HELP!! we're pregnant!! swordtail platys

[XxRachxX]

Two of my swordtails seem to be pregnant. im thinking this cuz.....theyve been "playing" over the past few days ive noticed the one getting fatter and the other ...ive only noticed her today....
they look HUGE and i have no idea when they will pop!!
anyone know how long i have? they look pretty damn big.... i have one black and white one and a pretty orangey and white see through-y one^_^ we only have one male....so i duno what they will turn out like...

i want to keep some and maybe sell some back to the fish store? do stores normally buy them back?? or would i just have to give them away?

i have a couple of spare tanks........ or i can get one of those fry nets, which is best from your experience??
thanks!!
any help will be greatly appreciated!!

[Herpkingdom]

For live bearers, I always used marbles on the bottom of the tank instead of gravel. I also put in plastic plants with really fine leaves for the babies to hide among. This will reduce the amount of babies that the mother(s) will eat.

There are plastic breeders sold in pet stores that have a "V" of plastic on the bottom with a slit in it that allows the babies to drop through so they will not be eaten by the parents.

The best food to use is the tube of liquid Fry food. It is made exclusively for feeding babies. It comes in formulas for live bearers and one for egg layers.


Good Luck.

BTW, most pet shops will not buy the babies. If they do it will be for like 5 cents each. Platys wholesale for like 25 cents each so you can count on the store trying to get them for less.

[Shane Tesser]

For pretty much all live bearers...capturing them while pregnant will almost always lead to stress and miscarriages. Your best bet is to isolate one male, one female in a densly planted tank..whether fake or real plants. Marbles are not necessary as these are more for egg dropping fish, but if you want to set up a tank for all occasions go for it. Swords are voracious at eating their young. The fry are easy to raise, and most will take fine flake the second they are born. On the average you will not yeild enough to sell back to the stores to make it worth while for you. In my area i could only get like 50 cents a fry...and thats at mid point of maturity to. The only way youll really make money with swords...is the create your own strain, or varience of color. Sometimes you can acheive this by crossing platys with swords..althought the off spring to my knowledge are sterile...good luck!!!

[XxRachxX]

well i think one of my girls has had her babies in the tank....and not one of them is in sight...she is definately smaller than before.... i know the swordtails may have eaten some AND the gouramis i have are very......um... enthusiatic when it comes to eating.... and i have two new corys...... is it possible that they ate them all??
she still looks a bit chubby... i think she may not be finished....?
the other ones still looking nice and fat......so maybe i will have more luck!

[Herpkingdom]

The marbles are for the babies to drop down into.

If you want to successfully breed any fish, they should not be in the community tank. The other fish will and do eat all of the young and eggs they find.

I have had thousands of livebearing fish give birth after they arrived at the store i worked at and in my own aquariums. This is after being taken from a tank at the wholesalers, in with 100's of other fish, bagged transported, and then transferred into our tanks. SO any type of miscarriage would have to caused by severe mishandling of the fish.

What I described in my post above were proven methods of saving the babies are they are born. Any fish, including the parents, will eat the young.

Remove the mother into her own tank, or into a special compartment inside the community tank. These can be prucashed at any pet store for about $5.

Another good idea, it to get a book on breeding livebearers. You can find them at most petstores.

Good luck

[depressor86]

we usually sell our fry for 10 cents a piece