My female swordtail is really pregnant! What should I do?

My female swordtail is SUPER preg. How should I prepare for her delivery? She lives in a 10 gallon with 4 platys a male swordtail, and a gromi. She is really big And I can see the eyes of her babies. Should I put her in a breeding box? If so when? Thanks!

 

Welcome to FishLore!

I'm not familiar with livebearers but I'm sure you'll get some answers about your pregnant fish.

Your aquarium sounds overstocked. Do you know about the nitrogen cycle? Do you have a liquid master test kit? If so, can you tell us your parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH)?

 

My molly just gave birth today and I had no idea she was pregnant. I'm not an expert, but I'd consider putting her in the box/net asap. Those fry are going to be impossible to catch.

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Is your tank planted? If no, do you want to keep all the fry? If you do then yes I would suggest a breeder box in order to keep the other fish in the tank from eating the babies.

 

Ok thanks! Here is what she is looking like now.





Update: she has been slowly swimming around. Seems rather lethargic. What should I do! She hides near the tops of the plants and near the filter.
she is the one in the bAck.

 

Please post your master test results using a liquid test kit. This would be ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH readings.

 

Try and get some baby hide away floating plants. The fry will be able to hide out in there. I believe one brand that makes them is called "penn plax" if that helps

 

If you want to save babies, get another 10 gallon tank and isolate her. Otherwise, just leave her drop in the tank, and if by some miracle some of the fry survive, start working on getting a bigger tank. Swords don't belong in a 10 long term. I use a 10 with a lot of Guppy grass as drop tanks, but once the female drops, she goes back into a much larger tank. 20 gallon minimum, long is better than high.

I do not put female Swords in "breeder boxes" or nets. They are too active to be limited to these containers which are designed for small fish like Guppies. Of course, I don't like using them for any fish. And I breed a lot of fish.

 

Hello zoe...

Livebearing fish will hold off dropping the fry until they feel water conditions are right for fry survival. Your tank is too small for livebearing fish. In the right conditions, they have too many fry. Unless you want to keep males only, then make plans for a much larger tank. I keep my Swordtails and Platys in 55 and 60 gallon tanks because they reproduce so fast.

All I can tell you, is keep the tank water extremely clean by removing and replacing half the water a couple of times a week. Add a bit of standard aquarium salt to reduce the stress the female is going through. A teaspoon in every 5 gallons or so will help. Make the new, treated tap water a little bit warm.

Above all, get a larger tank.

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