2 New Females. Kinds Boring...

[Ethos]

I bought one cory, and 2 females today, but I think she may have netted me a platie instead of a swordie, but I couldn't tell when it was in the bag, and she said it was
I'll have pics as soon as I can get batteries....
I hope these guys dont have the same story as my last female....
here is the only good pic of the male (the wouldn't stop moveing, so i took a net and it didn't work real well.

Here's the known female....

Here's the unknown female

Thanks...

 

[Annastasia]

Good luck with them!

Sure, if you post a picture, I can tell you if it's a Platy or a Swordie, and I'm sure others can too. Can't wait to see them both!

 

[Ethos]

Edit: pictures added...

 

[Annastasia]

The unknown one is a Platy.

Nice male, he has nice markings and a beautiful Sword. The female is also pretty...looks VERY pregnant, so I'd prepare for some fry soon!

 

[Ethos]

You think the female looks pregnant?

Are you sure its not just the angle?

 

[Annastasia]

The Swordie female? She has a really dark gravid spot...so yes, I would say she is definitely pregnant. I don't think the darkness of the gravid spot is just the angle...or is it?

 

[Ethos]

No, your right.
I just cleaned up my 5G for the fry...I romoved the white clouds, and put them in the 5G untill the fry are born, then i'll move the mother and fry into the 5G, and the white clouds in the 10G again.
How long untill fry appear? A week? A few days? I leave on thrusday for a 4 day weekend....it wont happen then, will it? What type of food do i need? I'll have to inlist my sister or dad...my mom usually feeds them, but she's going to india for 19 days

PS: Will the platie help even out the agression, even though its not a swordtail - It is a female though, right?

And that spot is dark.

 

[Annastasia]

Hmmm...White Clouds really shouldn't be in a 5g. However, I guess it will be okay, if you just want the fry born in the 5g. If you were condering raising the fry in that tank, I'd say get rid of the WCs.

How long really depends on how long she's been pregnant. (I know, I'm SO helpful). I'd guess around...a week or two. However, seeing as I can't tell how big she is, it could be sooner. They might be born on the Four-day weekend, but personally, I am doubting it. If you suspect it will happen, throw in some live plants. The fry can live off the yummy little buggies on the plants while you are gone. They'll be fine.

As for the kind of food...I could type out my whole long spiel, but I would recommend you read the pinned Livebearer topics, or maybe do a search for feeding fry, or something similar. If you haven't found anything by morning, I will type it all out.

Yeah, it will kinda help with aggression. Not as much as another Swordie though, I would recommend you get more Swordie females.

 

[Ethos]

She's not very big, in fact, I didn't even notice the dark spot untill You pointed it out.
I'll do some reaserch on fry feeding too.

Is there a general rule to fry that I'm un-awear of?
I know they have speical food, and you need to change the water 20% everyday, but other than that I'm pretty clueless.
How long untill they mature?
Stuff like that.
OA said he'd take some, and I'm going to sell some to my LFS. Have any tips on selling fry?

 

[Annastasia]

Yeah, I'd say a few weeks then.

There's not really any rules to fry...but I do have a few tips.

• Keep the water quality good. Daily 20% is okay, but you could get by doing water changes every other day. It's mostly important that there is no rotting food on the bottom, so I'd recommend sand or bare bottom for a substrate.
• Feed them often. 3 times a day at least, 4-6 is preferable.
• They don't really NEED special food...but fry food for the first few weeks is good, then moving onto crushed up flakes. Also, it's best if you can suppliment in some kind of Frozen/Freeze-dried/Live foods. Makes them grow faster.
• Seperate males and females as soon as possible. You don't need the fry giving you more fry every month.

That's what I can think of right now. Will add more if it comes to me.

OA said he'd take some, and I'm going to sell some to my LFS. Have any tips on selling fry?

Go into your LFS, make a really sad face and say "Please, take my fry. I sadly barely have enough money to feed them. I myself have sacrificed eating for a good few weeks so my darling little babies can live. You can see I love them very much, so parting is very hard for me. If you take them, I will love this LFS forever. (Now is a good time to cry) Please, kind people. Take them. (Hand over fry while shaking with sobbing).

Alternatively, you can take the gruff approach:
"Yo. Take these little dudes off my hands or else!"

And last but not least...the flatter and run approach:
"Oh, I just love this LFS! You always have awesome prices, and the staff is so knowledgable. I would shop here forever and ever. However...I did notice one thing. Your Swordtail tanks look slighty empty, but the ones you have look great. Hey, you know what? Some fry would be cute....what do you know, I have some here. (Hand over fry) Lovelyfryreallysweetyou'lllovethembye!

Eh?


Seriously, though, list them lots of places, like Buy Sell and Swap on here, or your local fish swap website (if you have one), but see how many your LFS will take first. It's going to be hard to find people willing to buy fry, most times you end up giving them away for free or next to nothing.

 

[Ethos]

Go into your LFS, make a really sad face and say "Please, take my fry. I sadly barely have enough money to feed them. I myself have sacrificed eating for a good few weeks so my darling little babies can live. You can see I love them very much, so parting is very hard for me. If you take them, I will love this LFS forever. (Now is a good time to cry) Please, kind people. Take them. (Hand over fry while shaking with sobbing).

Should I look like this guy?

I've heard this LFS buys guppies for 50 cents each, but thats from my nieghbor who is friends with the store keeper.
Also my Local paper has a free ad systen, that if I can sell it in 60 carechtors or less, its free.
let me try.


"Beautiful Free Swordtails! Male and Female! 763 ___ _____"
Thats 58 carectors......This'll be fun!

 

[Annastasia]

No, not a whiny kind of sad, a depressing kind of one. Like:

You're lucky your LFS will buy fry. However, you do realize you need to get these fry to a decent size first, and that's going to require a heck of a lot more then 5 gallons. I'm sure you have bigger tanks ready for them, as you sound pretty prepared. Most LFSs and people won't buy them until they are at least 3-6 months old.

Good luck with your add! Glad you are finding some amusement in this!

 

[Ethos]

How about a male 5G and female 10G? I'm not so keen on re-setting up my 10G, seeing it was alot of work tearing dowbn and such, but If I have to do it...I hope I dont egt attached when their growing That'd cause so many problems I wouldn't know what to do!
Are swordtails like guppies, when they get fertalized once, even if you take the male away, they can spawn again? because I can only handle so many for soo long.

 

[afireinside]

Do not sell to Pet Supply Warehouse! They never take care of the fish! I belive that is the store u r talkin bout.

 

[Ethos]

I am. And they dont take terrible care of their fish... Plus, i wont if they dont actually give me money.
Look at it this way. You get money for fish you payed $3 each for. after selling only 12 babies, the parents have already paid for themselves. Plus I think my add in the paper'll do something. Do you have any room for some?
I'll give some to you, my cousin, Hannah (she just had an Ick outbreak, and everything died except for her dwarf flame gourami), and prolly some more people. If petco'll take em', I'd give them some.