Tank size requirements for livebearers

I wanted to start a new thread because this is a different question. What are the tank requirements for the different types of livebearers. I need to know this for mollies, swordtails, platies, guppies, endlers, and mosquito fish, so for pretty much everything. And I also need to know how many fish of these types that you can keep in different sizes of aquariums. It would be helpful for me to know this so that I can try to make sure that all of my fish are healthy and happy.
It is of my knowledge that you can keep guppies in a five gallon, and maybe even two platies, unless this is wrong. I would like to start with a five gallon up, since that is the smallest tank size I have.
I currently have 5 mollies (2 babies), 5 platies (1 baby), 5 swordtails, and 4 guppies. Some of these are parents and kids so I want to separate the moms and dads from the children so they don't try to breed with each other. This means I need a tank for three mollies (2 are sail fins), two swordtails, one platy, and two guppies. I guess I can put them in separate tanks if that means getting smaller tanks. I also need a home for two mollies (One sail fin), probably 5 swordtails, though I only have three right now, four platies, and maybe 5 guppy endler mixes (I currently have two males). I hope this doesn't mean that I have to get two 30 gallons if I want to keep the babies and the parents separate.
I have a fifteen and a sixteen gallon that I can use now. The fifteen gallon has four baby swordtails and 5 baby guppies in it. I could move a couple fish in there since my sixteen gallon is apparently over stocked. I need to figure out what I can do for these fish with out having to give them away. And I do plan on giving away most of the baby swordtails and guppies. I may keep two of the baby swordtails and switch out one of the male baby guppies for one of my older males. I did account for this in my earlier explanation.

 

29 gal minimum for mollies and swordtails, 10 gal for a few platies or a few guppies, 5 gal for mosquito fish pair. You need larger tanks if you want to keep larger numbers of these fish.

 

Hi! There are a lot of really great resources on this site, including care sheets for dozens of different kinds of fish. You can find them by browsing the sub forum for the type of fish you are interested in. Additionally, if someone uses the name of the fish, the blue hotlink will take you straight to the care sheet by clicking on it.

 

29 gallon minimum definitely for mollies, and it has everything to do with behavior.

They do best in harem groups 1 male to 3 females. You could keep just 2 females and 1 male without a problem, but I have personally found my own mollies (both short finned and sailfin) to be more active and social in this type of group. It also makes your females more comfortable by diverting the male's advances between more individuals so no specific female is bothered too much. The girls can fend for themselves as long as the male in question isn't overly aggressive (I've been blessed with a mellow dude myself who gets that a peck in the face means no lol) but a larger tank gives more space to females who want to out of an encounter with an insistant male.

They don't school but their comfort in groups brings out lots of entertaining behavior. Mollies graze together, picking around plants and at the gravel for algae and other morsels all day long. They need plenty of space for this behavior. They also need that space for chasing- a male will pusue females this way as you know, and they will also establish their pecking order by chasing others out of their area. I've seen more pecking order squabbles occur among my females, and once that calms down after a few days and the girls know their place amongst themselves, the male takes the lead.

The bigger tank they can have for this the better. I saw none of these natural behaviors when I kept my mollies in a tank that was too small. 29 gallons is pefect for a group of 4. I mix short fins and sailfins, and would recommend a species-only tank.

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Oh! And I agree about the fish profils here on FishLore. Just watch out in the molly one though- it says they prefer they high tanks which isn't true. Long is better, but a 29 gallon dimensions are just fine. If you go bigger, then seek out a long dimension tank if there's an option.

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I've heard that a 20 gallon is good for swordtails. would that be ok? I could Maybe use the 15 gallon for guppies, the 16 for platies, get two 30 gallons, I'm pretty sure I can get one from my friend for free and I would have to buy the other, maybe 2 20 gallons, one for each group of swordtails, and keep the five gallon running for the mosquito fish. And then I can ask my friend for the 50 gallon she has that she wants to give away but has been holding onto in case I want it. I can maybe fit these all into my room. I think I have room for two 30 gallons and a 50. I don't know where I could put the two twenties though. I would probably keep these in another room? or keep one of the 30s in another room and keep the two twenties in my room. Ive been thinking about turning the guest room into an arts and crafts studio for myself, since my stuff is currently all over the dining room table and is makes my mom mad. If I claim that room as mine them I can probably put one of the 30s in there, or even move another tank in there so I have more room in my room. Now I just got to find a way to convince my mom to let me have these tanks. My dad doesn't seem to mind, and I was thinking about getting plastic mats for under the tanks to keep the carpet clean. If I'm responsible, then maybe my mom will let me keep it that way. So this is just a list of what I would have:
50 gallon baby tank
30 gallon molly tank (For Majestic, Dustin and Leah)
30 gallon molly tank (For Dusty and Majesty)
20 gallon swordtail tank (For King, and his mates, which I have yet to buy)
20 gallon swordtail tank (For my Mariah/Lexus son, Akaeya and Hana)
16 gallon platy tank (For Silver, Hannah, Alaina, and Devon)
15 gallon guppy/endler tank (For Starburst and hopefully some tiger endler females)
5 gallon Mosquito fish tank (For the mosquito fish that I have yet to buy)

I was also thinking about maybe turning the 50 gallon into a molly swordtail and platy tank. It would be home to Majestic, Dustin, Leah, Mariah, Lexus, and Greg. Since I have nowhere in that plan to put Mariah, Lexus and Greg. I think a thirty gallon would be big enough for the babies???? Hopefully. As long as Majestic doesn't throw me an over 30 baby batch like Leah did for Dustin. I believe she is pregnant for Dustin because he has finally started breeding with her. I want to at least get some of these tanks before Majestic gives birth so I can be ready for her babies.



This is Majestic. Ive never been able to find another golden panda like her. Plus she's got a gorgeous lyretail and produces babies with even prettier ones. The platy in the back is Devon. The molly in front is Dusty. The platy tail that I caught in the picture is Silver, who always likes to get in the way.

 

That list of potential tanks looks alright I think. Although I don't think the fry need 50 gallons since they're temporary for you.

Maybe consolidate the molles in the 50 gallon? I know you wanted to keep the parents separate but from my understanding many livebearers are line-bred anyway. Depending on where you got yours, chances are good the mothers of your mollies were bred to their father. Inbreeding is a completely different topic that I can't say much about personally, but I do know it is commonly done and most fish you get from a pet shop are inbred. It's how they get predictable results.

If the mollies are in the 50 gallon, you could put the swordtails in a 30.

If the 20 gallon is a 20 long, it might work as a grow-out tank for the babies since they won't be with you a long time? But someone else should give you a 2nd opinion on that.

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That is a lot of tanks to maintain, and I say that as someone who has nine of my own. Weekly water changes and maintenence. Filter upkeep and so on. Rather than setting so many up in a big rush, I'd suggest growing into the hobby slowly.

Are you aware livebearers are canabalistic towards their young? It's great you're trying to accomodate eventual offspring, but you may find out there are less to contend with than you think. Finding a lfs willing to offer store credit for fry might be a better idea than setting up all of those tanks.

 

I am trying to get tanks set up for my adult fish mostly. I have them all crammed in a 16 gallon right now. I am already set up with a local fish store and bring them babies pretty often.

Ive been breeding for probably three years now. I get large batches of babies from my girls.
One gave birth to 36, only 18 survived though.
I currently have 2 female mollies, one female swordtail, who once gave birth to 28, two other female swordtails, two female platies, and a female guppy.
I have had to deal with over 70 babies at a time, mostly because I had the batch of 28 swordtails, a batch of 17 guppies, and a batch of 32 mollies. They were all crammed into a 15 gallon because I didn't have enough room for them.
I know that that is crazy and is not healthy for the fish and that is why I need to get such a big tank for my babies.
I plan to have multiple batches at once, and if any of my three mothers who have thrown me a batch in the past are pregnant again, then I can easily reach that number again.
Now I have even more females than I did before and if any of these get pregnant soon, in a month I could be dealing with another 20 or more babies. I wait until they are older tot weed them out because I don't want to get rid of potentially healthy fish.
If they don't die out themselves, then I get rid of the unhealthy ones, the ones that are way too small, are too skinny and not eating enough, even though I offer them more than enough food, and the ones with poor quality fins.
I was thinking about having a 50 gallon for my baby tank because with the amount of females I have, it can even easily be overstocked and its probably the largest sized tank I can fit in my room. And I need a tank big enough for sail fin mollies to grow to a big enough size in the 2 months that it takes them to reach maturity.
I don't plan on getting all these tanks at once. I plan on maybe starting with a 30 gallon and then maybe getting the 50 gallon or a couple of 20s. I want to do this fast though because I don't want my fish to continue suffering. I already get enough mean comments on here about how my fish are suffering because I didn't know how big of a tank they need to live in and because pet stores deceive us, keeping 10 mollies in 10 gallons and same with swordtails. I just want to be responsible with my fish breeding and keeping and I don't want to be in this horrible situation I'm in anymore.

I also for some reason am highly against inbreeding fish. If I get a male an a female of the same kind, I make sure I get one from petco and one from an lfs, or from two different lfs.
I usually breed different types together. My mollies are a golden panda, a dalmatian, and a silver. My swordtails are an orange lyre tail and an orange painted, and then my lyre tail's son is a white painted who I am breeding to koi females. And for those of you who don't know, I have a weird uneven lyre tail male who can breed.
My platies are two black females, sisters, the kois are too, and my male platy is a red tail dalmation. My baby majesty is half golden panda half black molly, and Dusty is the daughter of my dalmatian and my silver.
Silver is half blue mickey mouse high fin wagtail platy and half panda platy. King, my white painted is half neon painted half orange lyre tail (For some reason Lexus throws white babies), and my guppies are half endler. I like that you have no idea what you are going to get. It makes it more exciting.
I don't like how they are bred to be certain colors or patterns. I like all my fish unique. I also believe that inbreeding creates week fry. Even if it doesn't, it is still gross. That's why I want to separate the parents from the babies. I won't put them in the same tank without a separator, and I understand that just diminishes the point of getting a bigger tank.

 

I don't plan on getting all these tanks at once. I plan on maybe starting with a 30 gallon and then maybe getting the 50 gallon or a couple of 20s. I want to do this fast though because I don't want my fish to continue suffering. I already get enough mean comments on here about how my fish are suffering because I didn't know how big of a tank they need to live in and because pet stores deceive us, keeping 10 mollies in 10 gallons and same with swordtails. I just want to be responsible with my fish breeding and keeping and I don't want to be in this horrible situation I'm in anymore.

I agree that working up to that many tanks gradually is a good idea. It seems like your parents will need that time to be convinced as well. Now that you've explained it, it makes sense to have a bigger fry tank.

I think I can speak for everyone whose been replying to your threads by saying that being mean isn't our intention. I'm sorry if I personally came off that way, I sincerely was just sharing my own knowledge and hoping to make things better for yiur fish. There's lots of conflicting information, standards, and experiences out there in regards to how to keep fish so I think it's important to have discussions like this. Someone always learns something and it makes doing this the right way just a little more fun

I totally understand the feeling of being mislead by the stores, and it's important to remember that the way they hold their fish are temporary. They order them every week, they come in, and are bought or die within the week. All their tanks are overstocked because none of them are staying there, so their example isn't the one to follow. I like to think of it this way: the fish I bring home from the store should be brought into a more comfortable environment than the one they just came from.

I also for some reason am highly against inbreeding fish.

I don't like how they are bred to be certain colors or patterns. I like all my fish unique. I also believe that inbreeding creates week fry. Even if it doesn't, it is still gross. That's why I want to separate the parents from the babies. I won't put them in the same tank without a separator, and I understand that just diminishes the point of getting a bigger tank.

I agree it is gross to think about and it's far more fun to get surprises in the fry if you're not aiming to produce a strain. I also get all my fish from different stores so I can keep a variety. But I am also okay with the fact that all my fish come from long lines of inbred stock and that lineage is what guaranteed them their attractive qualities from birth. There's some intesting reading online about it and the results of line breeding in different livebearers. Some fish like mollies benefit from it when done correctly while guppies are quicker to have deformities. Even though it's not your practice to do any of that with your own fish, it's still useful knowledge for any breeder!


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We're not trying to be mean, but we are trying to look out for the fish.

Since your parents aren't on board, it may be a good idea to rehome most of the fish until you're in a situation where you can get appropriately sized tanks for them.

 

Swordtails grow bigger than Mollies (females get to 6") and are also best kept as several females and one male, so they need even more space. I would say 50 gallon minimum.

 

I'm confused about the swordtails. I don't have room for two 50 gallons and I have three groups of swordtails and would preferably keep them in separate tanks. I think I'm keeping two of my orange painted girls and a boy. I think I'm going to pair the White painted with the two orange painted and the orange painted male, who's going to be an uneven lyre tail like his father with my lyre tail koi female and her sister. If the other koi is her sister, maybe I can get some lyre tail females out of her.
I would prefer to keep them in 20 gallons. I'm already planning on two thirty gallons for the mollies. Maybe I will have to do two fifty gallons, one for the babies and one for some mollies, a pair of swordtails and a pair of platies, and maybe a pair of guppies. My female sword is currently 3 inches and my male is almost 3 inches. I don't know if they would grow anymore if given the chance. If I could keep them in twenty gallons that would be nice. The article on this website for swordtails says that they can be kept in a 10 gallon. My swordtails have grown slowly, but one born in August is pretty much fully grown. I feel bad saying that he probably has a little more growing to do. He was raised in a 15/16 gallon tank, but spent a little time in a 20 gallon at my old school.

 

Swordtail confusion also comes from so many bloodlines, some never get past 3 inches.
I suspectthat this is because of so much inter breeding with small plats.

 

yeah I've heard of interbreeding swordtails and platies before. Most of the swordtails I've had in the past have been pretty small. My female now is probably the largest female I've ever had. My female tigress was much smaller and defiantly looked like she had some platy in her. Her son King is not growing as long as the male that I believe is his father. He's just about as tall, but has a much shorter tail. Tigress wasn't a normal type of swordtail either. She was a neon painted, which I've never really seen before. As for Mariah and Lexus, I don't know how big they would get, but I'm planning on putting them in a larger tank with some mollies. My two koi females don't look like they will get that big either. As for Lexus and Mariah's kids, I'm not sure how big they'll get.

 

Size in Swordtails is an old problem. The interbreeding with maculatus is not the reason, however.

Dr. Molly Morris at Ohio University has studied the various Swordtail species for many years, both in the lab and in the wild. Xiphophorus hellerI have an unusual genetic characteristic: males come in two sizes. "Early" males are those that sex out at 3-4 months of age, while "late" males usually don't sex out until 9 months to a year, sometimes more. Male swordtails pretty much stop growing once they sex out.The evolutionary reason for this is that, if there is a drought, small fish are more likely to survive than the normal large sizes. However, they are varied enough in their genes that late males can still develop out of the smaller fish.

For a long time, people did not realize this. So when a pond in Florida had all the swordtails pulled out to get fish for shipping, the small males were thrown back to "grow out" some more. What this did was leave them to do most of the breeding, and the genetic trait for early maturity eventually became the norm. So the average size of commercially bred Swordtails kept getting smaller.

Ross Socolof went to Mexico, and collected large males to breed back into some of the stock in Florida. Average sizes are getting better, but mostly it is private breeders who are producing the really large Swords. Your average store bought Swordtail is unlikely to exceed 3.5-4 inches, especially in the average aquarium. A long 20 is adequate for these fish, as they cannot genetically get to the 6-7 inches of the wild territorial males. They are also unlikely to get there because they do not get enough food and clean water at early ages to get the necessary growth.

If you wish to raise big swordtails, two things are necessary. First, lots of huge water changes (one person does 80% every three days). Second, lots of high protein foods. I have seen 4 inch early males at 4 months, fully mature, raised in this manner. However, one can raise decent looking swords in much less space, and with a lot less effort. They just won't be particularly large. That does not make them stunted, or unhealthy; just small.

 

Thanks for the info. That helps a lot. That also explains why my male sword is so big.

 

Size in Swordtails is an old problem. The interbreeding with maculatus is not the reason, however.

Dr. Molly Morris at Ohio University has studied the various Swordtail species for many years, both in the lab and in the wild. Xiphophorus hellerI have an unusual genetic characteristic: males come in two sizes. "Early" males are those that sex out at 3-4 months of age, while "late" males usually don't sex out until 9 months to a year, sometimes more. Male swordtails pretty much stop growing once they sex out.The evolutionary reason for this is that, if there is a drought, small fish are more likely to survive than the normal large sizes. However, they are varied enough in their genes that late males can still develop out of the smaller fish.

For a long time, people did not realize this. So when a pond in Florida had all the swordtails pulled out to get fish for shipping, the small males were thrown back to "grow out" some more. What this did was leave them to do most of the breeding, and the genetic trait for early maturity eventually became the norm. So the average size of commercially bred Swordtails kept getting smaller.

Ross Socolof went to Mexico, and collected large males to breed back into some of the stock in Florida. Average sizes are getting better, but mostly it is private breeders who are producing the really large Swords. Your average store bought Swordtail is unlikely to exceed 3.5-4 inches, especially in the average aquarium. A long 20 is adequate for these fish, as they cannot genetically get to the 6-7 inches of the wild territorial males. They are also unlikely to get there because they do not get enough food and clean water at early ages to get the necessary growth.

If you wish to raise big swordtails, two things are necessary. First, lots of huge water changes (one person does 80% every three days). Second, lots of high protein foods. I have seen 4 inch early males at 4 months, fully mature, raised in this manner. However, one can raise decent looking swords in much less space, and with a lot less effort. They just won't be particularly large. That does not make them stunted, or unhealthy; just small.

I know molly and both are issues, heck shedoesn't work far from my home.

 

So guppies won't grow after they become males either?

 

They continue to grow, but much more slowly. If you want size on your fish, you have to feed them well for the first few months, and do lots of big water changes. A constant water change system, or a centralized system with a large sump, can make a big difference. But even with a sump, water has to be changed frequently. And it is not uncommon for champion Guppy breeders to feed six times per day for fry. Which brings us back to the need for lots of big water changes.

 

oh ok. I used to feed my fry 3 times a day. I don't know why the guppies are so small, maybe because they just couldn't grow that large in a 15 gallon. I don't know if the fact that he's half endler makes a difference. I never changed my water like that though. I've never heard of that before really.

 

I'll add the least killifish to your list, it's a small livebearer too.

They can be in really small tanks.

 

Are they in any way related to the other livebearers?

 

So happy ( Pretty much not). I just found 5 baby mollies in my 16 gallon. Looks like Leah gave birth again and I didn't catch it. Maybe that's for the better. Anyways, I've got 3 one week old platties and now newborn mollies. I have an idea for a new thread to start

 

Are they in any way related to the other livebearers?

Yes, they're in the same family, Poeciliidae. And for that matter in the same subfamily, Poeciliinae.

 

Ok. I might get some then. Are they similar to mosquito fish? because I was thinking about getting some of those

 

Well, they sort of look similar, but they're in different genera. Gambusia is what mosquito fish are in, and Heterandria is what least killifish are in.