blackchins

i've just gettin some blackchin livebearers. keith has told me that the females tend to go belly up, has anyone got any theories as to avoid this possibility?

Girardinus metallicus

I'm sure that you have found this topic already but a little info here as well
http://www.livingfish.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=95

I love these fish, we saw a golden pair at the auction a couple of weeks ago, wish i had a tank to keep them, looked very nice.

ahh i see, was it in the archives?

No it was in the open forum, I remembered it from the past.

With all my fish i would keep at least 2 tanks running, just incase you do get a problem.

i have just found 2 dead so there is a population of 3 in their. there is also a few dead fry but i noticed 2 fry swimming in the java moss, could anybody help me with this suicidal tendency or whatever it seems to be???

I found that water changes is a must, with all species of livebearers.
If your are finding a problem then sometime cutting back, do smaller changes, and check the ammonia, nitrate and nitrite's.

Do the fish show any singes of stress or clamped fins.

I used to keep these fish quite easily in a 18" 12" 12", then i would remove the fry as and when i saw them, then i would, as soon as possible get a second tank running.

Alan

wise words, i will follow this. thanks. which livebearers have you actually had and how long have you benn in this part of the hobby? anyone else can answer as well as i am interested in how much experience everyone has, no matter how small.

My history........

My first tank from friend at 7 (1985),
First started breeding fish at 9 (Giant danio)
Joind a local club at 11
First rare livebearer at 13 (Alfaro cultratus)
Built a fish room at 14 with around 50 tanks ranging from 12x8x8" to 6' in size
I cant list all the species I've keeped and breed as I've had so many of them.

As you may of noticed my heart belong to the family Goodeidae, there are around 40 speces, and I've keeped around 30 of them.

As for Poeciliidae i dont have a clule of the number that i've keped, i would have to say it's something like......100+

How about your self?

Alan

i've only really just come back to this bit of the hobby and keith gave me some limia perugiae which are doing really well right now with a total of about 90, i've just managed to get some blackchins which so far haven't produced yet(got them last month), i also managed to get some heterandria formosa but i got six and only 2 have survived after a week, maybe the journey, but there is a few fry in the tank. i only started in 1999 when i got a 2' and had some guppys and mollys +a few swords, you know the usual new comer stuff, but i quickly outgrew these and ended up trying cichlids 2000 with very little luck, the only ones which did do well were firemouths, which are still around, last year i started keeping plants with pretty good success, and i have just bought a CO2 generator to help. i am beginning to like livebearers more than cichlids now, and some are just as challenging. i think i am a bit of a novice compared to you although i feel that i know quite a bit but there is always more to learn. does anyone else have any stories to tell aswell?