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Controlling rapid-breeding livebearers


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#1 Guest_Joshaeus_*

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Posted 04 May 2013 - 02:28 PM

Has anyone had any luck finding a way to control the breeding of livebearing animals? I'm considering purchasing heterandia formosa, but I do not want their fry to overwhelm my modest 10 gallon tank. Any suggestions for fish to put in with them that will eat the fry without harming the adults? (Incidentally, I'll still breed them occasionally in a small quarantine tank set aside for the purpose)

#2 Guest_Subrosa_*

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Posted 04 May 2013 - 03:26 PM

You want a fish which will eat other fish, but can't swallow an adult male H. Formosa and won't bother anything it can't swallow? That's a pretty short list! I would think a smaller species of darter could work, perhaps a Swamp since they come from slack water and can tolerate more heat than most others. Plus imo they're way more interesting than H. Formosa.

#3 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 04 May 2013 - 04:23 PM

If you want limited breeding: limit the number of females.
If you want no breeding: just have males.
If you want a rapid breeding colony like I do: when you sell fish and you include a few extra in the bag, make those extras always male. Because I ship out more males than females, there are more females left in my colony and the whole colony in general produces more fry. I think if you did a quick count in my colony right now you'd find 30-80 females (humans aren't good at counting large numbers of things) and five males. That's because I recently did a sweep and removed all the males with a certain coloration. Removing males is an easy way to selectively breed a species. But yeah, you get the idea. The birth rate in colonies of livebearing fish is controlled by the percent of the colony that is female.

Edit: Oh, also, darters will eat every single fry. None will survive. That's what happened in my darter + swordtail + platy tank.

Edited by EricaWieser, 04 May 2013 - 04:39 PM.


#4 Guest_njJohn_*

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Posted 05 May 2013 - 08:15 AM

X2 on darters in a liverbearer tank. Most community settings will produce few to none survivers.



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