livebearer tank

[redwing191]

i would like to start a strictly livebearer tank. the only aquirium i have to use is a ten gallon. i would like to have a few guppies and maybe a pair of swordtails plus a corydoras or the like to clean the bottom. any suggestions on amount/type of fish i should get? also what is a good ratio for male to female guppies?

[Rometiklan]

For an established 10 gallon tank, I would get 4 guppies (1 male, 3 females), and 3 or 4 corydoras. I usually don't like to put swordtails in anything smaller than a 20 gallon. I like to plant livebearer tanks heavily with java fern and/or java moss to provide cover for fry. I don't try to save any of them, I just let nature take its course and pretty soon, the tank is overrun with fry.

[yashinfan]

I'm with Rometiklan on this one. If you look at a swordtail in a 10 gallon, it looks way too cramped. I'd use my 23 or 30 for them. Now the question is, do you want any babies to survive?? Or would you like the fry to be lunch? And not just one corydora please, at least get it a friend as they like to be in small schools.

[redwing191]

i would like a few to survive but not so many that i have a severly overcrowded tank. also would a few platys work in there as well or is that just to many fish?

[750t]

Female guppies stay pregnant all the time . It wont be long till the tank is full of guppies. I have a 10 and 20 gal full. The ones I like I keep the others get fed to my jd. Guppies are a cool fish. Very entertaining to watch.

[Hebdizzle]

I have a 10 gallon kinda how you want.

4 guppies (2 each gender)
3 bronze cories
5 ghost shrimp
4 guppy fry that will be given to a friend for her tank.

all my fish are pretty good with... er... keeping the population down, but any fry that survive past 1 week are fed to in my 30 gallon.

The ghost shrimp are just basically in there for looks but I believe they also eat hair algae (and I know for a fact they eat flakes)

Aaron

[Dapple2]

Or if you can find them, a neat alternative to guppies (or just a cool twist on depending on what side of the taxonomic fence you stand) are Endler's livebearer. Either of the two will be happy to overflow a nicely planted 10g. :D I wouldn't toss the platies in simply for space reasons... I second the vote for shrimp, they're hilarious to watch, especially when they hijack the cory food.

[redwing191]

thanks everyone. i've researched a bit about the ghost shrimp and they sound great. not sure if i can find any around here though. would any other kind of small crustecean work?

[redwing191]

sorry have to correct last post. "is there any other small crustecean that would work?" is what i ment

[tricksterpup]

I would try amano shrimp, also I keep mystery snails in my live bearer tanks. And with the swordtails, i am full agreement with everyone else. But I would go bigger size tank. I think they do best in a 40 to a 55 gallon as a minium. I have had some huge females and they usually don't do well in small tanks. I keep my mollies in a 55 and they do fantastic.

But other live bearers to think of that would do well in a 10 gallon tank.

Limias
Merry widows
Endlers
Heterandria Formosa (least killiefish) smallest livebearer. :)http://floridafisheries.com/images/fish-pic/het-for.jpg




jim