need a minimum of 30 gallons of space. Males can reach up to 6 inches, though are usually smaller.
Females can reach inches, however! Warm waters of 77F and above are mandatory for good health, as well as liberal doses of salt.
0コメント