Is my swordtail pregnant? when shall I put her in the breeder and for how long?

HI I've just began my aquarium adventure and these are my fish in my 40 gallon tank:

4 x guppies
4 x catfish
1 x sucker
2 x gourami
2 x clown loaches
2 x swordtails

I've notices that the female swordtail has a big belly and a black spot near the analfin. She is pregnant no? When shall I put her in the breeder and for how long shall I leave her there?? Here are some pics of her.

I also divided temporarily my female gourami and put her in the breeder (I do not own a hospital tank). She was being attacked by the male. I was planning to leave her resting in the breeder for 2 days what do you think? Here are also some pics of her

Thanks for your help

 

Re: Is my swordtail pregnant? when shall I put her in the breeder and for how lo

You might want a small hospital tank for all of the baby fish. it will be easiest to feed them & take care of them in one and you could use it as a home for pregnant fish until there are babies in it. The longer a fish is in one of the little boxes, the more stress to her & chance of a failed pregnancy - depending on the fish's personality.

I'm not sure about gouramis, but swordtails should be a lot like platys and when our platy was ready to drop her fry, we saw little black dots in her stomach almost a week before and her back end squared off when she was getting close. it's a guessing game unfortunately, since they can hold fry if they want. But the black dots in the stomach are a good sign that it's going to be within a week usually.

 

I would also transfer the momma to the hospital tank and put the gourami in with the general population. Even with that you might want to put the mother in a breeding basket and transfer ther fry to the hospital tank after birth to avoid death by the mother eating them. Sometimes after giving birth the mothers have a ravenous appetite.

 

But if I put the gourami bak with the others she will be attacked by the male again. I was planning to leave her there in the breeder for another day or two until she's healthy again to keep up with the male - maybe, then I'll put the female swordtail in the breeder since she is close to give birth I think so at least. What do you think???

 

Re: Is my swordtail pregnant? when shall I put her in the breeder and for how lo

you'll want a more long-term solution for the gourami. the male will pick on her whenever you put her back in and she'll end up in the same situation or worse. I think gourami are like swordtails or platys in that they need a 2 females to 1 male ratio.

With the Pleco & Loaches, the tank is overstocked, so adding another female gourami would be hard on the tank's overtaxed bioload. Perhaps you have a friend with a tank that could use either a male or female gourami that you could trade for something for your fish or a pet store that would give you store credit for a gourami? If you want to keep the tank population as it is now, i'd try to put in more hiding spots for her and see if the male continues to stress and go after her.

 

I've read a couple of things about gouramis and it all depends on your luck apparently. I've read pairs - 1 male, 1 female and I've also read 2 female. Here I've been reading 2 females to 1 male. But I don't think it's a breeding thing as much as I think it's a territorial thing. Gouramis need plenty of places to hide if keeping more than one. Floating plants and tall plants will work.