livebearers not bearing

[sketchymak]

Over a month ago I happily set up my new livebearer tank in the hopes that soon I would be the proud mom of lots of teeny tiny fishies, but nope, nothing doing.

I have a 35 gallon with 6 danios, 3 mollies, 3 swordtails, and 3 platies. All the fishes have a 2:1 female to male ratio. Nitrites are almost 0 as is ammonia, pH is unknown but I live in an area with lots of limestone. The temp is around 80 with no heater due to the summer heat and I feed both flakes and frozen brine shrimp.

Is there a way to encourage breeding?

 

[Balloon Fish]

maybe they had babies and the other fish ate all of them? and when you say almost 0 does that mean your ammonia isn't 0? Do you live in texas? cause texas has a lot of limestone . Does any of them have a gravid spot on the back of their stomach? are they sexually mature yet? As for encoraging them to breed, they need to be fed well (not overfed), not be stressed by anything, and be healthy, but even if some of those i listed aren't met livebearers still breed like crazy . Maybe a little more patience will help.

 

[Fish Friend]

like balloon fish said... they most prob had babys but they will have been eaten by the other tankmates... so keep feeding them a mixed diet and keep up water changes. you have to make sure that they are actually preggers and the ones that are put them in a breeding trap to save the fry

 

[Seleya]

It's only been a month and you say your parameters aren't quite perfect (ammonia & nitrite). Besides, with that combination of fish (especially those danios), you're not likely to see many but the smartest and most lucky fry anyways. ::oh, Pez!::

Do you have plants in the tank? Give the fry someplace to hide (besides, plants are good for fish) Anacharis, hornwort, java moss, water lettuce.. anything they can disappear into to avoid the larger fish.

 

[Balloon Fish]

or get a breeding basket and stick the mommy in when she's about to have babies and feed her good food like frozen ones for around 3 to 4 days and then do a water change when her stomach is really square looking and then she should have babies. But first i think finding out if your fish are really pregnant is more important and if your tank is a good environment for this (good water quality, a cycled tank), maybe they are still young or not sexually mature yet.

 

[Fish Friend]

yep.... or a twin breeding unit... lol now i am confusing you

 

[FroggyFox]

I'd say with the danios in the tank you wont be seeing any livebearer babies. If your fish have been stressed out because the nitrites and ammonia aren't at 0 then they probably aren't breeding. Give it some time Also the plants are a great idea...floating plants especially (even if they're fake).

 

[Balloon Fish]

guppy grass

 

[Fish Friend]

what that stuff callled... its smallish and has little green leaves that go on the top iof the water... and if you have lots it can cover the whole tanks surface and starve the tank for oxygen

 

[Balloon Fish]

duckweed

 

[sketchymak]

Well, about the ammonia and nitrite, I have two liquid test kits from nutrafin and the colours I've been getting are hard to read but the seem to be either 0 or 0.1. 0.1 can't be that bad can it?

I've had pregnant fish before and I doubt these guys have had fry without my noticing b/c I watch everyday and I haven't seen anyone with any swelling or a gravid spot.

Thanks for the help though, I'll guess I'll just keep my fingers crossed.


P.S How many cories or ottos do you think I have room for? And which would you suggest?

P.P.S Do these guys do better with a bit of aquarium salt in the mix? If so, how much?

 

[Balloon Fish]

if you dont have a gravid spot then they aren't pregnant cause the gravid spot is where the babies are held. Maybe you should wait a little longer and let them get a little bigger. You could probably fit 5 cories in there or a few otos but i would get the cories cause i've found otos get sorta boring after a while :-/ As for the aquarium salt, i think maybe 1 table spoon is enough but it isn't required, i find that when they are really actually pregnant and about time to have babies, doing a water change and sticking a little salt in will help, especially for mollies but others like guppys dont need it. Maybe adding 1 table spoon of salt this week would be a good idea to make them get into the getting busy and making babies mode then wait until you actualy know they are about to have babies and do a water change then stick a little in there but they will still have it without the salt. Salt is sorta like frozen food, isn't required but gives you a healthier batch but salt is just sort of a thing where it makes the mommy feel more comfortable and gives you a greater chance that she'll have babies the next day.

 

[HydroPhilic]

The PH is VERY important

Hey I used to have a fish tank full of Platty's and Swordtails and Mollies(One was a baby mollie I just found one day in my tank and put it in a seperate fry net compartment, soo cute!!!). Ph has a lot to do with breeding, and petsmart sells little low profile "fry bushes" to provide hiding. if you want to know more about ph just do a search on live breeders and Ph : P

Tony *thumbsups

 

[Fish Friend]

aaa yes..... duckweed

 

[Balloon Fish]

i've never heard of pH being a factor in breeding livebearers... it could be a factor for other fish like neon tetras and angels but not livebearers... livebearers breed under almost all normal pH conditions like 6 to 8 but if the pH swings then they might not feel all that good other then that it isn't a problem on what your pH is.

 

[Aaron]

I'm not a livebearer expert but doesn't it take around 60 days for a female to give birth? If so there could be a possibility that things are fine. Except for the danios. Danios are like food seeking missiles.

 

[Balloon Fish]

no, the average time period between births is a month or 30 days but my guppies have babies every 3 weeks (almost excactly cause i do water changes on the 20th or 21st day ) and mollies are like every 5 weeks. And ya danios do look like food seeking missiles lol, and things are fine, just have to be more patient , start another tank while you're waiting lol

 

[namukoby]

i've never heard of pH being a factor in breeding livebearers... it could be a factor for other fish like neon tetras and angels but not livebearers... livebearers breed under almost all normal pH conditions like 6 to 8 but if the pH swings then they might not feel all that good other then that it isn't a problem on what your pH is.

Even my angels spawn every 2 weeks in a ph of 8.2 - and they supposedly only like soft water. I wouldn't worry about ph either!

 

[Lotus]

It could be that your fish aren't quite mature enough yet. It usually takes a while for them to have their first batch. I'm sure you've checked, but are you 100% positive you have both males and females? The first time I bought swordtails, the assistant had no idea how to tell males from females, and I think swordtails have to be the easiest fish in the world to sex.

Swordtails and platies should be happy with your water, as they prefer a higher pH, which generally occurs in areas with a lot of limestone.

I'm sure you'll have a ton of babies soon!

 

[Fish Friend]

I was havin pH problems once in a small tank...but it had baby guppys in it... and the pH was like 5.0 !!!!! i have no clue why but they still courted and mated... like now... i have 3 as my starter fish in my 10g...and the nitrite is sky high.. they are still courting.. so i dont think it matters