Fry Question

[pipsical]

I have 3 sword tails, two femail and one male. Since my tanks became established and settled down (about 4 months) they got fat and had a few fry, the tank has live plants so they managed to hide away from other fish and they are now nearly fully grown. Since these fry have been successful and in no danger i have noticed that new fry seem to allways be appearing then dissapearing. What can i do to stop them been eaten or what ever happens to them?

I also have two red tipped sharks, not sure on their gender. Do these breed easily or not? they seem to be acting strange.

 

[minnnt]

Don't think you will get the sharks to breed.

As for fry from livebearers, the easiest way is to catch them just before they give birth and place them either into another tank or into a floating fry tank (about £5 from the lfs) then remove the female and rear the fry in the hatchery until you feel safe to release them. Heavily planted tanks with lots of hidey holes will increase the survival rate.

 

[pipsical]

I've let my tank get a bit wild the last few weeks to help them out and they seem to stay in there out the way. I'll possibly have to invest in one of the fry tanks that just sit in the water.

the two fry which are nearly full size are both orange and look like males, this then means i have 2 femails and 3 males. Is this ok or do i need to get rid of 2 males? (my friend has a tank also so would be willing to take them off my hands if needed)

Sorry for all the questions.

 

[minnnt]

Yes, rehome the males. Normal ratio for male to female would be 1:2 but 1:3 works well too.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I never had fry survive. I set up a 10 gallon fry tank and had mom in a breeding trap while she dropped. The only problem with this was she would eat them as she dropped so I added some small plants to the breeding trap. After 2 hours I released her because I didn't want he to get to stressed out. She had more babies in the tank itself. I raised the fry in the other tank until they were big enough to go into the big tank. I think i did that to early because I am missing half of my fry, but now I have 15 platys/swordtails in my 40 gallon lol. I don't think I will be saving anymore fry

 

[minnnt]

You can modify a breeding trap so it is in effect bottom-less so when the fry drop through the grid they are effectively safe from any hungry mouths.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

You can modify a breeding trap so it is in effect bottom-less so when the fry drop through the grid they are effectively safe from any hungry mouths.

I kinda made mine because the ones at the store were so tiny. I made a wooden frame and used screening. it was 10 inch by 6inch by 6inch. I really did not want to put her in those go awful tiny prisons from the store. Heck, I felt bad putting her in the one that was made. I didn't think to make a drop hatch. I might have to see how I can modify