Goodeid Species?

Hey everyone! Today I stopped by my LFS, and saw an unlabeled tank that had 4 goodeids. I asked how much were they, and the guy thought these were mollies, and charged me $1.99 for each one. So I thought, "what a steal!" And so I bought all 4. However I'm not sure what species of goodeids these are and I'm assuming that these are "Xenotoca eiseni" because of the faint orange on the small males. Can someone confirm for me? Thanks!

Yes, I know, they should be in a species tank. They will only be in this community tank for about a week.

 

emeraldking might be able to help. I believe he keeps a number of Goodeids.

These are cool little fish. I've just started with Ameca splendens and Skiffia francesae and they show a lot of interesting behaviour. Quite a bit of aggression as well; hopefully yours (which definitely are not either of those species) won't be too bad in that regard.

 

These are Xenotoca eisini, San Marcos. Nowadays known as Xenotoca doadrioi. The males of the regular X.eisinI don't show these colors.

And yes, $1.99 is a real steal...

 

These are Xenotoca eisini, San Marcos. Nowadays known as Xenotoca doadrioi. The males of the regular X.eisinI don't show these colors.

And yes, $1.99 is a real steal...

Thanks for the confirmation. The males are still quite small at the moment, so they should color up. How much do they usually sell for?

 

Thanks for the confirmation. The males are still quite small at the moment, so they should color up. How much do they usually sell for?

The price depends on the size. A fullgrown adult specimen will be sold at an average price of € 5,00 - € 8,00 each in Western-Europe. Smaller specimens are sold at an average price of € 2,95 € 4,50 each overhere. Youy only have to convert euros to dollars.

Overhere some pics of mine.

 

emeraldking , I'd love to get your take on something. I don't think it's a thread de-rail, since it relates to these fish.

I have read and been told that a recurring problem with Goodeids is the use of a good with too much protein, which supposedly causes the young to grow too quickly and too large while still within the female's body. This apparently results in difficulty at birth, sometimes resulting in the death of the female and/or babies. I have Ameca and Skiffia, and I am pretty cautious about feeding them, but almost all commercial foods are pretty high (40% or more) in protein. The few low-30% foods I have found tend to be the cheaper, budget-type goldfish flakes. I have been quite strict about avoiding the high-protein stuff, and make sure that there are no other fish in the tank that will suffer for the lack of it. My fish seem to be doing well, and I have had some young born apparently without issues, but the growth rate is fairly slow compared to most other types of fish.

Is this typical of Goodeids? Slow growth, massive appetites but generally low-quality foods? The Amecas at least are eating a great deal of hair algae, in fact I am encouraging the growth of the stuff to help satisfy their appetites. I now have a 12-hour photoperiod and the hair algae struggles to maintain a foothold in the Ameca tank; before I had them, that tank would have been a solid mass of green threads with that much light. When's the last time you heard someone say they were actually trying to grow hair algae?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated. And, if this is considered too far off topic for this thread, mods please feel free to delete. Thanks!

 

emeraldking , I'd love to get your take on something. I don't think it's a thread de-rail, since it relates to these fish.

I have read and been told that a recurring problem with Goodeids is the use of a good with too much protein, which supposedly causes the young to grow too quickly and too large while still within the female's body. This apparently results in difficulty at birth, sometimes resulting in the death of the female and/or babies. I have Ameca and Skiffia, and I am pretty cautious about feeding them, but almost all commercial foods are pretty high (40% or more) in protein. The few low-30% foods I have found tend to be the cheaper, budget-type goldfish flakes. I have been quite strict about avoiding the high-protein stuff, and make sure that there are no other fish in the tank that will suffer for the lack of it. My fish seem to be doing well, and I have had some young born apparently without issues, but the growth rate is fairly slow compared to most other types of fish.

Is this typical of Goodeids? Slow growth, massive appetites but generally low-quality foods? The Amecas at least are eating a great deal of hair algae, in fact I am encouraging the growth of the stuff to help satisfy their appetites. I now have a 12-hour photoperiod and the hair algae struggles to maintain a foothold in the Ameca tank; before I had them, that tank would have been a solid mass of green threads with that much light. When's the last time you heard someone say they were actually trying to grow hair algae?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated. And, if this is considered too far off topic for this thread, mods please feel free to delete. Thanks!

Well, in general newborn fry of goodeids are large in comparison to the size of the mother. One of the reasons why you can keep the fry amongst the adults. There are some exceptions like e.g., bulldog goodeids (Alloophorus robustus). This strain will definitely try to eat their offspring. Bulldog goodeids can reach a size of 15 cm if the conditions are right. They're also the largest goodeids there are and quite aggressive. A fish that will be ¾ of the Bulldog goodeid's own size will be swallowed easily by them. So, a specimen of 6-7 cm will easily eat a fish of 5-6 cm.
But to go back to the size of the fry... Whatever food I'm giving them, the newborn fry will be born large whatever goodeid species this may concern overhere. But it's also like this that most goodeids have small batches of fry in comparison to "most" ovoviviparous livebearers.
Here's a link of another topic of mine about a chapalichtys pardalis giving birth. You'll how large the fry are and in this case, she had a large batch unlike an average batch.
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/polkadot-splitfin-giving-birth.355433/

Do they tend to grow in a slow pace? That depends on the kind of goodeid to be honest. But circumstances can be of influence as well.
A number of goodeids are real good algae eaters. Ameca splendens are a good example. Overhere, I won't get rid of the algae to please those Amecas. But not all goodeids omnivores. There are also a number that are carnivores. So, you must need to know whether the chosen goodeids are carnivores or omnivores to establish a good feeding program. And some are definitely more herbivore as being an omnivore. So, in that case they need more green. My Amecas for instance love eating dried shrimps. But that goes for more goodeid species I have overhere. The twoline skiffia (Neotoca bilineata) are less fond of this.

I myself haven't noticed that female goodeids had problems releasing their fry no matter the size of those fry to be honest.

I also have to say that the Amecas which I'm keeping outdoors are growing massively with the algae that's growing in the outdoor tubs.

 

emeraldking , thanks for the response. I somehow managed to miss seeing it earlier. Very interesting stuff, especially the info about the Bulldog Goodeid. I sorta hope I never see any of those for sale around here, because I'm pretty sure I'd need to buy some.

I returned home from one of my 3-week work rotations to find that a couple more females have given birth in my Ameca/Skiffia tank. I'm not entirely sure which ones, but I have a number of young that are either a mix of the two species or from two or more separate litters of different ages. I am going to try feeding a bit more of the higher-protein foods and see if that increases the growth rates. I'm sure that the higher summer temps will also contribute to faster growth, and our laughable excuse for summer weather should continue for at least a few more weeks so I am putting a few male Amecas outside to see how they do; can't risk any of my precious females, but I have an unfortunate surplus of males.