live bearer suggestions in an egg layer commune
 

i have a 20 gal h and 4 neon tetras, 3 blue l-f danios, and 4 zebra danios. i am thinking about getting a few live bearers for the tank. suggestions?

Re: live bearer suggestions in an egg layer commune
 

I have Platies in my tank, and they are one of my favorites. They have learned when they want to be fed, and come to the front of the glass when they see me.

hi
guppys,swordtails and plattys,
i have kept all of these fish at one time or another,
still have some too.I find them to be friendly fish,
that swim between my fingers pecking at my hand,on the
off chance that i have bought them food.(during water change)
they breed a lot so be aware that you can soon become over populated,
make sure that you have more females than males,as
the females do get harassed.
:)

I would suggest guppis or platies for a 20 gallon tank. Swords and mollies get much too bit. Either th guppies or the platies are peaceful fish, and should do well with your fish, but take note of what illow said - you could become overpopulated very quickly. My suggestin is to buy all females if it's platies because many platis have been crossed with swords a generation or few back and the males can become a bit agressive with each other, or if it's guppies then either all male, or all female - that way you eliminate the chance of fry. But beware that females can be pregnant already, and give birth to more than one batch of fry from the one pregnancy.

im leaning towards the guppies most because i like them and their colors, and my lfs would buy them back if i get over populated, so thanks!

Just remember that most lfs will only take them when they are fully grown so you'll need somewhere to keep them for at least the first, say 6 months of their lives? by which time you will have had up to another 6 batches of fry from the same mother. Say you have 3 females in there to keep th ratio of 3 females to 1 male, then that's 18 more batches of fry of up to 100 babies all while you're waiting on the first batch growing enough to take them to the store.

Very few lfs will give you any money for the fry as well which is something to bear in mind.

im getting another 10 or 15 gallon tank soon, also, do the baby fish have to stay with the mother or could i keep some of the babies in the other tank? im a little bit of a noob with live bearers, having never kept any.

hi
once they are free swimming,they are on their own,
so yes you could move them,provide them with plants
to hide in if they wish.
crushed flake food is fine,or you can buy liquid fry food.

Livebearers often eat their fry so if you want to keep them it's best either to move them, or to keep the tank heavily planted so that they can hide.

They are free swimming pretty much as soon as they are born.

avoid breeding nets and breeding units - they are very stressful for the fish and can often cause the mother to abort the lot.

There was a very interesting article on mini livebearers in the May issue of Tropical Fish Hobbiest, that would be a very cool way to go, as they aren't the standard four. (you can get a copy of this issue at PETCO, or maybe your LFS carries it). May is the American Livebearers Association conference month, so TFH is doing a lot on livebearers, if you wanted some more information on them.