Swordtail babies!!

[Floyd R Turbo]

After about a month sitting all alone in my 10g, one of my painted swords finally dropped her batch of fry! I figured it out when I was cleaning w/python and uh oh - that's not fish poop getting sucked up!!! Rescued 3 from the line but at least 2 made it into the toilet.

Got mama out a few hours later and covered the filter intake with a media bag and 1 day later I've counted at least 3 dozen fry. This mama is a cross between a rainbow/painted male and pineapple female and was born & raised in my tanks so this batch is 2nd generation. I'm excited to see what they look like!!!

I've sold or given away over 500 fry from the original mama, who is still alive but her eggs are all gone. Original Dad jumped a few months ago.

 

[libbyb]

How adorable. Post pix.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

You might not be able to see these really well...they're so cute & tiny!

 

[libbyb]

So tiny. Do they all have their fingers and toes!?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

So far!

There are 2 different daddies, or the mommy had a mixture of genes (because she was a crossbreed). The Mom is a cross between a Pineapple female and a Painted/Rainbow male and is dominantly painted/rainbow. The dad could be one or either of a similar cross, or a result of a Pineapple Female/Mickey Mouse Red male which resulted in red mickeys with little traits from the Pineapple.

The fry in all cases have distinctive traits right off the bat. The ones that grow to be Red Mickeys look clearer as fry and their 'guts' are white/tan - those are the ones you can see very well in the pics. The ones that grow out to be painted/rainbows have more of a gray coloration and are not very transparent.

It's pretty interesting. I'll be very interested to see what they look like in 6 months. Unless I go all SW, then someone will get a big batch of fish.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

PS there's actually well over 4 dozen in the tank. Those pics look like there's only a handful.

 

[Sausage]

My swordtail (i think) had fry on wednesday morning unexpectedly!
I have manged to catch 5 so far and keep spotting others.
Fingers crossed I get them