Swordtail Fry

[karigupi]

I am waiting like an expectant father for my first swordtail fry, i've tried to take a piccie of mum but she is hiding behind the heater.

As she is pretty large, I have moved her into the empty fry tank as I thought the breeder would stress her too much.

She is very square & at the back the birthing tube looks quite swollen, so i'm thinking it shouldnt be too long?

I've raised guppies & mollies, is care of swordtail fry the same?

Update, she has been birthing for an hour or so & it looks as though all the fry are dead I've never seen this before, about 30 or so dead little babies on the bottom. They are a pretty good size, some are smaller & look very pale, but most are orange guppy fry sized, but dead, or at least it appears they are, doesnt seem to be any movement at all. Poor little mites.

 

[OldMan47]

The orange color may be the impression it gives when a clear or light colored still has an egg sac attached. It is never a good sign when fry are not moving. They usually are the size of guppy fry or a bit less. If she dropped her fry right after the move, she may have done so prematurely from the stress of being moved. I like to move my females to a birth tank a week or more ahead of time to avoid that kind of stress but it can still happen. Keep an eye on the fry because some may be a bit more mature than others and could still make it.

 

[karigupi]

The orange color may be the impression it gives when a clear or light colored still has an egg sac attached. It is never a good sign when fry are not moving. They usually are the size of guppy fry or a bit less. If she dropped her fry right after the move, she may have done so prematurely from the stress of being moved. I like to move my females to a birth tank a week or more ahead of time to avoid that kind of stress but it can still happen. Keep an eye on the fry because some may be a bit more mature than others and could still make it.

Thank you for your reply, such a shame that it happened & that it is probably my fault But I guess we all learn from our mistakes.

I have a molly who I would guess has about a week left, so I could move her over today & she should be ok? We have some good hiding spots in the main tank, but only one or two are making it from each birth, the mollies in particular love a guppy fry snack & I would like to try to have some more successful births.

Many thanks for the advice

 

[OldMan47]

If your molly is at least a week away, she should do fine if you can move her without stressing the whole tank chasing her around. You might try gently putting a net on the bottom of the tank and waiting a few minutes, then feed the tank and just scoop her from below with no chasing at all. I always use a bucket between tanks to make sure that I have the chance to acclimate the fish properly using a drip acclimation. That way I can be fairly sure that any troubles are problems that the fish had before the move. A well fed female molly with a bit of cover in the tank gave me this result. The picture was taken the same day she dropped the fry and I never saw her chase them well enough to actually catch any.

When she was only a week from her next drop, she looked like this. To me her shape change between these pictures is dramatic. The fry she is shown with are from the first drop and they were still safe with the female. On second thought, I'll add the picture that shows her closer up at a better angle.