Female Swordtail Wierd Behaviour

[shaund]

my female swordtail has been acting very odd these past few days. its sat in the same of the tank for days on end. when i go upto the tank it quickly swims off but as soon as i walk away its back there. ive looked about to see if its gaurding any small fry but cannot see anything. there is a male in the tank also, parameters are fine, no other fish are acting like this. Could someone please point me in the right direction thanks

 

[likescichlids]

is she breathing heavy?

 

[nosoup4you]

Could be that she's getting ready to drop fry. This sort of behavior is not uncommon when they're ready to give birth. I'd check the water parameters to be sure. Do you have a test kit? If not, I'd do a 50% water change just to be safe. If she's heavily pregnant, the water change might even entice her to unload her cargo.

 

[shaund]

is she breathing heavy?

Nope no heavy breathing. Shes been feeding and everything just sat in the same position for days now, its not as if theres anything wrong with her and sat on the gravel helpless, shes half way up the side of the glass next to the filter.

Could be that she's getting ready to drop fry. This sort of behavior is not uncommon when they're ready to give birth. I'd check the water parameters to be sure. Do you have a test kit? If not, I'd do a 50% water change just to be safe. If she's heavily pregnant, the water change might even entice her to unload her cargo.

yeah course i got a test kit, all params are fine, i'll do a water change anyways

Thanks for the advice

 

[joefish72]

This behavior is normal for a fish that is close to a drop. They often try to scout an area to be sure the fry will be ok and that they wont be pestered by other fish during delivery. The skittishness is more of a natural instinct that is magnified by the pregnancy. If your fish is ready to drop a 50% water change may work or you can put her in a fry saver tank just before lights out and most times by morning they will drop. The fry saver method should only be done when you know for sure your fish is ready or you may end up with a pile of dead premature fry.