Pregnant swordtail not giving birth

[Mikeaq]

She's been pregnant for over a month and a half now, her belly is gigantic and has been this whole time. Can anyone tell me why she hasn't given birth yet?

I feed her frozen bloodworms and flake daily


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[Mattfinn]

Have you tried separating her tank mates from her. If you can maybe give her the opportunity to be by herself.

 

[Mikeaq]

I have her separated, I'm thinking I need to put her in a bigger tank tho. I moved her from the 20gal to a 2.5 thinking she was going to burst any day & that was 3 weeks ago...

Maybe I'll pick up a 5 for her tomorrow & see what happens.


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[Mikeaq]

I figured she would be better off in her own little tank than in a little breeder box


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[Mattfinn]

Yeah that's what I would think too. I have my pregnant platy still in her tan with the other two platys. But when she gets a bit fatter I'm moving here to my 5 gal.

 

[BBradbury]

Your Swordtail

She's been pregnant for over a month and a half now, her belly is gigantic and has been this whole time. Can anyone tell me why she hasn't given birth yet?

I feed her frozen bloodworms and flake daily


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

Hello Mike...

Livebearing females can hold their fry indefinitely if they feel conditions aren't right for fry survival. I keep large tanks of livebearers and have never separated the females. It's stressful for them and there's potential for injury. Small tanks typically have water chemistry problems, because there's not enough water to dilute wastes. Less than pure water conditions will keep a female from dropping the fry.

You need to change half the water in the tank every couple of days if the tank is very small and make the new, treated tap water a bit warmer than what's in the tank. Add some floating plants to that tank too. Hornwort is a good one. Plants comfort the fish, the more stems you can add to the tank, the better.

The combination of the plants and a lot of warm, pure, treated tap water will help.

B