No One Eating Sword Frys ??

So my female had sword frys last week (about 6 days ago). The first day the male and female feasted on some of the frys. However, after 2 days they stopped and no one will chase the frys. They swim in the open tank - occasionally someone will sort of swim towards them and they will dash away but no one is really giving chase. I think I have around 20 left. In the past I've had to put one or two in a net if I wanted them to mature. Is there a particular reason why they stopped being chased (I watched the female chase one 4 days ago and it simply dived into the gravel where she couldn't get it).
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Tank mates include upside down cat; 5 cardinals; 2 green tetra; 1 panda cory (will get 2 more soon) and 5 or 6 kuhlI loaches (2 merysI and 3 or 4 semicin); and an aggressive bristolnose pleco (yea she fights anyone who trys to take her shrimp pellet).
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I sort of expected the swords, upside down cat or maybe the tetra which are fairly large at 2+ inches and big bodied.
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I don't mind a fry or two hanging around but i'm not sure what I will do if most of them make it to adult hood. Maybe see if someone wants them ?

 

I'm sure someone may have a more clear idea about what's going on but I'd have to guess is that your stock are opportunistic feeders rather than predators, so the fry probably are too much hassle to chase down at this point. It could also be because the fish don't feel the need to hunt if they're being fed well enough.

You could try to fast your fish for a bit to see if that would encourage them to hunt the fry. Otherwise, it's just a matter of who actually survives to adulthood. What you can do with the survivors, if you're not interested in keeping them, is look around to see who would want them. Maybe post in FishLore to see who in the area wants some, local fish clubs, or see if your local fish stores would be willing to take them in, perhaps for some store credit or something.

 

The only threat to sword fry is sword itself. Like dragon said, you do not have predator. Bristlenose Plecos are practically blind to hunt, even of it get in it's mouth by accident they don't eat it. Upside down cat will eat when it get them at night, cardinal is too small for it most of times, kuhlI won't eat them panda cory is too small but Cory big enough can only eat them when fry is hanging at the bottom sleeping and not moving at all. If you add medium size angelfish, they will eat100+ fry a day continuously hunting but then you have big problem when angelfish grows big. Best option is donation to fish store. Almost always they will not give store credit for swordtail, and unless your friends want them, shipping sword fries are not cost effective to make it happen.

 

Yea I'm trying to get a couple of small angels (store been sold out for 4 weeks). The tank isn't really big enough for large angels but in a few months I will be moving and will put everything in a larger tank - I figure if I got 3 angels I might get a pair. The tetra should be more than large enough for the small fry. I'll try to cut back down on the food. When the pleco and upside down cat started fighting for food I increase it a little. Most of the food vanishes in 15 or 20 seconds - the pellets take a little longer because they have to soften up but all the fishes pick on them as soon as they hit the water. The only delay in the flakes being eaten is when the current catches them and they swirl - but the tetra are hungry enough to come to the top to eat (when well fed they wait for the food to fall). I don't know. Was just rather surprise the frys were so bold - they started hanging out by the pellets in the middle of the tank eating the little bits the larger fishes flaked off. The first two times the swords had frys they all vanished in 48 hours.

 

Feed the catfish at night when the other fish are asleep to prevent the eater fish from getting food beyond the fry.
Better yet pull the fry you do not want and euthanize them instead of getting a fish that may not eat them (for the same reasons as the others, while my angelfish will go after smaller fish if it runs too much they get bored unless another takes up the chase, i've had a small guppy survive two weeks because it outran everyone until I caught it and had an angel steal it from the net). Smaller angels will chase more however they may be too slow or not particularly good at hunting down the fry.

Many fish will get tired of eating the fry, to the point they ignore them (finally got to that point with my japan blues, the females were particularly bad about chasing down fry even into heavy cover).

 

Well I want the angels - would have gotten them two weeks ago if the store had em. They have large ones I just want some small ones to grow. Anyway - I'll see what happens to the frys. Fyi: my normal feeding habit is two to four (usually two) warden shrimp pelts a feeding - and a small sprinkle of flakes. I feed twice a day - the pelts in the morning before the lights come on the flakes after the light comes on - in the evening I feed the pellets as the lights dI'm and the flakes at the same time.
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If I decide to euthanize fishes I'll dump both the frys and the adult swords - the swords are ok but don't really belong with my long term plans and while the male is fairly well behaved and elegant the female is a bit of a bully, dirty and annoying. I know I should have two females - they were my 'starter fishes' when I first set the tank up and one of the females died after having frys.