Swordtail pregnancy??

[bytheangel]

Hiya,

My male swordtail was the first fish that I got for my tank and I have recently added to females to the tank for some company from of his 'own kind' per say. Anyway, long story short, I think my one female swordtail is pregnant as she is significantly bigger than the other female. I'm just looking for confirmation and a bit of advice.

Here is my female Ava on Sunday (05/03)

Here is Ava today (07/03)

She is swimming perfectly fine and if anything has an increased appetite, so I know she isn't ill.

Thanks for any advice you can give!

 

[Tyler_Fishman]

Yes she is, I can see a very faint gravid spot near her anal fin. Was she housed with males prior to you putting her in your aquarium? Odds are most female livebearers are almost always gravid once bought at a pet stores since they are prolific
By nature and are usually house with males of their own kind

Hope this helped

 

[bytheangel]

Thank you for your reply. When I purchased her and the other swordtail there was only females in the tank and she was generally quite small, it must be my little male. Still a bit of a newbie regarding pregnancies and this is my first one, can you tell at all how far gone she is and whether it would be a good idea to put her in her own tank until she gives birth?

Btw, thank you for getting in touch so quickly. Really appreciated

 

[Tyler_Fishman]

Your welcome I'd give her a week, I could be wrong, but it'd be best to isolate her in a Breeder box in the tank on about a few days from now as (unless another tank you have as completed its cycle) ammonia can build up in a separate tank and kill your fish. But if you do have a separate tank that is fully cycled; perfect! I'd put her in now, just make sure there are PLENTY of live plants or fake plants so the fry can hide, I suppose a cheaper alternative would be a DIY breeding mop (it's what they use to breed fish in large clusters of plants) out of yarn just incase you don't have any breeding mops, lying around. Then the fry should have a large success rate