Guess The Number Of Pregnant Females.

[LilMuppet]

First for those that don't know I have 3 female sunset wags, 1 female red platy, 1 male tuxedo / comet / micky mouse platy and 1 male pineapple swordtail. They are a happy group. It's possible that all four are pregnant, at least 2.

Batch one appears. I'll call it day 1.

Exactly three weeks later batch 2 appear; day 21

Three days later another batch appear; day 24

13 days later another batch are now appearing; day 37.

It is embarrasing but I still can't tell who is giving birth, they're all being mysterious! 2 at this time look 'big', and 2 look medium.

Is this at least three pregnant? I was working on the assumption that two were pregnant and expecting the next lot from Monday onwards, but this is a bit of a turn up. That cound mean 27 bunches of fry, argh!

 

[lilfishie]

could be 3 but could also be just 1, it is possible that day 21 and 24 are from the same batch but you didn't notice them, anyway good luck with them all

 

[AmberMc]

Congratulations!

 

[chucksmo]

Another proud family. Congrats

 

[LilMuppet]

Looking at the size of the platy females this morning I think it was the Red Platy who we've identified as the mother of batch 1. One other female is looking extremely fat and should if she is the mother of the 2 batch drop around Monday.

Managed to catch 8-10 although one got stuck to the side for a few seconds!

 

[kpintheshed]

congrats love to see some pic

 

[LilMuppet]

Well I have the answer today and it is 3!

Two of our Sunsets gave birth (Sunday and Tuesday - like buses!) and the Red Platy gave birth two weeks ago. The other Sunset is significantly smaller in size so I think she's not pregnant - at least not yet! I'm really happy as I got to see one fry being born!

Just got to wait for them to grow and see if it's all the Tuxedo Mix Male or whether our Swordtails had a piece of the action.

A question about fry though...

When I was checking on the numbers they'd had (I only saved 1/2 from each because otherwise the breeder would get overcrowded) I noticed one didn't look quite right, I moved the plant it was resting on and it just fell to the bottom and in the process became someone's snack. Is it common for them to give birth to a live fry that is too weak and dies? It clearly was alive at some point to get to where it was!

Hopefully the fish shop that took our Pleco once he'd grown will also take (some of) our fry. They often have a 'mixed' bunch tank, so I guess that is probably from other stock outside of their 'regular' breeders?

 

[lilfishie]

it is quite usual to have a few weeker ones that 'hug' the bottom, they usually die within a day or two, then you will get weaker fry so expect a few deaths, congrats on the new fry

 

[darkwolf29a]

Another proud family. Congrats

I think Congrats on the Army is more to the point.

 

[LilMuppet]

Thanks!

I sent out an e-mail and it looks like any fry we can't keep the lfs will have, so that means we can keep raising a few fry from each 'batch'.

Already picked out two I couldn't part with, they have several dark spots and a lovely yellow / golden colour to the rest of their body.

Unfortunately after losing 'Tiny Timothy' in the main tank, I renamed one inside the net with the same name who was a gorgeous colour and kept him in there for 4/5 days longer than I had the rest and after 3 days of being in the main tank he disappeared too. Cursed!

Looks like we have 20-30 fry, the most being 5 weeks old now, but a few being 1 day - 2 weeks. Hopefully it won't get overcrowded, but it's brilliant to watch their patterns and personalities develop!

The five 8 week old fry in the main tank look all female to me at the moment!

Again, thanks for all your help in the last few weeks, wouldn't have been so successful without all the advice and help!