Anyone out there have any suggestions on what to plant in a tank I am setting up for some pike livebearers? If you have any of these fish, please do tell! What kind of plants are they happiest among, how thickly is the tank planted, and are there certain fishes they do or do not get along with besides the obvious (ie lunch-size tetras and the like)? I am starting out with a 30 gallon, and will expand as the fish (and my fish budget) get larger, but wanted to do it right the first time.

I read on one website that the males like to hide out from the females until they are ready to get down to business; is there a good way to accomodate this hiding behavior besides with plants? I am very curious and cant wait to get these fish!

My current plan is to have a trio of juvenile pikes in this tank with as many live plants as the tank can handle and still allow some free-swimming room. I figure I need a bottom feeder of some kind, if not a group of them, and was hoping the pikes would tolerate a pair or so of gouramis or something similar, as long as I kept them (the pikes) well fed. As I set up my pike tank I am also beefing up guppy production; no problems with the supply of live food by the time I need them I dont think.

Any other words of wisdom on keeping these fish happy and healthy would be most welcome too.

Thanks!
Connie

Watersprite and Najas grass..

These fish are best species only...

It is not to hard to get them on prepared foods, You just have to get them to realize it is food. Once they get the idea they take just about anything with no issues. Just takes patience and persistence...

Anyone out there have any suggestions on what to plant in a tank I am setting up for some pike livebearers? If you have any of these fish, please do tell! What kind of plants are they happiest among, how thickly is the tank planted, and are there certain fishes they do or do not get along with besides the obvious (ie lunch-size tetras and the like)? I am starting out with a 30 gallon, and will expand as the fish (and my fish budget) get larger, but wanted to do it right the first time.

I read on one website that the males like to hide out from the females until they are ready to get down to business; is there a good way to accomodate this hiding behavior besides with plants? I am very curious and cant wait to get these fish!

My current plan is to have a trio of juvenile pikes in this tank with as many live plants as the tank can handle and still allow some free-swimming room. I figure I need a bottom feeder of some kind, if not a group of them, and was hoping the pikes would tolerate a pair or so of gouramis or something similar, as long as I kept them (the pikes) well fed. As I set up my pike tank I am also beefing up guppy production; no problems with the supply of live food by the time I need them I dont think.

Any other words of wisdom on keeping these fish happy and healthy would be most welcome too.

Thanks!
Connie

Well first off, I would say get some adult wild caught sailfin mollies. That would be a good food source( when they give birth) for the pike livebearers and should be big enough they won't get eaten.
The trio sounds like what my LFS has for sale, 1m/2f and the male is always swimming around with the females.
As for the plants, go with vals, any ambush preditor will like the long grassy plants to hide in. From what I was told, a 30 gal isn't big enough, but if it is, I sure as heck am gonna start a pike livebearer tank ASAP!
As for the tankmates again, keep it native, maybe get some of those sleeper gobies and the pikes. The gobies I had a few years back were great scavengers and would eat off the bottom. If you want just an overal America's biotope tank, use some south american bumblebee cats. Soo freakin cool and stay under 5". I had a few a years back again and it got stuck in the driftwood, that little fatty lol.

Let me know if that tank size works out, I might have to go pick up a trio if that is the case!

PS- Where are you from?

NV

Well first off, I would say get some adult wild caught sailfin mollies. That would be a good food source( when they give birth) for the pike livebearers and should be big enough they won't get eaten.
The trio sounds like what my LFS has for sale, 1m/2f and the male is always swimming around with the females.
As for the plants, go with vals, any ambush preditor will like the long grassy plants to hide in. From what I was told, a 30 gal isn't big enough, but if it is, I sure as heck am gonna start a pike livebearer tank ASAP!
As for the tankmates again, keep it native, maybe get some of those sleeper gobies and the pikes. The gobies I had a few years back were great scavengers and would eat off the bottom. If you want just an overal America's biotope tank, use some south american bumblebee cats. Soo freakin cool and stay under 5". I had a few a years back again and it got stuck in the driftwood, that little fatty lol.

Let me know if that tank size works out, I might have to go pick up a trio if that is the case!

PS- Where are you from?

NV

Thanks so much for the suggestions, both of you; all has been most helpful. Plant suggestions have been great; & I especially like your idea of them hiding in the tall stuff; vals are attractive plants to boot. It is coming together...

I love the sailfin mollies; they have some style! I will do my homework on them; how do I find wild-caught ones? I have to confess that when I found your forum I was just searching for belonesox refs; boy have I learned a TON from reading through all the discussions on this website!!! Especially the invasives vs exotics debate; all fascinating. Shocking that there are people even in these times that are too lazy to take that half step to responsibly give up a pet they dont want, be it fish or any other pet for that matter. But I digress. ;+)

And what are sleeper gobies? Never heard of those. Back to the researching, clearly! I know I cannot have too many tankmates, especially in a 30 gallon, but I am going to try for at least a few. If I have to take them out once the pikes get established, then so be it.

I will say I am very glad I live in Washington state, Seattle area to be exact (in response to your question NV), where all the cool fish are still legal! ;+) I have been watching for belonesox, and ask regularly about them; nothing yet in my LFS x 3 so far.

Yes, an Americas biotope tank, after the research, is now definitely what I am after; I think it would be really fun and a great conversation piece to boot. It is some of the reasoning behind the original post. Need to research the sailfins; where are they native? South American bumblebee cats - are they corys? Looking them up too...

Stuck in the driftwood! Crazy fish... now that is a mental picture... cute! Hope it survived! I have otos in my other tank; one of those little buggers got his head stuck in the filter intake when I first got him. I thought he was dead, just hanging there limp, out of the water even, until I got him unstuck - I about leaped out of my skin when he went berserk once I got him loose! He lived, and is doing a fine job keeping my current plants happy...

I will keep the thread posted with my progress, since there seems to be at least some curiosity about tank size, etc.

Thanks again for the suggestions!

All the best,
Connie

Hi Connie, If you are still looking for some Beloesox, Aquabid.com has some right now. Starting bid is $1.00 or buy now at $12.50. Look under N.A. native fish.

Edited by octavio, 26 April 2008 - 01:30 PM.

I will say I am very glad I live in Washington state, Seattle area to be exact (in response to your question NV), where all the cool fish are still legal! ;+)

Which ones are those??

Hi Connie, If you are still looking for some Beloesox, Aquabid.com has some right now. Starting bid is $1.00 or buy now at $12.50. Look under N.A. native fish.

I did see those, thanks!! I wish I was ready for them, but I am not yet. I have slowed down a bit in my fervent pursuit of them too; spending some extra time researching the right plants to put in their tank (Plantgeeks has a search by region function that is terrific!) and getting the tank settled has certainly taken precedence. I might have to bid on them anyway though, if nothing else to encourage others to do the same.

I do hope they are a popular bidding item, that way hopefully more of them will show up there in the future.

Thanks for the note,
Connie

Which ones are those??

OK, you got me, an overzealous response to relief that I want legal fish. It amazes me that so many [baby out with the bathwater] laws are necessary to prevent the careless release of fish, and I am glad I live in a state that hasnt banned these ones in particular.

Crazy pic you have on your logo by the way...

Watersprite and Najas grass..

These fish are best species only...

It is not to hard to get them on prepared foods, You just have to get them to realize it is food. Once they get the idea they take just about anything with no issues. Just takes patience and persistence...

Thanks a bunch for the plant suggestions; these two are most definitely going in my tank. I am curious about the prepared foods gig though; will they spawn while being fed prepared foods? My assumption is that they would not, but that may be my inexperience as an aquarist in general talking.

Crazy pic you have on your logo by the way...

What, the cat? I send him to the homes of people who annoy me. He has about 4700 frequent flyer miles right now, so be on your best behavior.