adojavier

I bought a pregnant swordtail a month ago and she's still big as a ship :-S

She has already given birth but ate all her fry. Last time this happened was two weeks ago.

I moved her to a hospital tank, with lot of algae for the fry to hide, i'm doing a 40-50% water change every two days, but she seems to be holding her fry forever... I can even see eyes on her belly... how long should I wait? what should I do?

john&jen

We use a floating fry trap for our guppies and mollies. The larger one allows a bit more swimming room for mom. The fry fall into the bottom of the vee and stay away from mom, but some venture up and eventually into hr belly. This is how we harvest all of our young.

goggles

i agree with john&jenny, i use a floating breeding trap,but mine is in a seperate breeding tank. if she still hasn't droped then she must not be comfortable in the area, try turning the light off for a while as swordtails give birth in the early hours of the morning to give the fry the best chance. they will hold them for a while. how long has she been pregnant for? how big is she in inches. has she stopped eating? mine tend to stop eating about two days before they drop.
good luck and let us know how it goes.

goggles

you do know that livebearers take around 30 days to drop.

adojavier

Thank you Goggles, she already gave birth three days ago 18 little babys... she's on the main tank now.

goggles

congratz ,i hope it all goes well.

adojavier

They seem to be doing fine, they're 5 days old. I counted them again and there are 18 babies. Mom is a deep orange sword, but some of the babies are turning red, some are turning kinda silver, there are some orange babies too.. Is it normal?

adojavier

BTW, I dunno how the father looks like, I bought her already pregnant... :-S

goggles

at 5 days old you shouldn't be able to see colour changes yet. so sorry but i can't awnser that.

adojavier

I understand the develop some features like sex, color, patterns etc. when they are ariuund two weeks old, but I can already see some color differences in them... that's what I was saying.. ;-) thanks