meadeam Posted November 22, 2021 Share Posted November 22, 2021 If put a bunch of live bearers in a 40 breeder and let nature take its course, will the population eventually self-regulate, or does the tank become grossly over populated? I know it would be a full house and I'd have to keep up with the water. I like the idea of a well stocked colorful and active tank, but I don't have experience doing this and I don't want to have to re-home fish constantly if too many fry survive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casual aquatics Posted November 22, 2021 Share Posted November 22, 2021 Your most definitely gonna have to control the population at some point rather getting a new tank selling them using as feeders etc. But I know endlers know no boundaries lol baby's beyond baby's oh and more baby's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johannes Posted November 22, 2021 Share Posted November 22, 2021 Depends on what type or strain as some eat fry and some do not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meadeam Posted November 22, 2021 Author Share Posted November 22, 2021 So I do need a fry-eater. My current big male molly is too lazy to eat fry. I've seen him gently nudge a juvenile rcs out of the way so he could peck at algae. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalmedByFish Posted November 22, 2021 Share Posted November 22, 2021 (edited) I have one angelfish, so when fry get out of control, I net the tiny ones into his tank. I'm thinking that post-angelfish, I'll add a fry-muncher that's less ravenous, and it could live with the livebearers. I haven't thought it through (long live the angel), but I'm wondering about a short-finned betta or a dwarf gourami. Maybe you could add a fry-muncher to the tank, with a mouth small enough to leave the adults alone. Edited November 22, 2021 by CalmedByFish 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meadeam Posted November 22, 2021 Author Share Posted November 22, 2021 On 11/22/2021 at 4:20 PM, CalmedByFish said: I have one angelfish, so when fry get out of control, I net the tiny ones into his tank. I'm thinking that post-angelfish, I'll add a fry-muncher that's less ravenous, and it could live with the livebearers. I haven't thought it through (long live the angel), but I'm wondering about a short-finned betta or a dwarf gourami. Maybe you could add a fry-muncher to the tank, with a mouth small enough to leave the adults alone. A dwarf cichlid of some variety maybe? I love angels, and will have a tank for them at some point. Right now I don't have the space as I want a dedicated >=55g for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalmedByFish Posted November 22, 2021 Share Posted November 22, 2021 On 11/22/2021 at 3:27 PM, meadeam said: A dwarf cichlid of some variety maybe? I love angels, and will have a tank for them at some point. Right now I don't have the space as I want a dedicated >=55g for them. My only experience with cichlids is the one angel, but I'm guessing someone else on the forum would know. Things I know of to check: Whether the water parameters of all the species overlap. Whether the cichlid can eat fry and can not eat adults. And whether the type of cichlid you're looking at *needs* buddies, rather than buddies just being preferable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meadeam Posted November 22, 2021 Author Share Posted November 22, 2021 I've seen rams and kribs recommended if not in pairs, but I really don't know. Cichlids are an advanced topic at this point in my fishkeeping life. I'm not really interested in the larger ones (no larger than angels), but I would like to have some smaller ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenman Posted November 23, 2021 Share Posted November 23, 2021 Does the tank self-regulate or become overpopulated? A little of both in my experience. My swordtail tanks are all overpopulated, but also now largely self-regulating. It takes a certain fish density to consume all of the livebearer fry that can emerge. Swordtails typically birth 50-100 fry per birth, so you need a lot of hungry mouths to eat that many fry. If you don't have enough hungry fish, fry will grow up and join the breeding population until you have enough hungry mouths. The good news is the fry start out so small they put a minimal extra strain on your biofiltration and as they grow, so can the population of beneficial bacteria to keep pace with them. A tank with a hundred livebearers that grew up in that tank will likely have more than enough bacteria to support them. Plop a hundred full grow livebearers into a newly cycled tank and it'll likely crash at the sudden increase in bio-load. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meadeam Posted November 23, 2021 Author Share Posted November 23, 2021 On 11/23/2021 at 8:25 AM, gardenman said: It takes a certain fish density to consume all of the livebearer fry that can emerge. This is what I am hoping to count on. I'd love for the tank to be teaming with fish, but not overpopulated to the point of being unhealthy. My mollies recently had 20+ fry make it, but there were not many other adult fish in the tank other than the parents and a small school of corys. I noticed the fry when they were still small enough to eat, but continued feeding the tank as usual. The older mollies didn't bother with eating the fry at that point. They must have eaten a few early on before I could see them, but I guess they were never hungry enough to bother after that. I've since moved the big male to another tank where there are shrimp he could attempt to eat, but he completely ignores them. Fat and happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaitieG Posted November 23, 2021 Share Posted November 23, 2021 I would say yes to both--Yes, it will overpopulate and Yes it will eventually self regulate. I've had 3 tanks--they regulate significantly higher than I would normally stock them, but they do eventually sort of level off without having mass die offs or disease or anything like that. As far as angelfish, I added those to my large mostly livebearer tank and I now have NO population growth. So, I haven't really found a fish that eats lots but not all of the fry and keeps the population in check without totally eliminating fry survival. I just started another "replacement" tank where I can raise replacement fry and then add them into the angel community tank when they're big enough to not get eaten (aka full grown). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meadeam Posted November 23, 2021 Author Share Posted November 23, 2021 (edited) On 11/23/2021 at 12:19 PM, KaitieG said: I would say yes to both--Yes, it will overpopulate and Yes it will eventually self regulate. I've had 3 tanks--they regulate significantly higher than I would normally stock them, but they do eventually sort of level off without having mass die offs or disease or anything like that. As far as angelfish, I added those to my large mostly livebearer tank and I now have NO population growth. So, I haven't really found a fish that eats lots but not all of the fry and keeps the population in check without totally eliminating fry survival. I just started another "replacement" tank where I can raise replacement fry and then add them into the angel community tank when they're big enough to not get eaten (aka full grown). Good to know. I won't be able to add multiple angels, maybe I could do one. I could get some juveniles who would fit in a 40b, and then move them into the bigger tank that I don't yet have but know that I want. Or I could get a 65.. same footprint with more height. this tank keeps getting bigger. Edited November 23, 2021 by meadeam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted November 23, 2021 Share Posted November 23, 2021 A single or couple of dwarf acaras depending on the size of the tank would regulate that population easily. I added a Krobia xinguensis to my tank overrun with mollys and needless to say haven’t seen fry in a couple days. this is my sons sponge bob tank, lots of fun. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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