How long wait for swordtail fry?

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ckoscak

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Dec 27, 2002
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Hello all,

I just this evening noticed one of my female swordtails is pregnant. I have moved her to a separate tank and into an isolation thingee to keep her away from the fry when they emerge.

With a flashlight acting like a x-ray, I can see little round spots in her gravid mark. About how long does it take for fry to be born?

Thank you.
 
if you're just noticing that she is pregnant than it is probably too early to put her in a breeding contraption. It would be best to wait a while longer until you are positive she is about to give birth. Those nets stress fish out! Gestation can be up to a month for livebearers. It would be better that you miss this birth and accurately predict the next one than to keep the fish in isolation for elongated periods of time.

aaron
 
correct, and to add to that, you will be able to see when he is ready when you can see tiny eyes peering out from that gravid spot (with a flashlight). She will begin to breath rapidly and the spot right before her lower back fin (the anal fin) sort of swells.
 
Thanks for the quick replies.

Hebdizzle, when you say gestation could take up to a month, do you mean it usually takes a month?

The reason I just noticed was because I haven't looked closely at my fish for a while - what with work and all. The fish is question is noticably larger than her sister. It looks like if you poke her with a pin she'll pop. :)

Dangerdoll, how much detail of a fry can you see as the birth nears? I don't just see a gravid spot on my fish, I see several little round things in her belly now and she has ballooned in size from her normal self.
 
ckoscak.... the eyes of the fry will be quite evident when the flashlight is shined on her, there's no mistaking them. When you see them, she is pretty close to letting them out.
 
Breeding nets and cages are not a very good thing IME. This will cause the mother to stress out and abort fry.
The best thing to do if you want to breed live bearers is to keep them in a heavy planted tank. This will relax the female and make her more comfortable and also give the fry plenty of places to hide. If you do not want to go with the exotic plant tank, you can always go out and pick up some Hornwort which will float at the top. The fry will hide in this and pop out to feed when feeding time comes around.
I have my 55 molly tank like this and keep a Knight goby with them. I do have fry in the tank. Some are eaten by the goby and others survive and have grown to big for the Goby.
jim
 
The gestation period is 26 to 30 days. More fry will be produced in warmer temperatures but than it will take longer. So hopefully the temperature of your tank is between 74-78F (22-26C) and then she will have an average amount of gestation period. Keep the fry away from their parents for about 15-30 days after and try to add salt to the water that mum is in. Salinity should be 9ppt (2lbs/25gallons but you can do the math for your own tank) to help mum recover rapidly and you should keep her apart from the males for about a week after she gives birth so the males won't hassle her to mate right away- otherwise she might die from stress. Breeding contraptions do stress the mums out quite a bit, try moving her to her own private tank that doesn't have to be big at all. Also, remember that filters will suck in new fry so a sponge filter is best. Good luck and if you have any more questions, feel free to ask!
 
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