Pregnant FISHIES!!

[FrustratedBreeder]

I got a 40 gallon tank a couple months ago, and when I got it, I bought many many pregnant fishies. However, after seeing a few fish get tiny bellies- and STILL no babies- i am getting frustrated. I seem to always miss their babies, but i have one fish that refuses to have them!! She's been looking like she was going to pop for weeks!!! I REALLY want to get my fancy guppies breeding, what is the gestational period on them? What about bettas? I have a 10 gallon tank dedicated to fry...but sadly..dont have any little fry for it Its sad!!!! PLEASE HELP ME!!!

 

[lizard]

I seem to always miss their babies, but i have one fish that refuses to have them!! She's been looking like she was going to pop for weeks!!!
what is the gestational period on them? What about bettas?

Some of the livebearers will eat the fry if they aren't removed right away Fry are also VERY good at hiding in/on plants and anywhere else. Also may want to check your filter. Sometimes they get stuck in there Platy gestation is about 30 days (I believe). My guess is that guppies are about the same, but I don't know. As far as the Bettas go...I don't know.
Good luck!

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[BettaBoyz]

get a breeder and stick the females who look ready to pop in there. remember to get one with seperations so that you can add more than one female and have them not eat the babies. try and get a Lee's 3-Way Guppy Breeder.

Bettas are rather easy, but it's a dangerous process for the male and female. you'd need seperate tanks for each one, a ten gallon breeding tank filled halfway with water, a styrofoam cup for the male to build a nest under, bushy silk plants in one corner, a breeder trap, and of course Bettas!

take the male and add him to your breeding tank, let him get a feel for it. add the female in the breeder trap and let them flare and show off and wait for hte male to start building a nest under his cup. once he starts release the female. there'll be chasing and nipping, but the girl will hide in the plants and the boy will make his nest and show off. once the nest is big and if the female submits (vertical bars, swimming head-down) the two will embrace under the nest and the male will squeeze the bejeebers outta the female. she'll look stunned while he collects the eggs and sticks them in the nest. this could go on for ages, but when it's done you MUST remove the female and add her to a cycling hospital tank to tend to her exhaustion and wounds.

=) it's a fun hobby, but remember the fry need care too! some large tanks are needed for the female fry, or really big sterlite bins outfitted with sponge filters. males need gallon tanks, jars, bowls, seperate breeder traps in other communities, or a divided tank. they can be told apart at 2 months, and sold at 4 i believe.

 

[firedog]

Recently purchased some swordtails. It appears that one of the females is pregnant. How do swordtails get pregnant?

 

[BettaBoyz]

the same way Guppies do!

male Swordtail meets female Swordtail, <3's fly, fishie-kissys are shared...

etc. etc.



but Swords are livebearers too, meaning males have a gonopodium (sort of a pointed anal fin that moves) and the females have... something either way, livebearers do the nasty like mammals do

 

[Laureth]

Recently purchased some swordtails. It appears that one of the females is pregnant. How do swordtails get pregnant?

Ah, swordtails.....fun, fin, fun, lol.

Okay, I'm not an expert, by any means, but after some trial and error, I am currently looking at about 30 neon swordtail fry (and are they *beautiful....nice blue-silver and flame orange color), about 20 or so pineapple sword fry and a few (3-4 maybe) lyre tail marigold fry. Now one of my green swords is in the breeder (15 gal or so hex tank) and I've got two more that's aren't quite ready yet. Oh yeah and a black swordtail mommy too. So I think I'm getting the hang of it a bit.

So here's what I've learned so far, your experience may differ.

Breeding nets suck. If you *can't* do a separate breeding tank (and even if you can), then you want a live plant called "water sprite". Its kind of spiky and feathery looking (think parsley, but flatter) and it grows like crazy. Use some plant fertilizer and you can almost see it grow daily. It will root in anything, and it floats as well. When the plant starts growing well, start pinching off the longest pieces, as close to the base of the plant as you can, and let it float or push it into the gravel. When you have enough of it floating as well as some planted, you have fry heaven. I had about 8-10 mixed adult swords in the hex tank (a little too crowded), and a giant ball of water sprite, and now I have all the above fry. (I just moved the adults about 3-4 weeks ago) Also, you want your ph a little on the high side of normal (like 6.6 or so), and you want good filtration and areation. And your water temp should be on the high side of normal (80 degrees or so)
There are little net sleeves which will go on the filter to avoid sucking the fry in, but honestly, I haven't needed that. Of course, my hex has so many plants that I can't see the surface of the water, either, lol. Use a mix of the sprite, and anything that has a very long thing stem with long thin leaves that floats on the top (like lily pads) and between the two, more babies will survive than get eaten.

Also, it takes *forever* for them to gestate, I think. lol. Seriously, I think its about 6-12 weeks or so, but I've not been able to chart that yet. But I do know the signs that my fish have shared. Look for a black spot on the female, near the small lower fins (and for months I thought the females were having problems with being, um, well...blocked, lol). That spot will change as the pregnancy progresses, but its the first sign I notice. Of course then the female will get fat...and wide...and fatter..and wider...When you'd swear she was going to *explode*, watch her behavior....females close to labor and delivery seem to start agressing towards both males and other females....mostly chasing, no real fighting. She will try and get stuck in that ball of water sprite which you hopefully have given her, and then fight her way out to hang up at the surface, and suck air/water from the surface. She will almost seem to want to drink air, and she will have a red spot just below her gills. That's labor. Also if your as obsessed as I am you will further notice that her belly will get kind of irregular...instead of a nice smooth curve, she will have an odd lump or two on the underneath of her belly.

Like this \___/ (normal pregnant belly) vs \_,_,_/ (where the , is a lump) Sorry, I don't do this kind of art well.

Then in a few days she will be in the plants again, and as close to completely hidden as she can be. You may notice something fall from her, and sink to the bottom. That's a baby. I thought it was food or poo for months, but eventually realized it was a baby. The baby falls downward then must struggle to swim to the surface and get some air. After that the baby can swim just fine (sort of the sword way of that 'first slap' doctors give newborn babies). A newborn is about the size of this: --- , and seems to be all big black eyes. They grow fast though. I use baby brine shrimp or fry food for the first month or so then make sure the adult fish food has some smaller pieces after that.

Now...if I could only figure out why they all seem to be female, I'd be all set

Good luck
~Laureth