Is This Possible?

[pinkdolphin_113]

ok well i bought 2 male guppies and a sword tail. they looked awsome so i thought id give it a go at the breeding. while i was waitin for the females, one of the guppies died.
while adding the females, i went and bought another male from my lfs. this one was blue and purple while the other male is red. i got home, put the females in and waited for the new male to climatise. he died within 2 days.
one of the females had fry the next day. i caught them, put them in a bag and climatised them in a "fry tank" ive called it. they all disappeared.
now, my swordtail looks as tho its gonna burst.

these pics arent too good but i was wondering if anyone could tell me if my swordtail is pregnant.
it is prossible for a guppy to pregnate a swordtail.
the guppy looks as the he has been (the only way to put it) trying with the swordtail.
if the swordtail isnt pregnant, why is it so fat?

thanks x

there is no one in the livebearers section, thats why this is in here!

 

[Xebadir]

First of all people do browse the livebearer section regularly(i know i do and so does anastasia).

Now, in answer to your question, it is highly probable that if your swordtail is female that it is pregnant. The means however is not what you think. Livebearers have an ability to store the sperm for up to 9 months from previous fertilsation by males, so it is likely this occured at the shop you bought the fish from. When times are rough the fish continue to store the sperm, when conditions improve they impregnate and give birth. The sperm supply lasts for several broods of young.

Hybridisation between swordtails and guppies will not occur, due to the massive genetic difference. However swordtails can hybridise with other poecildae: such as the platy. Also a male livebearer will try to mate with anything: one of my platies tried with a cory and any inatimate object

Hope this helps, i hope you cycled and enjoy your fry when they come: try reading the pinned posts in the livebearer section for further answers to your questions: often they have been asked before.

 

[pinkdolphin_113]

9 MONTHS! jeeze! i didnt kno it was that long. well thanks and i hope i do get some fry to grow
those goldfish in the pic i have had from fry. my bigger goldfish had them but they are still a bronze colour. the black moor has turned black tho. they also had wierd finnage. the underneath fins. they hav the first two fins. and the fin closest to the tail. but nothin in between. why is this? coz i dont understand

 

[Htw]

Do you know for sure the swordtail is a female? From the pictures it looks as though the fish has an extended tail fin, a sword, at the back. Only males have these. If this it is a male he may have just gorged himself on the fry you may not have caught earlier. If it is def a female read xebadirs reply.

 

[Xebadir]

it is highly probable that if your swordtail is female that it is pregnant

As I said: if it is female this applies.

 

[JaminRat]

Looks like a fat male to me. As said the females have no sword. Some Swordtails are 'late bloomers' i.e. they look like females who turn to males. To sex them have a look at the anal fin. A female will have a fan shaped fin (when open) and the male an elongated cylindrical fin.

It is quite common for late bloomers I have a Tiger Swordtail that confused the hell out of me when it suddenly grew a sword but a little research cleared it up.

It looks like you have a Pineapple Swordtail if so it is the same as I have in my main tank and the gravid spot is very obvious when they have been caught.

 

[pinkdolphin_113]

yea the sword tail is a male. he wasnt pregnant and he just died about 30 mins ago. he just started floatin around, still huge, and he just died. my step dad said he had gorged himself from the fry before and he decided to help with breeding the guppies now the swordtail has gone.