I thought my fish was pregnant???!!!

[amanda]

My femail Sword tail looked pregnant. She was bloated and went nearly black behind. I could see little eyes in there I swear?! (I am new to tropical fish, I have had my fish for about 2 months). The shop reccomended a plastic breeder tank. I put her in there 5 days ago. She is going to the toilet, its dark black and lots of it. Her stomach no longer looks as black (the little, what I thought were eyes arnt as visable). Was she actually pregnant? Is she still!!! She is keeping her 'fins' flat.. does this mean she is stressed? Shall I take her out. There have been new fry in the tank a month ago, and they all go eaten!
Help!

 

[Dakota Ice]

Im really sorry to say this..

But it sounds like your female aborted her pregnancy. Im sorry! It was most likely due to you moving her into a breeding trap. Those things are small and they stress out the female a whole lot. I dont think it is wise to ever put any pregnant livebearer in those things, unless you want dead fry or no fry at all. So I suggest to put that thing in the attic. Yes, the flattened fins are a sure sign of stress. Get her out of there, ASAP.

But! Your female will surely soon be pregnant again, so dont worry. You'll just have to wait another month.

Good Luck!
Dakota

 

[amanda]

Im really sorry to say this..

But it sounds like your female aborted her pregnancy. Im sorry! It was most likely due to you moving her into a breeding trap. Those things are small and they stress out the female a whole lot. I dont think it is wise to ever put any pregnant livebearer in those things, unless you want dead fry or no fry at all. So I suggest to put that thing in the attic. Yes, the flattened fins are a sure sign of stress. Get her out of there, ASAP.

But! Your female will surely soon be pregnant again, so dont worry. You'll just have to wait another month.

Good Luck!
Dakota

I am not sure how to use this site yet.... think this is how you reply?? Just wanted to say thanks for your advice! My sword tail is now back in the tank. What do you think of Net breeders, rather than the crappy plastic one I used. (its now in the bin!)

 

[noglet]

My molly gave birth in the tank (I didn't even know she was pregnant!) and I then caught as many as I could and put them in a breeder net. Probably the best thing to do is make sure you're tank is well planted. Keep an eye on her when she's pregnant. Hopefully if she gives birth the fry will find shelter amongst the plants (mine did) and you can then fish them out and put them in a breeder. A few may get eaten along the way but it saves stressing the mum out. If you keep the fry in a breeder net make sure there is plently of circulation for them. I've got a plant in the breeder net for them too so they have shelter from the light. Hope this helps.

I do think that the net breeders are better than the plastic ones - I had a plastic one previously with sword babies, it wasn't as spacious and the circulation wasn't as good either.

 

[plysha]

She is going to the toilet, its dark black and lots of it.

ok She could have aborted them but doesn't sound like it because mine did the same thing and I have 23 baby guppies,... Mine ate most of hers and she went to the toilet and pood black because of the babies she ate, now she is still pregnant she didn't have all the babies at once (I'm still waiting for the rest of them to come out) I left my female in the tank because I was going to be gone that whole day and when i got back at 1:00am I found 8 fry and watched her have the last 15 babies of what she didin't eat...
For you to not have had any babies in the breeder she couldn't of had to many.

Was this her first time if so they sometimes only have around 12 (maybe more) and livebearer can eat that many.. don't worry there will be more babies next time just leave her in the tank and take the babies out when you find them. all of my babies were hiding in the rocks at the bottom of tank.. the mother couldn't get to them...

Take care and good luck
Wish I could have helped more.
Erin
Someone else say something if i'm wrong..lol