I've been raising fish for a long time, my first tank was chiseled out of a block of stone. I am a grand master breeder and have written many an article on keeping and breeding fish. I was talking to a new member the other day and he mentioned that he enjoyed our meetings and the Darter but that there weren't a lot of things for a beginner.

Unfortunately he was right, most of us on the council have been keeping fish for a long time and tend to forget about the novice. I will try to change this in a small way. This will be an ongoing column where I will talk about keeping and breeding tropical fish. I will write it for the beginner and try to give a step by step way to learn to enjoy our hobby to the fullest.

This time I am going to talk about livebearers. Now everybody knows how easy it is. You put a male and female together and wait a few weeks and you will have babies. Close but no prize. Believe it or not, livebearers can be one of the most difficult fish to keep. They need to be kept in good water, by this I mean do regular water changes, about 15%. You have to be careful with a lot of the livebearers because they can't handle big water changes. So while your learning, it is better to go a little easy on the changes. While siphoning water out make sure you remove accumulated dirt from the bottom. If you have a gravel cleaner be sure to use it. (This is a siphon hose that allows you to clean gravel in the tank.) If your glass needs cleaning do this before you start removing water.

If you have a 10 gallon tank I would stick to moons, wags, guppies and yucatan mollies (these don't require salt). If you have a larger tank you can also add swords. Since they are a bigger fish, they will do better in a bigger tank. Remember, if you want the fish to breed true to their color, you can't mix them because they will interbreed. Of course this really isn't that important because these fish have been bred for so many different colors you will be lucky to get babies the same color as the parents. If you are interested in keeping a specific color, save the babies that have the color you want and breed them back to the parents. Over a period of time you should start getting fish that are all that color.

To know when your fish is pregnant you will have to watch your females closely. You will notice that she will start to get larger; if you have a light colored fish you will also be able to see the babies' eyes. At this time it is best to put your female in a brooding tank. It's easier on the female and the young this way. I suggest you don't use a tank smaller than a 2 gallon and don't use any gravel in the tank; it will make it easier to keep clean. A small filter should be used to assist in keeping the tank clean. You will need to add a lot of plants, either real or plastic in the tank so the babies will have plenty of places to hide when they or born. Otherwise, there is a good chance the mother will eat them.

After the female drops her young, remove her. Wait a few days and remove the plants, making sure you don't take any babies along with them. You will need a very fine food to feed your babies (available at most shops). Feed 4 or 5 times a day but be careful not to overfeed!! Use a small siphon hose(such as airline tubing) to keep the bottom clean. Remove just enough water to clean up the bottom, then carefully replace the water, preferably from your big tank.

If you only have a few babies they will do fine in this tank, If there are 15 or more you will have to thin them out when they get to about an half inch in length.

So keep your tank clean, babies well fed and do your water changes and you should have many new fish to enjoy!

This article doesn't cover the many "new" livebearers, they tend to need a lot of extra care.

See you in the next Darter and remember, hang those nets so they don't rot.