Swordtail still pregnant.. 3 months later.......

[Crazyhermitcrab]

I have had my swordtail for awhile. She hasn't had any fry. Although she is pregnant. What do you guys think? Is she just eating her fry? Or does she have a problem? My other livebearers aren't having a problem.

 

[Crazyhermitcrab]

She is squared off. But no fry...

 

[treemanone2003]

Maybe you should've written a guide about swordtails also.


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[Crazyhermitcrab]

Maybe you should've written a guide about swordtails also.


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No, I am not really that familiar with swords. I am fairly new to them. I am just wondering why her gestation period is so long. Maybe she is just eating her fry?

 

[Crazyhermitcrab]

Someone help. My guppy is about to have her 3rd batch and swordtail is still prego

 

[mattcham]

She is eating all her fry. Swordtails are special in that way. I use traps. Using planted tank you will save only 10% of fry at best. Mom will kill fry even if she is well fed. Swordtails deliver babies every 30 days.

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[mattcham]

Be careful not to stress them too much (by using traps, isolation). Stress can cause severe tailrot overnight in swordtails, and birthing adds even more stress that can cause the final blow and kill the mother within a week or two after birthing.

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[mattcham]

Also your swordtail looks preggo even after birthing because it eats like a pig. My swords already looks 3 weeks pregnant after only one day after birthing 35 to 40 fry. This pig like appetite may also explain why they kill all their fry.

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[Crazyhermitcrab]

She is eating all her fry. Swordtails are special in that way. I use traps. Using planted tank you will save only 10% of fry at best. Mom will kill fry even if she is well fed. Swordtails deliver babies every 30 days.

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How come she isn't killing the guppy/platy fry

 

[mattcham]

She kills all fry. Its possible you are finding the 10% that escaped.

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[Crazyhermitcrab]

She kills all fry. Its possible you are finding the 10% that escaped.

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Really???
These are my guppies and platies first drops. They have like 10-15 (that I find) so far each time. I find them in the hornwort.
How come only guppies and platies survive? Why no swords?

 

[mattcham]

Platy and swordtail fry look very similar. Maybe some of those fry are swordtail. Red swordtail fry are colored brownish orange (more brown than orange), not red, unless they are red eye albino. Swordtail fry have no swords. Swords don't grow out of their tails until around 6 months.

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[BBradbury]

Your Livebearer

I have had my swordtail for awhile. She hasn't had any fry. Although she is pregnant. What do you guys think? Is she just eating her fry? Or does she have a problem? My other livebearers aren't having a problem.

Hello Craz...

Everything that's a problem with fish, plants or anything else in the tank has to do with the water. It has to be pure all the time. Small water changes every couple of weeks or a month don't keep the water clean. Even traces of ammonia or nitrite can stress the fish.

If you want the fish to breed on a regular basis, they need to live in larger tanks so they can swim, tanks with a lot of bottom and floating plants for cover and lots of pure water. At the very least, half the tank water needs to be removed and replaced every week or so. Large and frequent water changes are the best and simplest way to prevent problems and keep the fish and plants healthy and reproducing.

I keep larger tanks full of livebearing fish and change out a lot of tank water. I always make the new water a bit warmer than what's already in the tank. I prefer adding a bit of standard aquarium salt, but that's my choice. When I see pregnant females, which is pretty often, the combination of lots of warm, pure, treated tap water and a little salt is enough to encourage them to drop their fry. At this point, I start feeding all the fish a little more and a little more often. Well fed adult fish are less likely to bother the fry.

Just one reporter's opinion.

B

 

[mattcham]

Well fed adult fish are less likely to bother the fry.

I have found this to be totally true with guppies, endlers, platys, most molly's, but not swordtails.

Other experienced breeders have observed the same phenomenon. One of the top vendors in aquabid.com (username lotsoffish, with over 5500 schools of fish sold - about 50,000 fish in total!!) is always talking about swordtails killing most or all of its fry. He also uses plastic traps because he has observed that even in heavily planted tanks the crazy moms will seek out and kill fry. He even deliberately put a ton of guppy fry in the birthing tank for the pregnant mother swordtail to eat!!! His observation corroborates my 10+ years of swordtail experience.



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[BBradbury]

Livebearing Fish

Hello matt..

Livebearing fish are extremely comfortable in heavily planted tanks. Surfaces need to be especially heavily planted. Hornwort and Anacharis are a couple of the best. If you're losing all your fry, you don't have enough plants on the surface. My larger tanks have at minimum a 4 to 6 inch thick layer of floating plants. I doubt a well fed, 4 inch male swordtail is going to venture into thick vegetation for one fry. If the fish is full, they have no reason to spend the energy.

B

 

[mattcham]

If you've seen the thick bushy plants of lotsoffish, you will understand why we came to these conclusions. His tanks look like you crammed a 3 foot tall Christmas tree into a 10 gallon tank. Seriously looks crazy like that. Personally I've used thick java moss plus floating cabomba occupying 80% of the volume of a 10 gallon tank and it failed.

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[Crazyhermitcrab]

If you've seen the thick bushy plants of lotsoffish, you will understand why we came to these conclusions. His tanks look like you crammed a 3 foot tall Christmas tree into a 10 gallon tank. Seriously looks crazy like that. Personally I've used thick java moss plus floating cabomba occupying 80% of the volume of a 10 gallon tank and it failed.

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1/3 of my tank Is thick dense hornwort. Fry take refuge their a lot. The rest is water wisteria, swords, java fern, anubius, caboma, etc. There is also driftwood.

Hello matt..

Livebearing fish are extremely comfortable in heavily planted tanks. Surfaces need to be especially heavily planted. Hornwort and Anacharis are a couple of the best. If you're losing all your fry, you don't have enough plants on the surface. My larger tanks have at minimum a 4 to 6 inch thick layer of floating plants. I doubt a well fed, 4 inch male swordtail is going to venture into thick vegetation for one fry. If the fish is full, they have no reason to spend the energy.

B

My hornwort is like a block that is 16 inches long, 8 wide, and 9 inches thick.

I have found this to be totally true with guppies, endlers, platys, most molly's, but not swordtails.

Other experienced breeders have observed the same phenomenon. One of the top vendors in aquabid.com (username lotsoffish, with over 5500 schools of fish sold - about 50,000 fish in total!!) is always talking about swordtails killing most or all of its fry. He also uses plastic traps because he has observed that even in heavily planted tanks the crazy moms will seek out and kill fry. He even deliberately put a ton of guppy fry in the birthing tank for the pregnant mother swordtail to eat!!! His observation corroborates my 10+ years of swordtail experience.



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I am just confused why other fry survive,,,

Hello Craz...

Everything that's a problem with fish, plants or anything else in the tank has to do with the water. It has to be pure all the time. Small water changes every couple of weeks or a month don't keep the water clean. Even traces of ammonia or nitrite can stress the fish.

If you want the fish to breed on a regular basis, they need to live in larger tanks so they can swim, tanks with a lot of bottom and floating plants for cover and lots of pure water. At the very least, half the tank water needs to be removed and replaced every week or so. Large and frequent water changes are the best and simplest way to prevent problems and keep the fish and plants healthy and reproducing.

I keep larger tanks full of livebearing fish and change out a lot of tank water. I always make the new water a bit warmer than what's already in the tank. I prefer adding a bit of standard aquarium salt, but that's my choice. When I see pregnant females, which is pretty often, the combination of lots of warm, pure, treated tap water and a little salt is enough to encourage them to drop their fry. At this point, I start feeding all the fish a little more and a little more often. Well fed adult fish are less likely to bother the fry.

Just one reporter's opinion.

B

I am breeding them in my HEAVILY planted 36g. I have breed and raised mollies, platys, and guppies. But my 1 and only swordtail never drops. I do 2 40% water changes a week. The filtration is perfect. There is nothing that would stress them out, there are no nitrites or ammonia...

Platy and swordtail fry look very similar. Maybe some of those fry are swordtail. Red swordtail fry are colored brownish orange (more brown than orange), not red, unless they are red eye albino. Swordtail fry have no swords. Swords don't grow out of their tails until around 6 months.

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They are red wag fry. They have distinct black tails and as tegu grow up they look like red wag platys.