# Multiple breeding colonies in same tank



## sb483 (May 29, 2006)

A species tank is the easiest way to keep a breeding colony, but I was curious if anyone keeps multiple species in the same tank and has them breed successfully. The easiest way would be different types of livebearers - guppies, mollies, and platies all sharing the same tank. Anyone have other fish species and combinations thereof?

My 53-gallon El-Natural tank has red-wag platies and peppered cories. I don't cull fry so they aren't all red-wag anymore (I started w/ 3 red-wags but some of the >40 fry have clear tails instead of black ones), but the interesting part is the cory eggs. Some get eaten, but not all. There's a field of lillaeopsis in the tank that the cories lay eggs in, and some eggs stay in there long enough to hatch (I started w/ 6 cories, now there's more than 20).

For me having several breeding colonies completes the idea of a closed ecosystem that makes the El-Natural style so appealing. I thought about adding zebra danios, which they say breed in anything, but a large part of the tank is open and the danios might leap out.

Anyone else have multiple fish species living and breeding in the same tank?

[I also used to have threadfin rainbowfish in the 53-gallon, but the male hardly displayed at all to the females, so I moved them to their own 10-gallon where the male displays constantly:eyebrows: ]


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

As long as the sp are different and won't crossbreed I don't see a problem with it.


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## sb483 (May 29, 2006)

Not all species will breed in a community tank. The threadfin rainbowfish male never displayed to the females until I moved the threadfins to a separate tank. Or has anyone seen threadfins breed with other species around them? Is this shyness peculiar to threadfins or are there many species that need to be kept in a species tank in order to breed?


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

I had Threadfins in my tank with some tetras and they displayed all the time.


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## sb483 (May 29, 2006)

Any fry ever show up?

I wonder why mine never displayed in the community tank


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

Any fish that look after their young will breed in community tanks. My 55g tank has at least one species of cichlid breeding in it and a pair of ancistrus that regularly churn out broods too. I'm also starting to add Killis and then collecting the mops out to hatch so that'll make 3 species in one tank!


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

I never had any eggs or babies from the Threadfins....

Right not I have groups of different fish and I get breeding pretty regularly. I have apisto's that breed all the time and I just found a batch of eggs on a leaf that might either be from the Celestial's or my Whiteclouds.


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## sb483 (May 29, 2006)

Thanks for the replies. I meant breeding in the tank without any outside intervention, like breeding mops. Mostly because I'm too lazy to move breeding mops around and raise fry food I suppose if you left the Killi eggs in maybe some might hatch before getting eaten, but why risk it.

I already have cories so I don't know about adding bristlenose plecos, but cichlids I'll think about. My tank is tropical temp so it's too warm for white clouds. I'm not familiar with "Celestial's", and I don't think I can find these or any killis in my LFS, but cichlids they have aplenty.


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## tefsom85 (Jan 27, 2007)

I have had apistos and kribs breed in my tank.. sometimes simultaneously.. key thing is that each pair has enough territory. Planted tanks makes breeding some fish pretty easy. I'm guessing due to the improved water quality provided by the plants.


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## Lord Nibbler (Dec 22, 2005)

I've had splendid rainbows, bosemoni rainbows, yellow rainbows, and juli cories breed in community tanks. Brigs too, but they'll do that anywhere!

The juli cories didn't do too well, unless you are right there about everything else finds their eggs immediately. Rainbows broadcast so many eggs that most get lost in the vegetation and survive.


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