# Livebearers- what to expect?



## sarah5775 (Jul 12, 2006)

Ok. I have a 55 gallon tank with a lot of hiding places, caves, plants, etc.

I have 4 bloodfin tetras, 3 black skirts, 2 gold barbs, 1 gourami-

And 2 female mollies, 1 female platy (all these were from tanks with males so they may eventually have babies) and 3 female and one male guppy.

How many babies am I looking at over the course of a year or so? I am trying to calculate how many fish I should add at this point while still leaving room for possible fry.

I don't intend to actively try to save babies, just let them give birth in the tank and hope some survive. I know some (most?) will most likely get eaten. How many 'litters' from those that don't have a male, and how many will the guppies put out and how often? How many do you think will survive?


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## snyderguy (Feb 9, 2010)

It's kind of hard to predict how many fry they will have, let alone how many will survive. If you've got one aggressive fish, more than likely that fish will eat all of the fry. If you don't have any fish that is aggressive, then you could possibly have many fry survive.


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

it all depends on how many times they have had babies in the past the more times they have had fry the more they will have the next time around with guppies it can range from 5 their first time to up to 200! chances are with the barbs and gouramis most wont survive. and they can have fry in as little as 3-4 weeks but if they dont feel comfortable having the babies they can hold on to them for around 4 months until they eventually absorb the fry into their bodies. and a female even only after comming into contact with a male once can have birth once a month for 6 months so a guppy could be potentially have 1200 babies in the course of 6 months but thas unlikely but possible lol. But in all reality with the fish you have and without seperating any of the fry you could only be looking at a couple of them surviving in a year.


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