Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => General Fishkeeping advice => Topic started by: Naomi12345 on January 29, 2014, 08:44:19 PM
-
I introduced 4 halfbeaks to my tank a couple of weeks ago, they are beautiful and fascinating fish. However I had 6 male guppies and have had 3 with tail damage and 2 of those died. I have had them 6 months and had got quite attached. I can only put this down to the halfbeaks as the lampeyes added concurrently are definitely not don nippers...
Any experience with this species welcome!!! They are in a group of 4 unsure of sexes...
-
I don't know much about half beaks. I know there are a couple of species sold under that name; that they are livebearers and are sexed the same way as guppies; and that males can be aggressive.
I looked on seriouslyfish - they just have one fish under the name halfbeak, Dermogenys pusilla.
Can be kept with similarly-sized, peaceful species that enjoy the same water conditions. In a freshwater tank good choices include other livebearers, smaller rainbowfish and freshwater gobies. Don’t keep it with any much larger or more aggressive species, as it can become shy and will be easily outcompeted for food.
It can be kept in groups and will usually be less skittish when maintained in this way. Males will often spar with one another, but lasting physical damage is rarely done unless space is very restricted. It is best to keep either a single male specimen or several in order to disperse the aggression.
I would have a look on seriouslyfish and see if the pics look like the fish you have, then see if yours have a gonopodium or normal anal fin. If you do have a male, or perhaps more than one male, that could be the problem with the guppies - which are quite a fragile fish at the best of times.
If the halfbeaks are the problem you will have to decide which you'd rather have, halfbeaks or guppies.
-
I have Malayan halfbeaks and looking at then looks like 3 males and one female ... What a pain should have looked before buying .... Guppies I had had 6 months and current 4 still seem ok but may have to make a choice in future...
Thanks for your advice! Will look at website
Naomi
-
I have a rather old book on livebearers (copyright date 1987). In the section on Dermogenys pusilla, the Malayan halfbeak, it says:
Feed live food such as tubifex worms in a worm feeder and insects caught in a net
They jump!
1 male to 2 or 3 females - stops multiple males fighting and harassing females too much
Difficult to breed in home tanks; only relatively few fry are born, the parents eat them and the newly hatched fry need newly hatched brine shrimp.
I have found a 4 year old reference that says shops rarely sell males, so either things have changed or your shop is unusual!
-
They eat flake food and dried bloodworm no problem have on the way some frozen bloodworm, brine shrimp and daphnia so will see how they like that!
Other guppies going strong.
Pretty sure sexed correctly as 3 have red marks near ventral fin and one definitely hasn't ... Shop is unusual and did say couldn't sex at the time!