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Some of the more interesting livebearers I've bred(pics included)

8K views 30 replies 5 participants last post by  badxgillen 
#1 · (Edited)
Finally got some ok photos of my fish. They're not GREAT, but some are better than usual. Had to use the flash, so there is some "Sparkle" in a few that isn't really there. lol I wiped down the window really, really good until it looked crystal clear...but the flash showed what I missed. BAH! I'ma use grandma's recipe for window cleaning, corn starch and water. Miracle cleaner like you would not believe.

Some of these guys will be for sale soon as I figure out what the shipping costs are and am sure no more freezing weather is on the way. Just not my pretty black, silver, gold and spotted male. :3

I have in here, mollies, guppies, platies and swordtails. The gourami is just for kicks. ^_~ I don't think you see the platies much, they're never around for photos. I have a few blue MM platies and a couple reds, the rest are in the big nursery still. The blue tailed guppies are only in there because the other males tried to kill their tails. =/ For the most part the guppies have their own tanks together unless the males give other boys issues. My two turquoise beauties got fin rot on their tails because the two others were -constantly- chewing on them, I'm hoping it'll clear up here where my much larger, more peaceful fish leave them be. Well, there's three in there but my big guy never made an appearance. lol

I got some very interesting youngsters, not sure how I got some of them of such color. lol But they're nice, thought I would share. Dad for the majority of these was a short-finned molly(he was silver with black shadowing and a yellow tail), and some of those kids came out really awesome. A pair of silver and gold males with spots are my personal favorites, especially the darker one, they also have a lovely sister who is almost as pretty as they in a separate area. Some of my silvers are actually "Silver" and not white, which I love, though I'm sure many would call them plain, they're lovely little fish(not so little anymore really).

























 
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#3 ·
Thanks. =) Well, soon as I figure out how much shipping costs are, I'll be selling a few of them. If you're interested, I could always send you some to breed, though I suggest you breed them with other mollies you get there to lessen the risk of interbreeding, and then you can sell some to your shop. lol
 
#5 ·
I have not. The male I got that looked like a wild molly was an adoption, believe it or not. I happened to spot him on adoption day at a local petco...the owner didn't know what he was and gave him up because, and I quote: He was ugly. =/ They had no idea what he was, just that he was some kind of molly. I decided he certainly wasn't ugly, he just wan't extremely colorful! I got him for two dollars, which is their adoption fee for everything small, took him home, QT'd him...and then he decided everything needed to be mated with when I popped him in my 55 gallon, including my poor male gourami who he adored, and my cardinal tetras. lol

I'm still getting babies that resemble him. He died...oh, about a year after I had him maybe. I had an epidemic in my tank and for some reason it targeted all my male fish...some skinny disease I assumed was a parasite, but then it did take two girls...after the last male passed, him, the epidemic went away and I haven't seen it since(that was around the middle of last year), no medicine worked, nothing did. =( This morning I found a black molly with a yellow tip on the tail like his. It started out just black, figured that's what it'd be. Guess not, that's awesome. I had him with about a dozen females, so it's not surprising.
 
#6 ·
Sorry, haven't had any new photos up lately. I need to get you guys a shot of one of my black mollies who came out pitch black with scattered gold spots and gold on the end of his tail like my silver spotted beauties with the same.

I got one new photo, unfortunately it's not very good. I was in the middle of changing their water so it's messy, but they all came over so I had to take a shot. lol
Mostly some of my guppies and one I believe is either an endlers hybrid, or some mixed endler, you can see him at the top(the one who is red and blue and silver, he's my favorite, his dad was identical I'm hopping to get more like him).
 
#7 ·
Nice looking fish! You and I have the same taste in freshwater fish.
 
#9 · (Edited)
USP as in USPS(US Postal Service)? I'll look into that. I have a bunch of small boxes I've saved up for this.

Interbreeding? No. I usually separate males from females and either give them away or sell them. I did have one incident a month or two ago, but I have no idea if they were even related. I had a batch of three different broods and a pair of males decided to mature way earlier than I'm used to. Two months old, I'm used to them choosing a sex at four+ months. ^^; I just don't know if they bred with any of their sister...it's possible, but they weren't very old so I am hoping it wont have any nasty effects, like babies being born(I'm hoping the girl was not matured yet). I'll be keeping an eye on the female of the same brood though.

I keep females, like mothers or aunts, away from males I keep, which I don't do often, usually I purchase other males for breeding to keep lines from being crossed. With my silver spotted ones the mother passed away soon after giving birth. There were only three, two males and one female.
 
#10 ·
USPS boxes and Mollies

I know about the flat rate boxes, but wonder about the postal service and the delivery. Up here there are a lot of temps, who don't have any idea where to deliver the packages, and a box left in the wrong place can sit outside in the sun or rain indefinitely. You might want to think about this...

Pictures are LOVELY, and I do love your special male with the gold/black/white motif that is so awesome. Well, my favorite always is the Marble or Dalmatian ones, and yours looks like a gold solid one mated with a Dalmatian to get the golden hue plus the B&W spots. I have some that look almost like yours, but too young to tell if there will be any gold in their colors. But yours is outstandingly beautiful (if you can say that about a MALE).

My cat babies are still alive, but you have to use a magnifying glass to see them. How can these tiny blips ever survive to become grown up cats? And my Marble Molly had babies yesterday, so hope some of them are excellent. Time will tell...
 
#11 ·
We're gonna find out today, if ma is willing to go out in the snow. lol Amazon is a no-go, believe I need a license or some such(according to my brother), but apparently ebay will allow it, and I will make ads on here. I've been trying to get things done for a while, but something mushes my plans. If anyone wants some kids, I have solar flare swordtails, some are twinbars, and some mollies ready to go, but please wait until weather clears up. It's probably going to be around $20-$25 altogether, depending how many people want. From what I can tell by a rough estimate on small flat-rate boxes, it's about $5.45 or so, but it may be considered a medium box and that will be $9-$12. lol

I'll be shipping them in small boxes, in a double bag, likely there will be some crystalwort or a stem plant in there, insulated with balled newspaper. That's how I typically get in fish and critters I order in and they usually arrive happy and active. =) Any other suggestions on it though? Like I said, I haven't done it before, I know they need insulation to keep from freezing or frying for that matter, and to keep them from bouncing around, thick balled paper usually works, I also have Carefresh Ultra Ferret Bedding, which is wonderful insulation, soft...kinda like uh...soft bunches of recycled paper/cardboard crossed with cotton to the feel, so I could use that, but it's quite costly stuff. lol I'd be more than willing to do that along with paper(the more the better I think, extra blockage from bouncing should some dolt give them any), what do you guys think?
 
#12 ·
I have shipped alot of corals and plants but not much in the fish department. I know that the kordon breather bags make things much easier when they have long distances to cover and you do not have access to oxygen.Some times you will need heat packs and some times you will need cold packs. You really have to do you weather research prior to shipping.I like to snag styrofoam form the home depot and cut it to fit the boxes I want to ship. Hope this helps as I want some of these bad boys.
 
#13 ·
I have no idea where to get breather bags(I also dislike them immensely since you cannot acclimate your fish in them and have to stress them out by either dumping them in another container first after an already sucky, long trip or risking it), but I intend to ship with a bit of live plants in there. The rest though, I like.

I have some for sale already. I have an ad in the classifieds that goes to ebay(since I do not know how to do safe transactions elsewhere) I'll be updating with all the links. =)
 
#14 ·
One place to get Breather Bags is at Kensfish.com

I have gotten numerous supplies at Ken's Fish in Taunton, MA and so far he has been fast and reliable. I looked for the Kordon Breather Bags and he has them in different sizes, usually 25 -50 count. He also has the heat packs, Breather bag liner, water tight bags, and rubber bands. Everything for selling fish from people visiting you to shipping. Take a look. I do like the breather bags myself, and you should go to see what aquariumfish.net says about how they pack fish up for shipping. You might get some good ideas from them, they are very exact about how they pack and ship fish. They have excellent tips on how to prepare for new fish, how to unpack them, and how to acclimate them to the new tank.
 
#15 ·
You can get shipping supplys from Ken's. The flat rate boxes, shipped 4 this week, received 2 so far, work well and I've had zero problems. Always ship Monday-Tuesday or Saturday to avoid weekend delays. As for breather bags, they work well for some fish but not so well on others. If you use them you have to keep the number of fish down or it is too much for the rate of gas exchange. As for heat packs, they work well, but don't over do it. Heat packs super heat at first, so don't roast the fish. Keep in mind the warmer the water the less oxygen it holds. I wrap the heat pack in newspaper, tape it to the lid and put a thin layer of cardboard between the heat pack and fish bags. Also, always wrap your fish bags in newspaper to sustain the temp.

The big thing is ue good common sense. I've never lost a fish nor had one arrive or get ill. Stuff happens, but thinking it through does help.
 
#17 ·
shortfin yellow-tailed marble mollies: looked for ad but didn't see it. Can you tell me exactly where it is?
 
#18 ·
Here's the link to it. Be sure you read it. They wont all look like those two pretty boys...I have two gorgeous ones, the others, seemingly female, lack much of that color, though they are still very pretty. If you want them to breed though, I suggest doing so with other marble mollies or short-fins like I did, they're quite lovely.
3 Shortfin Yellow Tail Marble Molly Gorgeous Tropical Fish | eBay
 
#19 ·
I've also added in a dark marble or black molly(they often have a bit of silver on them around the tail or face area) to that list. This being because they often like larger groups, and because I don't have that many yellow-tail marbles to sell since I'll be keeping a few to breed. They are lovely! I'm looking into some new males or females, they're a rareity here, but occasionally you can find some. I've only seen two while searching in the last year or so, but I didn't have room for them! =)
 
#20 · (Edited)
I finally got a good shot of my creamscle(also called a butterfly molly) mixed with a silver lyretail(he may have been a sailfin, but his sail wasn't as extreme as most). He's a beauty. =) You can see several others as well, but he's the only one I have left of that type. Someone bit his tail. That will probably fall off. =(

You can also see my silver dalmatian is about to pop, as is my silver lyretail. She's the same color but without spots.




This guy is some kind of endlers...not sure of his mix. He's an adult male, less than an inch long, he was born last September...no idea on his mix, wish I knew! He's extremely hard to get shots of. That black around his tail(not damage or rot, it's natural markings...I initially thought it was rot), gives me an idea though, I have a female with a black ring around the tail, but she is solid silver with a green and red tail, a cobra mix. Dad unknown...My best guess is dad was my blue/blonde tuxedo, but he's a full guppy and this kid came out the same size as a male endlers...obviously that means nothing with hybrids, but usually when I get them they're larger than female endlers. =)
 
#22 ·
It depends on how many. 3-4 would typically be $5-$10 for shipping. Larger packages can be anywhere from $10-$20 though. Depends on the weight, but my smaller packages usually are about eight dollars to places like NY from Colorado, that's what I've had thus far, haven't shipped to Oregon before but I imagine it's about the same.

I don't have any black gold dusts or yellow-tail marbles right now though. I might, I have a bunch of youngsters in right now who haven't gotten in colors yet but look like they may become yellow-tails. I just sold my last adult/sub-adult black golds and yellowtails. Unfortunately I had tried a new packaging thing someone insisted on and they all died, I had some bad feelings about it and shoulda known better! I haven't had any other shipments that died aside from someone claiming it with one package that arrived late. I have pretty good luck with it, it was a bummer to lose those though. =( The rest I've gotten good messages on including a pair of oranda goldfish I sent to Illinois.

I'm about to get in some more of those creamsicle mixes and some silver lyretails I'm trying to get the yellow-tail gene in on, but no guarantees of course. lol I have been trying to mix ones I've raised that seem healthy and long-lived and so far have had some good luck with it. I have some lovely fourth generation gold dusts.

I do have some lovely swordtails for sale right now though. My ebay is Sylversaquatics. I am...unsure about selling and setting up sales in places that don't just do it for you, I have no idea how to do it. LOL Right now I only have a female gold gourami and my swordtails, waiting on the babies to mature a little more for the mollies because there are a couple I am debating on keeping and breeding. Some of my babies came out with very interesting markings this time that I think are yellow-tail marbles mixed with gold dusts. My gold dusts are typically either calico-like or just orange with a few black streaks or spots. They're pretty neat usually, though some come out a bit odd. lol

This is the link to my swordtails. I need to update the photos as they're all much bigger now, video is about valid though! Still considered fry. I sent 35 of these to Peurto Rico a couple weeks back and they all arrived alive and healthy according to my buyer. :3 They're nice and tough little fish, and are rather pretty. Not mixed, but are home bred and raised. The calicos are especially(except those may be mixed with my brick orange male, they're extremely, EXTREMELY bright red with black spots on the tails and I did not have a male calico...so either my bright orange, or my solar flare males bred with her, they came out more red than mom and she's pretty bright herself).
12 Assorted Swordtail Fry Tropical Fish | eBay

This is their mother. The white male swordtail hasn't been in there long enough to breed, about two days at this point and you can see mom when she was pregnant...and though still young herself, is much bigger than the boys. LOL She was born New Years Eve year before last, she's just over a year and a half old. I am wanting to breed her with the white one though...I'm curious how they will come out.


The possible fathers of the babies are either this guy, Solar Flare Twinbar:


Or this guy, who I think is called a brick orange, but I'm not sure. Sorry, terrible photo of him! You can see his color though. That was "Big Red" he passed away about a month ago or so. He was an oooooolllld man. =) I'm almost positive this is the father of her babies though, he's the oldest male unlike the young solar flare, and he's been with her since she was big enough. This was her first brood though.
 
#24 ·
It is, it's up for bid for almost four more days. Someone has bid on it already, you'll have to fight them for it. Though if I have enough left I can put up another later on. I was curious what they'd go for so it's a bid. lol
 
#25 ·
Some of those swordtails are up for bid now, if anyone is interested. Two females and a male. Male is a twinbar solar flare, females may or may not be, one looks like she's getting in the bars but eh, they're really pretty anyways. They're old enough to breed, but are only a few months along so probably wont. lol They have some growing to do, but are far from considered fry. Sub-adult, juvenile maybe. =)
Bid starts at $8, ends in one week. I did a week long one because I don't want people witing too long after buying and I only ship Monday through Wednesday.
1 Male Twinbar SF 2 Female Solar Flare Swordtail Tropical Freshwater Fish | eBay
 
#26 ·
My silver butterfly popped this morning and looks like she's got a second brood growing. I call her a silver butterfly because she's silver and is the exact shape of a creamsicle or yellow butterfly but is pure silver. She doesn't look like the silver lyretails or sailfins. =) She's pretty cool. Unfortunately I only got one baby. I had moved her to the large planted net this morning, but she jumped out! Meh. I hope to get some from her, there was one in the net at least. lol I think the father is my silver sailfin/creamsicle mix. At least I am hoping. Otherwise the only males are gold dusts, but there was a black gold dust before.
 
#27 ·
This is one of my Blue Tuxedo, Tiger/cobra crosses. He's pretty, got a few like him. I have them in a jar to take photos of since I'm selling some on ebay. =) Well, several of them, the male in here with the tux look and tiger markings is gorgeous in my opinion. The female in back had given birth, so she's a little skinny. She's good now though. lol And one female is absolutely massive. o_o; Not sure how that happened, but she's really, really big. Was raised in a 73 gallon pool, maybe that did it, she's the oldest one in there, really hard to catch she was. I've been trying to catch her for weeks, finally got her. ^_~


 
#28 ·
Finally found my camera, I got some pretty good photos I really wanted up!

First up, you can see my black and gold beauty with my silver, also can see a marbled gold dust, normal gold dust and a calico(he's not a very good calico, but he's a nice little fish so I kept him). You can see my gold and black boys real colors, I love this camera though the gold is brighter than it is a little...well no, more shiny, I can't get good photos of any of them without the flash, and in this case the scene button:
.


Couple of my swordtails hanging out:


My resident dominant male:


One of the kids from my white swordtails:


I love those gold ones with the black fins. Flash made the fins look gold in some photos, but they are like...gold wags. lol I have no idea what to call them, thinking harlequin or just random shortfins, though they do have that lyretail, it's not as prominent as most, and I like it that way since it's less likely to be bitten off.


One of my pretty endlers mixes showed for this one:


My black bars and crayfish in another tank, one of my girls popped last night too. :3


I love that boy, he's so pretty.


Now, I have some random platies I rescued in a nursery tank, along with some guppies I raised in there(yes, these are my clones, for those of you who remember my girl with the curved spine who cloned herself). They look good, eh? But that platy, what color is he even considered? I'm not sure if it's one of mine, or if it's a rescue...The ones I rescued should all be orange MMs. He's like a really pale gold/red platinum color. Could be one of my blue mixes I suppose.


Some of my guppies:


Guppies again, my tuxedo is still nursing that tail, he lost it a while ago. No rot and it's coming back, but I don't think it ever will fully. He's lost his tail a couple times before, I now keep him fully away from my red tux, who loves to chew on him:


Well, they're not fish, but I have my baby crayfish in my endlers tank with my beauties, slowly moving the crayfish all out. It takes forever, I've moved about 20 or so out to the 73 gal pool, but they just VANISH when I go to catch them. You can see one of my red swortail fry too, I only have two or three in there, I moved the rest out, I want it just my one female crayfish and the endlers:


See mama and my endlers girls and one swordtail fry:


And my newest additions, two female and one male bumblebee platy. They're in QT, yes it has plants. lol The male had some nipped fins with a bit of rot, and my female gourami does on her tail so I popped them into the medicated tank. The male is doing good now, I am hoping to breed them. They're very hard to find here, and healthy ones are harder. My girls look great, the only pretty male they had was chewed up in the tail and pectoral fins real bad though, but being in a tank with some antibacterials and anti-fungals has fixed him up. This is three days later or so, he's looking good...but I don't have high hopes, every time I get bumblebees they don't seem to do well and I am not sure why, but the shop got a new provider and their fish looked great so I thought I'd go for it.


And now for my painted swordtails, the older batch of babies, and some orange MM swords, I popped them into a jar for photo purposes.


I just love those painteds, they're gorgeous. Especially that bright one with the most black on the tail and orange spots.




An endler again and a gold dust:














And finally my black gold dust and my solar flare swordtail. :3
 
#30 ·
Thanks. The black gold dust is a marble gold dust mix. As with the half and halfs(who very rarely produce them like that), the darker marble gold dust mixes have the potential to make those. I sent you a couple that looked like they might be black gold dusts, or like the darker marbled gold dust I have in a few of those photos. I have found they produce black golds far more often. However, it's impossible to know if they will go the way of a marble or gold dust until later. Hopefully you'll have some in the batch I sent you. =) I sent an extra that looked promising and I hoped you'd like that. The black golds often come out black as fry, with what looks to be a tad of silver around the gills and see-through end of the tail. Or so I've seen, but I did still have a few pop out marbles. They're quite pretty, I'm very fond of that mix. I've had a certain someone pestering me for my black gold male. I am hoping to breed him with a nice black molly and MAYBE get more like him later on...however, as with bumblebee platies, the ever common black molly is very hard to get when healthy here. But since the LFS here changed providers, I am hopeful I can find a nice girl or two for them, I have too many boys and maybe three or four girls, two very young, bleh. x.x
 
#31 ·
I super appreciate the added fish. So far they all look great and I am waiting to see if there is a development of color over time. I see my new micky mouse swordtail right now as I type happily picking at the plants. Good stuff. Hope the new bloodline you get works out for you,sounds like you already have em in QT,good thing they made it into capable hands.
 
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