Pineapple Swordtail Lost Babies

[Lettybetty]

after watching my female pineapple swordtail to see when she was going to give birth, last night I decided she was ready squared belly and a white spot so after 20mins trying to catch her I put her in a breeding trap for the night, turned of the lights a left her alone
this morning I went to look at her to find she had jumped out of the trap and given birth in the main tank
I can't see ant of the fry so looks like they have been eaten, all I have got to do now is wait in hope that some are hiding in the holes in the stone or plants finger crossed I will see some soon,

 

[Cazgar]

20 minutes trying to catch her will have stressed her out.
I don't know how big your breeding trap is, but for swordtails it needs to be quite big.
Best to let her give birth in the main tank, then net any babies.
If your tank has plenty of hiding places, some will have survived, keep an eye out for any

 

[FishBlast]

20 minutes trying to catch her will have stressed her out.
I don't know how big your breeding trap is, but for swordtails it needs to be quite big.
Best to let her give birth in the main tank, then net any babies.
If your tank has plenty of hiding places, some will have survived, keep an eye out for any

That's what I did, although it was pretty hard to catch some of the babies... The lazy ones kept sitting on the sand and I was so scared not to hurt them with the net... Even more scared because one of them was sitting right next to my catfish (who ignored the live babies but ate the ones my male swordie killed and left on the sand).

In the end I separated my female in a bowl because the male was constantly harassing her to eat the babies as soon as they popped out, and once she finished birthing, I put her back in the main tank.

 

[Lettybetty]

I don't do a full on chase to catch her I stand with the net in the tank and wait until she comes near then lift the net it is a large trap, I am thinking of putting a tank divider in my baby tank so can put fish about to drop in there only trouble is the small fry get trough the divider so will have to put some net on it first to stop them

 

[FishBlast]

I don't do a full on chase to catch her I stand with the net in the tank and wait until she comes near then lift the net it is a large trap, I am thinking of putting a tank divider in my baby tank so can put fish about to drop in there only trouble is the small fry get trough the divider so will have to put some net on it first to stop them

A big net separator would allow filter flow to pass through best and filter both sides of a tank.
In my case, I cannot put one of those, as it would annoy one of my fishes.

 

[OldMan47]

Look around a bit Betty. Swordtail fry are really good hiders. They are also very tiny, maybe the smallest of the more common livebearers. I find mine hiding in the meniscus at the top of a tank and also hiding in any very tight spots like between gravel pieces, especially along the glass. You may yet have some fry.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

If you have gravel, they will hide under the gravel in the smallest cracks. I used to own swordtails and i was find babies half an inch under the gravel hiding.