# What livebearer should I get?



## jjkolodz (Jul 17, 2007)

I am looking to get some species of livebearer but I don't want some ordinary species that I can pick up at any LFS. Anyone have any ideas?


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## mesapod (Aug 18, 2007)

What about mosquito fish i had those for a while. They arent as easy to breed as the normal livebearers. Conditions have to be perfect.


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## jjkolodz (Jul 17, 2007)

I was trying to find something with a little bit of color. I was thinking about endler's livebearers but I wanted to know if anything else was out there before I made a final decision


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## mesapod (Aug 18, 2007)

I think those would be a pretty good fish except they are sometimes hard to find. They are pretty hardy too.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Goodieds are neat. They have fewer, larger babies than guppies. They like hard, alkaline water and can be aggressive so they may need larger tanks (15 gal is good) than guppies. Most are fairly hardy.


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## njpioneer93 (Sep 3, 2007)

yea i'm having some trouble deciding what livebearer i want also. i'm leaning toward guppies but i'm also kind of interested in platys.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

There are a LOT of livebearers to be had, and most of them are very rare. They need more people to keep them. Unfortunately, they need experienced keepers to keep them because they are in trouble and need help. If you get skilled at keeping the other more common types, then you can move on to the tricky ones and maybe do some good. I would suggest swordtails and mollies, as these can both be a lot harder to keep WELL than one might expect. There are many wild types of mollies that you hardly ever see which have a lot of real pizzazz.

On the other hand, don't dismiss guppies too quickly. Raising GOOD guppies is not all that easy, and you can make some real money if you can produce fine specimens. Most petshops can't even GET good ones unless they buy them from local breeders, and other breeders are always on the lookout for new stuff to add to their lines.
Endler's are just a tribe of isolated guppies, by the way, along with many other such tribes. It's official. Sorry about that, but the _wingei_ name has been declared invalid along with the species. Of course, they are very cute and intensely colored guppies, and sure to be the next big thing, no doubt. Once domesticated forms are developed, their colors should likely outshine those of other guppies if the intensity can be preserved while the colors are spread over larger areas.

Goodeids are also pretty cool. Most of them are rare, expensive, and hard to find, though. They're also not aptly named, being mean and nasty little boogers. Still, ya gotta love 'em.


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## Guest (Sep 6, 2007)

Anableps are neat, as well as halfbeaks. Both require specialized care, however. Stingrays are livebearers, but of couse require huge tanks and very specialized care.

WetWebMedia has a good page on livebearers, including those unique ones.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/livebearers.htm


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## guppybreeder! (Sep 22, 2007)

i like the guppys! i might get started in platies and/or swoardtails soon to though!


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## mesapod (Aug 18, 2007)

read up on swordtails cause i had 2 and they died for no apparent reason.


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## jjkolodz (Jul 17, 2007)

I ended up with some Ameca splendens and Characodon lateralis. They are both pretty neat fish although the A. splendens are a little more aggressive than I would like.


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## happykitsune (Sep 24, 2007)

mesapod said:


> What about mosquito fish i had those for a while. They arent as easy to breed as the normal livebearers. Conditions have to be perfect.


Actually, if you keep the mosquito fish in a pond they breed like crazy.


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## mesapod (Aug 18, 2007)

oh really had them for like 1 month cause they came in at out lfs and they didnt even get fat.


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## jesse_fish_kid (Feb 4, 2007)

lyretail swordtails are really cool,but expensive ,I just got some today


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