heartsongsinger

I had two male swordtails (Dirk and Mickey) and I recently got another male and two females. Dirk has been following the females around and chasing the other two males away (Mickey is his buddy). I'm assuming this means that I can expect fry at some point in the future. So how do I tell when they get pergnant?

angelfish220

You might want to invest in a few more females so that the females you have dont get stressed.

You can tell if they are pregnate by a growing blackspot in their belly called a gravid spot.

heartsongsinger

i heard about that but it didn't show up on my silver mollie who gave birth today. i'll check the two places near by but i think i bought the last of the females at the one store and i got my first two males on clearence at the other.

Chief_waterchanger

Livebearer females tend to STAY pregnant at all times after hitting sexual maturity if kept with fertile males. The female swordtails, platies, guppies, and mollies tend to have a 28-32 day gestation period. Which means when the female finishes giving birth she uses the sperm she stores for upwards of about 6 months to reinsemenate herself and she should, barring the occurance of several possible problems, give birth in 28-32 days.

Livebearers often eat their fry and in a community tank it is even harder to find fry before they are devoured. Usually the females begin to bulk up in the belly area, as well as showing a gravid spot which is often purple, black, or clear (showing as pink due to seeing insides) that is shaped like a crescent moon. The females tend to either go to the surface or the bottom or the tank (not hang out in the middles as much) when a day or so away from giving birth. They tend to appear to be hyperventilating for that period of time also. That means that they pull extra water through their mouths as well as normal amount through the gills, gathering all the oxygen they can.

The pectoral fins also seem to be flapping a lot faster than normal when close to and during the birthing process.

I hope that helps some.

heartsongsinger

Thanks. So I'll be expecting more babies before school starts

Shawnie

if your aquarium info is correct, you are going to have more babies of everything in the thousands!! what will you do with them all?

heartsongsinger

I've got a local store that's willing to take them. They specialize in fish. I'm trying to convince my parents that I need a separate baby tank. I also don't think I'm going to catch the females all the time. The tank is 20in by 20in and about 3 ft tall. The fish are a pain to catch.