Hi everyone - I recently purchased 2 female swordtails and 1 male - am pretty sure one of the females is pregnant - so I purchased one of the floating breeding thing-a-ma-bobs - and put her inside - how long can she stay in there??? .:help2:Pregnant Swordtail ??
- Thread starter Jansapphire
- Start date
Hi everyone - I recently purchased 2 female swordtails and 1 male - am pretty sure one of the females is pregnant - so I purchased one of the floating breeding thing-a-ma-bobs - and put her inside - how long can she stay in there??? .:help2:
kj5kb
KEEPER OF CATS, FISH AND CATFISHES
Until you get really annoyed with her being in such cramped quarters and let her out
I tried that (net breeder actually, which is larger) a couple times with platys and always ended up putting them back in the tank a few days later. they were kinda freaked out by the small space and I couldnt stand to leave 'em in there. Can you go get a big bunch or 2 of hornwort or cabomba? You don't have to 'plant' it, just weight it and set it in your tank. That'll provide plenty of fry hiding places as well as something for 'em to nibble on. (and looks nice too)
Also make sure parents are well-fed...just not OVER fed. they'll be less likely to eat the young'uns.
My Platy "birthing"/fry tank has a big wad of Java moss and a bunch of hornwort and Water Wisteria in it..I don't bother separating the mommas from the babies anymore...even tho they are 100x the size!
Have some "first bites" food or decap brine shrimp eggs or similar tiny food for them.
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i would just let it be in the tank. like kj said the small breeding nets will be stressful. just get som java moss or other plants for the fry to hide in.
If you want to use one of these breeder plastic thingies, just wait till the very last minute. Fish do go crazy in these things, but if you really would like to keep some of the babies, it will work.
By now, I usually know when my swordtails or platies are ready to give birth (the swordtails swim up and down in a corner, hover in the corner for a while and then go up and down again, the platies hide in the plants and move their fins really quickly). At that point I would stick them in the breeder (don't use a breeder anymore..). If you stick them in too early they not only go crazy, but most likely give birth way too early.
You need to sort of keep watch because even though the babies fall through the grates in the bottom, they can also swim back up and still get eaten by the mom! I would release the mom as soon as she gave birth to all the babies you want to keep (do you have a place for them though??).
Leave the babies in the breeder for about a week or so, then they will be big enough to swim in the bigger tank.
If you stick in a few plants and/or use one of the plastic floating plant-thingies, you will maybe also have some babies survive (this is actually currently my problem, too many babies survive in my community tanks, even though there are plenty fish/fry-eaters, so I am now "stuck" with two extra fry tanks...(anyone in need of a male swordtail, a bunch or lyretail gold mollies or some tri-color platies?)
L.
By now, I usually know when my swordtails or platies are ready to give birth (the swordtails swim up and down in a corner, hover in the corner for a while and then go up and down again, the platies hide in the plants and move their fins really quickly). At that point I would stick them in the breeder (don't use a breeder anymore..). If you stick them in too early they not only go crazy, but most likely give birth way too early.
You need to sort of keep watch because even though the babies fall through the grates in the bottom, they can also swim back up and still get eaten by the mom! I would release the mom as soon as she gave birth to all the babies you want to keep (do you have a place for them though??).
Leave the babies in the breeder for about a week or so, then they will be big enough to swim in the bigger tank.
If you stick in a few plants and/or use one of the plastic floating plant-thingies, you will maybe also have some babies survive (this is actually currently my problem, too many babies survive in my community tanks, even though there are plenty fish/fry-eaters, so I am now "stuck" with two extra fry tanks...(anyone in need of a male swordtail, a bunch or lyretail gold mollies or some tri-color platies?)
L.
Lupin
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you can try to catch as many as you can that are born in the tank and put the fry in the breeder for a while until they get bigger. You can feed them flake food that is ground up into a powder.
All this worry about my female sword but actually she died along with the male this morning - brought them both into the pet store and had them test my water - the nitrate level was way to high - I will hopefully get that under control and try again -
when my platies gave birth a while back i purchased breeding grass and let it float on the top of the tank , the fry quickly hid and i didnt lose a single fish