mlinden84

I thought I had read somewhere that water temp could help determine male or female. Can anyone confirm/deny this?

If it's true:
Is it just while the babies are in the mothers (for livebearers) or while in eggs that this happens?
or
If there is a prolonged water temp change (constant higher temps or constant lower temps) can they "switch" genders? (Silly question I know, but I just had to ask!)

COBettaCouple

hmm.. I thought the pH would affect gender in livebearers.

Dino

Gender can be affected by both temperature and pH in most livebearers.
Most reasearcher believe that the temperature during the last week before birth is what determines sex.

susitna-flower

OK, so what is the key? HIGH temp gives you what? I can't do anything about the PH longterm, but it would be interesting to experiment with temp.

Dino

Generally, higher temperatures and pH values give you more males.

COBettaCouple

Interesting.. sadly only 4 of our Platy fry made it (deathco tank inbreeding) so it's hard to know how many males we would have got, the survivors were all female though. Would the Amecas be affected the same way by temp. & pH?

manjil

Well,
i know the temperataure affects the gender in case of crocodile. During the incubation period.

But i haven't heard about fish.
I think i've to do a research abt it.

Dino

Many reptiles have sex determined by incubation temperature.
Turtles, crocs, alligators just to name a few.

Chief_waterchanger

Ameca Splendens are livebearers also, I don't see why they wouldn't be affected much the same way as other livebearers.

COBettaCouple

cool, i wasn't sure with how different they are from the 'regular' livebearers. We've got high pH here, so I'll keep that in mind when they get old enough to start breeding.

Dino

One way they are different is that females do not store sperm, something both pocilia or xiphophorus do.

So, a female ameca must be fertilized each time after she has a batch of fry, while guppies/mollies/swords/platies, can have multiple pregnancies from one fertilization.

mlinden84

great! thanks for the information!!

COBettaCouple

True and that's one of the things that I found appealing about them. With the single batch of not many fry (Is it around 3-5 on average?) and the 6-10 week gestation period, we can take better care of the fry without being overrun by sheer numbers, given our space and tank resources and the fact that we'd like to be breeding a few other species also.

mlinden84

What are these? Have you got any pictures?

Dino

Ameca splendens.
I will try to get a picture of ours up this weekend.

COBettaCouple

These are the closest pics that we have of the Amecas.. I should take some new pics of them since they're young, growing fry.

Attached Images

	251 - Nov 14 - Tank 7 (Amecas).jpg (187.6 KB, 8 views)
	253 - Nov 14 - Tank 7 (Amecas).jpg (156.0 KB, 8 views)
	254 - Nov 14 - Tank 7 (Amecas).jpg (204.1 KB, 7 views)

mlinden84

NICE! Why have I never heard of them?

COBettaCouple

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ameca - they're 1 step above extinct on the conservation status. I hadn't heard of them myself until someone brought some in to a meeting of the aquarium society here.

Butterfly

Ameca splendens are Goodieds and most of them are extinct or near extinct in their natural habitat. I think the common name for ameca splendens is butterfly goodied.
Heres some interesting information on goodieds.
http://www.goodeiden.de/html/goodeids.html
I have a pair of lima perugia which are goodieds also. It's really hard to find information on them.
Carol

mlinden84

Thanks for the links! Very interesting!

COBettaCouple

Thanks for that link also!

mlinden84

So how did you manage to find some if they are so rare??

Dino

While they are rare on the chain store side of things, they can be easily found amoung serious fishkeepers.

Butterfly

A lot of the aquarium clubs encourage their members to keep and breed fish that are extinct in the wild, so members who have them share/ sell the fry. The more people keeping them the better.
One of the things I found interesting about the Ameca splendens was that the fry are born with umbilical cord still attached similar to how a human baby does.
I got my Limia perugia from Dino. I like Goodieds and he keeps his eye open for me
carol

COBettaCouple

Yea, the trophotaenia.. I'm looking forward to our Amecas breeding.

mlinden84

Do you have to take little surgical scissors and cut the cord?

Seriously though, that's really cool. Would be a very neat thing to see.

COBettaCouple

lol.. i'd feel so parental!

Dino

The cord falls off after a day or so.

mlinden84

I want some now! I need to find out if there is an aquarium club in the area....

Dino

We should have some ready for sale by shipping season (March).