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Another few questions for Neale (if possible). Livebearer sel., sys. -01/30/08 Hi again, Neale! (Or if not, whoever is kind enough to reply) <It is me...> Thank you so much for your advice. I had written you previously about keeping goldfish with sand, and you dispelled my fears about any negative consequences. However, I've decided to take a different approach and would appreciate a bit of your input. <Oh?> I've decided to nix goldfish, since shubunkins were my first pick and they get so large, I realize now they are meant for ponds or large aquariums. There are calico fantails that might fit better into a 29 gallon tank, but the "golf ball" fancy goldfish look, while sort of cute, I find a bit grotesque... <Indeed, not a big fan of fish so inbred they can't swim.> So, I've decided to switch to livebearers! Of course, I've tried them before, but never have they fared too well in my tank. <Most all problems with livebearers come from two things: not appreciating their need for hard, alkaline water, and not understanding that they are fish of clean streams, not swamps. So they need good water quality with the right chemistry! A bit of salt seems to help, even with the non-brackish water ones.> I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment that they are not fish for the beginner, in spite of being recommended as such. I had a gold marbled molly in a 29 gallon tank, she never seemed sick, but one day she just disappeared. I also tried red wag platys, but I believe I got two females and they just looked bloated all the time. Eventually they got so bloated they seemed to not do much but lean on the plastic plants, and they eventually died. I also tried a male and female pair of tuxedo swordtails, but they died after I had them for only about a year and a half. <Oh dear.> This was before I knew much about the water chemistry as it pertains to aquariums, and that livebearers should get lots of greens in their diet. Now I am giving it another go, and I swear I'm going to do things right! First off, I have some European Shrimp Mix that my African cichlids love. I also have plenty of blanched greens available, and cucumber and cantaloupe (a bit junky, but very popular with the cichlids) and I plan on giving them only spare amounts of dried food. When I do, it'll be HBH Soft Spirulina pellets and Ocean Nutrition Cichlid Veggie Flake. About twice a week I'll give them frozen bloodworms and chopped, live earthworms. There will be no bloated fish in my house this time! <Very good. I think the chopped earthworms are overkill though (literally, for the worms themselves). Livebearers would be much happier with smaller mouthfuls. With the notable exception of the AMAZING pike livebearer, most of them are grazers and nibblers rather than biters.> Also, I am still interested in making this a lightly planted tank. I plan on having one fixture with two T5 bulbs, a Coralife Colormax full-spectrum and a 6,700k bulb. I believe the bulbs are 18 watts each, so 36 watts, not much lighting for a 29 gallon tank. I am hoping to keep it low-tech with lots of Java fern, but I would love to try an Amazon sword (since this tank is tall) and maybe some kind of background plant. The plant selection is very limited in my neck of the woods, I can't find Anubias anywhere! My other option is maybe getting a "low light" medley of plants from an online place. <Low-tech with plants is fine. I keep my Limia nigrofasciata in a small tank with Cryptocoryne spp., Anubias, and a few odd cuttings of other stuff. Your main problem is algae in low-light conditions (paradoxically, perhaps) but generally livebearers eat algae, so this problem isn't actually a problem at all. Sure, the plants will never be spotless like an Amano-style Nature Aquarium, but who cares? The fish are happy, the plants are happy, and in my tank, the shrimps and snails are happy too.> I would still like to try laterite, mixed with Schultz Aquatic Soil, with a layer of silica sand on top. Thank you for the idea about the gravel tidy, but it seems this is more of a UK thing...none of my LFS sell such a device. Is there a way to make a DIY gravel tidy? Maybe with some screen mesh, like what they use for windows and porches and what not? <You are correct about some planted aquarium gear being difficult and/or expensive in the US. It's a common complaint. Much of this stuff is made in Germany, and the demand is limited in the US, so prices stay high. Ambitious American aquarists tend to go marine, so the "high end" freshwater tanks get overlooked. Anyway, my DIY approach is to use plastic mesh from the garden centre. You don't want the nylon thread type, but the stuff more like stiff plastic mesh. Fairly small gaps between the threads are required, but beyond that you can improvise.> And here is the question that has been really bugging me, is there a way that I can skip using CO2 at all and still have decent growth? <In practise you can have strong lighting, no CO2, and good plant growth. But adding CO2 will *always* improve the plant growth. On the other hand, in a low-tech tank with slow-growing plants that tolerate low light levels, CO2 won't make much difference. CO2 matters where you have fast-growing plants under strong light.> The Hagen Natural Gro system seems very affordable, but I am worried about using CO2 in a tank where the water is supposed to be hard and alkaline. The only planted tank book I have is Peter Hiscock's "Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants" and this book seems a bit dated. Any other book suggestions? I work at a library so that gives me a bit of an advantage! Rhonda Wilson's website (naturalaquariums.com) has been very inspirational. <Oh, there are *many* good planted aquarium books. I don't have any strong feelings on which is best. As you say, you should be looking for one that covers CO2 and lighting with reference to modern systems, but beyond that I don't think it matters much. There's a lot of argument about the best way to grow plants, but the reality is that (unlike corals, say) plants are adaptable and up to a point will succeed under a range of conditions. So long as they get enough light, CO2, and a proper substrate, you can't really go wrong.> Lastly, I was hoping to get some personal recommendations as to what kind of livebearer community to strive for. Do swordtails like only to be with swordtails, or do they do all right in the company of guppies? <Male swordtails are aggressive and best kept in groups of one male to two or more females with no other livebearers. They live in rivers and other open habitats, and male swordtails fight to keep their patch free of rivals. The problem in the aquarium is one male will consider most tanks his exclusive domain. In smaller tanks Platies tend to play much nicer.> I'd like to stay away from mollies as they seem to ultimately be better off in a larger tank, and kept brackish. <Agreed, but Mollies do also have the benefits of being really nice fish with great colours. Liberty Mollies are especially nice, if you can find them, and don't seem the need brackish water. They're a distinct species of Molly, and otherwise I agree with you, the standard hybrid Mollies do seem to do best in brackish water. That's not necessarily a bad thing: Anubias and Java ferns and hardy Crypts are just fine in brackish water, and at least one Crypt, C. ciliata, is a brackish water specialist. These plants extract carbon from the bicarbonate in the water, and don't really need CO2 fertilisation. You can obviously add brackish water fish such as Bumblebee or Knight Gobies, both of which are lovely fish. Knight Gobies are especially lovely in good condition, and practically coral reef fish in their shimmering beauty.> Swordtails and platies might be fun, but I don't want them to hybridize, so that could be problematic. <Too late -- all the Swords and Platies in the trade are hybrids.> I have access to lots of healthy mosquitofish and least killifish but in my experience, mosquitofish are very nippy! Least killifish are impressive in a large shoal, but they seem happier in a tank where the water is tannic. <Hmm... I think this varies. Least Killifish aren't reputed to be nippy, and I find they look best in groups in very quiet tanks. Both should do well in low-end brackish or hard/alkaline water; I've not heard of them preferred soft/acid water, though I admit to seeing many Mosquitofish in swampy streams in Florida.> Any suggestions or information you could point my way, I would be most appreciative! <Do also research availability of "rare" livebearers. Limia nigrofasciata, Micropoecilia picta, Poecilia salvatoris, halfbeaks and others can all be fun and colourful alternatives. Being that little bit more difficult to find makes their resulting offspring that bit more desirable and easy to sell/share with others. There are some nice livebearer books out there, and on Amazon.com for example you can get old copies for very little.> My heartiest thanks for your assistance, and for this website, which is the biggest contributor to my growth in this hobby. I know you hear it a lot, but this website has indeed taught me SO much! <Glad to hear it, and thanks for the thanks.> Best wishes, Nicole <Cheers, Neale.> Re: Another few questions for
Neale. Livebearer sel., Goodeids - 1/31/08
Guppies are simple 5/10/07
Just a question, re platy density/stkg. 2/28/07 Guppies Be Us shop in SG Guppy Gambit, our enterprising Perry in SG |
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