Moving Pregnant Female

[mnbyiuopre]

When is the best time to move a female into a different birthing tank? I have a pregnant swordtail and I want to move her into a 10 gallon that's about 1 ft. below the tank she's in now. I heard if you move them too late they'll abort her fry. Sh's about 1.5-2 weeks into it, maybe more. Should I move her in now?

There's a pregnant guppy in the birthing tank right now too.

 

[helterskelter]

You do lurn to notice when a fish is close and moving then either very last min is what i do.

But i prefer moving the out as their born, even in community you will find many babies at first, but they do soon get eated if missed.
Look first thing in the morning as their usualy born at night.

 

[kribensis12]

If you are going to move her do it now, but make sure you acclimate her very well.

 

[mnbyiuopre]

Ok, so skelter, you say move whe sh's really close or almost actually giving birth. Kribensis, you say move her right away. Which one is it? Oh, when you say acclimate her well what do you mean? Like have the same temp and everything?

 

[kribensis12]

I would say do it before hand so she is comfortable and not stressed when it is time to birth. Make sure the water temp, ph, and heavy metals are the same in both tanks. Do you have a testkit?

 

[mnbyiuopre]

Yes, I do have an API test kit. I know the ph and temp. are the same, not sure about the metals. They should be though since I do everything the same.

 

[helterskelter]

I can look at a fish and know how close they are, when their literaly going to give birth now or as their giving birth.

How ever it's a species i'm not sure with doing the slow approch is best. If you want to gental to your fish then this is the best approch

The short sharp shock treatment i use is fine with common livebeares and especially nasty species like Brackyarphis and Gambusia's species of livebearers which are species you rarely see in shops.

Short sharp approch is just what i use, what i use is small tanks to get the fry, and i use the tank water of the fish so their is very little stress in moving them and their only trapped for 1 day 2 at the most, where as the slow approach they can be trapped for 10-14 days or longer.

 

[mnbyiuopre]

Okay, I think I'll transfer her now. I don't really think she'll be "trapped" as a 10-gallon tank is pretty good considering that there is only one guppy in it!

 

[mnbyiuopre]

Skelter: SInce you're good at telling when fish are going to give birth here are some pictures of my pregnant fish:

 

[helterskelter]

They all look quite thin, when their close you will see the swell over a 3 week period.

Give them plenty of food and do good weekly water chages.

Pic two looks like it may even be a young male, they can take between 3-8 months to mature and with other large males they can even take longer

 

[mnbyiuopre]

Pic two is the same fish. It's just that the flash was on and it was taken farther away.

 

[helterskelter]

ok just could ne see the gravid spot an dthe anal fin looks thinker like a maturing male, but i guess it's moved to a different angel to make it look that way.

 

[mnbyiuopre]

Yeah, it was just a bad pic. I think that I'm going to move her when I can see the eyes of the fry inside her. That's how I was able to tell she was close the last time she gave birth. Righ now I'm going to start feeding frozen brine shrimp every evening if possible so that I can get a healthy batch of fry.

 

[mnbyiuopre]

Okay, I've decided to have her birth in the main tank and try to net the fry out. I was also thinking of putting her in a breeder net. The problem is that a fry is in there. It is about 1/3-1/2 of an inch long. WOuld it be safe to put the mom in there or not. I was also thinking about putting some more marbles, live plants, and some shells in so the fry have more hiding spots.