pregnant sword???

[supafreak]

this morning i noticed that my female sword was acting really strange. She was swimming around at the very top of the aquarium, slowly, just round and round. She wan't really eating, and her stomach was soooo bloated. Her vent looked rather large. Could she be almost ready to give birth? I'v never had a spawn from her, and just got her about 1 month ago. The male died last week, and when i checked my water conditions they were perfect. I hope she isn't going to die also. I isolated her in a breeder net that hangs on the side of the tank, because if she is going to have babies i want them to survive. I have no experience with live breeders and she is currently in a community tank with a barb, a loach and 12 neons, and one remaining sword (the male died last week) this is a 20g tank.

 

[Psyhampster]

does she have a black dot near the anal fin? That is a sure sign of pregnency, but if she is extremly bloated, it sounds like pregnency. She may give you more fry in the coming months, as all livebearers can hold sperm.

 

[supafreak]

so i'v read. This black dot....do you have a pic of that i'm looking for? The vent is a black dot, but i'm not sure that is what you mean.

 

[Psyhampster]

heres a site with a pic, its of a guppy, but the spot would be in roughly the same space. http://aquariumhobbyist.com/guppies/pregnancy.html

 

[supafreak]

can anyone tell me if these guys are good parents? I'm concerned that i may miss the birth and that she may eat her babies

 

[XxTitleisTxX]

Yeah, theres a good chance shell eat her babies, but even more of a concern would be other fish in the tank. ESPECIALLY neons. So you might want to get some floating plants and scoop them out when you see one. Java moss works great

 

[supafreak]

well, i guess i was wrong. My female sword was dead when i got up this morning. What could be killing my swords? Are they particulary delicate to anything, like ph, or sudden change in temp, or anything else you could think of? My amonia, nitrite, and nitrate are all close to 0.

 

[mayreee]

Amonia and nitrite shouldnt even be "close to 0". They should be 0. I would think all fish are delicate to a sudden change in temp.

 

[FishLover14]

She proabbly had fish bloat, maybe.......... and your ammoinio and nitrite should alaways be 0.

Dan

 

[supafreak]

well, my amonia and nitrite are the lowest possible indicator on my test card. i think for amonia it is 0.1, it dosn't show what anything lower than that would look like, and nitrite was so pale in the test tube, almost clear that i'm sure that wasn't a concern. I did do a water change yesterday, but not until i saw my fish acting strange, and i took these readings before the water change. So that left my concerns with ph, and maybe temperature. I alwayse declorinate, and add water that is the same temperature. The tank was a little hot today, i'm not sure if my heater got bumped when i was doing a water change. It read close to 80, when i like to keep it at 76. Are swords that delicate that this might have killed her? and i realize that any fish can be delicate to temp changes, but obviously some more than others, and this is what i'm asking