Who Gives A Fish Forums

Looking for smaller saltwater livebearers that can thrive in a 55gal tank, excluding the bigger fish like sharks and rays. I'm aware of seahorses, but what else is out there? I know neptunes and mollies can tolerate saltwater, but I'm curious about other smaller livebearer options.

SW livebearers are relatively scarce among ray-finned species, but I've found mollies to thrive in saltwater, outperforming their freshwater counterparts. They breed every month or so.

I'm no expert but I've kept a few species of small livebearers in saltwater.
Some of them do quite well, like the ones zenoxa mentioned, mollies.
I've also had some success with a species of guppies that were acclimated to saltwater, but I'm not sure how well they'd do in a 55gal.

flynix wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2025 7:52 am I'm no expert but I've kept a few species of small livebearers in saltwater.
Some of them do quite well, like the ones zenoxa mentioned, mollies.
I've also had some success with a species of guppies that were acclimated to saltwater, but I'm not sure how well they'd do in a 55gal.

I'm not sure about the bangaii, I think it's a mouthbrooder, not a livebearer. What other small livebearing fish with rays can you keep in an aquarium? How about Botula, are they livebearers?

Honestly, I'm gonna sound ridiculous here, but Coelacanths are technically livebearers... the thing is, good luck getting your hands on some, it's basically impossible.

LOL sorry for this post but it's a bit salty for myself. Coelacanths are livebearers, I know it sounds crazy. Getting them though, yeah good luck with that.

Family Bythitidae are indeed livebearers - they're even called Livebearing Brotulas. Two species you might find in the aquarium trade are the Yellow Brotula, also known as Lycopod Goby or Yellow Eel Goby (Dinematichthys riukiuensis), and the Black Brotula, or Black Widow (Stygnobrotula latebricola). They grow to around 10 and 7 cm.

They can be housed in tanks as small as 10 gallons, but these fish are extremely cryptic. Seeing them can be a challenge unless you have a pretty plain tank.

Honestly, I hadn't thought of those either. To be honest, my only reference to them is a Q&A in "Aquarium fish magazine". Beyond that, I've never come across any other info on them. Getting hold of them might be tough.

I'm really intrigued by Brotulas now - can anyone tell me more about breeding them? What's their diet like and what kind of care do they need? I'm seriously hooked on them now, I think I've fallen in love with these little guys.

Honestly, I've been digging through info on Bythitidae, but there's precious little reliable stuff out there - a quick google search will show you just how scarce it is.