How to tell when a swordtail is about to give birth

fishcatch22, advice was already given in several other posts to leave the female where she is. magafish18 is going to be going out of town and you can not leave a female swordtail in a small hang-on-the-side breeders net for extended periods of time. This does cause undue stress on the female and she may drop her fry before they are ready and they will not survive. This happens often if the female is taken too soon from her normal tank, and is really only suggested if you have a cycled 10g or up tank to keep her in for the duration of the pregnancy. The small breeder nets/cages are intended for temporary confinement (like over night) and the female needs to be removed immediately after giving birth or she will eat the fry herself. Because he will be on vacation, and he is not familiar with how to tell how far along his female is I would leave her where she is and just provide lots of hiding places for the fry. Not all the fry will be eaten as long as there are decent hiding places and he can siphon them up later. Plus, this female will give birth again, IMO it is better to wait for the proper conditions than put any unnecessary stress on the female. Personally, I would use this as a learning experience for future pregnancies.
 
okay, i'm sorry, I never read that thread. please don't jump on me like that.
 
okay, then. you can try the box thing, then.
 
I wasn't jumping on you, just letting you know that he had been given advice on this in several different posts.

Actually, magafish18, it might be easier on you in the future if you where just to have left this discussion of your swordtail in one thread. I think you have about 5 now, and that can be confusing to others, like fishcatch22, who haven’t read the other four and may not know your situation. Hopefully you will have plenty of little baby fry to catch, they are rather cute!
 
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fishcatch22 said:
okay, then. you can try the box thing, then.
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You still need to know within a few days when she is ready to have her fry if you use a breeders net. If she drops fry prematurely some of the babies will come out not fully-developed and will die as a result. I had several females do this within 24 hours of putting them into a breeder net, so I quite doing that and ended-up just pulling fry later. If you want to be serious about keeping the fry you will need to look into getting a 10g grow-out tank because the fry just won’t make it in a breeder net, they will actually terrorize the weaker ones to death for room.
 
I did recommend he get a grow-out tank once the fry are born, and to movre the female only if she's due in 2-3 days.
 
fishcatch22 said:
I did recommend he get a grow-out tank once the fry are born, and to movre the female only if she's due in 2-3 days.
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Alright, but the only post I read here said
fishcatch22 said:
move the female to a in-tank birthing box, and then after she gives birth remove the fry to a separate rearing tank.
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and
fishcatch22 said:
no, you don't actually take her out of the water, it hangs on the side. all you have to do is guide her into it.
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I guess it shows the importance of reading everything before you post. (not trying to be insulting!)
 
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