Overwhelmed with Swordtails - help!

[Fox46]

I bought 5 females and 1 male during March. I thought that would be a harmonious tank, and in the past with other livebearers, the rate of expansion has been slow and manageable since most young fry were eaten by the others in the tank (Corys, Platys, Black Widow Tetra). I learned later that sexing is an inadequate science with Swordtails and the current state of play is that a further 2 have developed into males and now I have an explosion of young fry which are not being eaten and I can see the female adults are not yet done. I've had to set up another holding tank into which I've put the three known males and into which I can put other males as soon as it's possible to sex them. But I'll need to get rid of the majority of the new stock and I think an lfs on the other side of Dorchester will take them. Is there a minimum age at which it's more humane to subject them to being fished out and transported to another home?

 

[emeraldking]

There's no specific age to move those fish to another place. On the other hand, most stores would like to have juveniles or adults. They're not always keen on very young fry. And yes, it seems that your swordtails will leave those fry alone (just like mine) that will result in an excessive population. I would go to this specific store and ask at what age they would like to take those fish in...

 

[Fox46]

I just rang them and they're happy to take both the male adults and any young fry I can catch. That shouldn't be too difficult, I can't do a waterchange without a few taking a helter-skelter ride into the bucket. I think I'll be doing a few more trips besides this one before I've managed to remove the legacy of these three males. It's odd that it was so sudden (over a period of a few days) as they've birthed two or three times so far but with only 3 or 4 surviving each time. This last batch is at least 25. Thanks for responding.

 

[Back in the fold]

Here’s your chance to break into the Swordtail business .

 

[emeraldking]

I just rang them and they're happy to take both the male adults and any young fry I can catch. That shouldn't be too difficult, I can't do a waterchange without a few taking a helter-skelter ride into the bucket. I think I'll be doing a few more trips besides this one before I've managed to remove the legacy of these three males. It's odd that it was so sudden (over a period of a few days) as they've birthed two or three times so far but with only 3 or 4 surviving each time. This last batch is at least 25. Thanks for responding.

Good to know that they're also accepting the very young ones. For not all stores will do that.

 

[Back in the fold]

Good to know that they're also accepting the very young ones. For not all stores will do that.

I haven’t seen fry for sale in any shop in decades and that used to be common .

 

[TwoTankAmin]

When I set up my very first tank I had swordtails and had not yet learned about livebearer math. However, I soon learned that angelfish love swordtail fry for breakfast, for lunch and for dinner. So I procured my first angels, 5 double dark blacks.

And then I learned that angels, once they pair off, can produce 500 eggs in a spawn which taught me why I did not want to breed angels.

Today I have learned that pretty much all fish, given the chance, want to spawn, especially in my tanks

 

[anewbie]

One difference between guppies and swordtails is that swordtails fry will hide low if they need to; i've never seen a guppy hide low. I once had coarse substrate and female swordtail spent hours chasing her fry but they would dart under the stones and she couldn't get them

So you need a low hunter for swordtail frys oddly - most hunters look high...

also swordtails are one of those weird species where females can become male - in a sense you are better off with fewer females as less frys are produced