Identify this fry?

[tikloc]

Hey everyone,

Sorry that this is my first post, but my partner and I are completely baffled.

This afternoon when I was on my way back from work, I get a call from my girlfriend saying she's found 4 little fry skating around the substrate in our 64L community tank.

So I get home and take a look. How can we tell who gave birth to the little guys? We have a few female guppies and a single female swordtail. All of them have largish bellies, but not large enough to suggest they're about to pop. One of the female guppies and swordtails have been hovering around the heater a lot lately. But again, neither of their bellies seem big enough to pop yet... Here's a picture of the fry, not the best in the world but my cameras not too great.

Any ideas?



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[Angela1108]

On the guppies did you see dark spots by the tail? Their Gravid spots are pretty hard to miss!

http://i.imgur.com/0dcyl6L.png

I just googled that and found that as a pretty clear picture. The female might even still have the spot- sometimes they don't drop all their fry at once


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[Angela1108]

Swordtails have the spot also- I just don't know if it is as visible as on the guppies as I haven't kept them


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[tikloc]

Hi there, thanks for the reply.

The female guppy that could be the mum's gravid spot is still pretty big, and I've noticed her gills look very red and appears to be taking big gulps of water. The female sword is hiding by the heater, also taking big gulps of air. The male sword is protecting her, chasing off any of the other fish that try to approach her. Also, on the female sword her tail looks slightly dipped and her fins don't have much volume.


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[tikloc]

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[Angela1108]

If she has red near her gills and gulping I would check the water. Sometimes the babies not making it will make an ammonia spike. It could just be from popping out the babies


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[tikloc]

Here's a picture of the female sword. She looks like she doesn't have any fins, but she's just very rigid. As I said earlier, the male sword is very protective. Maybe she's not happy so she's trying to hold them in? I really can't explain this behaviour and where the fry came from!


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[tikloc]

Just seen the female sword drop a fry, and the male sword nom it before it touched the substrate... That could explain why she was holding her fins in, to stop her babies getting chomped by daddy.

Thanks for the replies Angela.


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[Angela1108]

Glad you figured it out. Since the male is chasing and eating them you might want to consider moving her to a breeder box (looks like that's where you have the other fry). Usually I don't move my guppies because of the stress on the females and my tank is heavily planted but if you want some to survive you might want to try.


My one suggestion is get a bunch of moss or other floating plants (anacharis, water wisteria, guppygrass) or something like that for thE fry to hide in


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[Fishobsessed7]

I'd check your water. Clamped fins are signs of stress and bad water parameters. Red gills and gasping for air at the surface are also signs of something wrong with the water.


Fishobsessed7

3 tanks and counting! (6 if you count the bettas)