Will My Female Swordtail Still Be Having Fry?

[Bambi211]

Ive noticed my female swortail has become pregnant lately, her stomach really enlarged. and she had like a white dot near her bladder.

Today I noticed two fry swimming, but was shocked and upset when the male ate them in hole. It was horrible I know they eat them but it wasnt nice to see.

So i bought a baby divider. And Ive put the female in it today. About 6pm. She seemed quite stressed at the start, and still doesnt look to happy. Also the male keeps hovering around the box.

How long should I keep her in there for? and can I switch my light on in the tank, or will that cause more stress?

And how do I know if shes still pregnant? Her stomache doesnt look as big, but she still has that white spot near her bladder bit.

Any advice would be much appreciated!!!??

xxx

 

[jonnyf84]

ok, there shouldn't be a white spot unless your talking about her anus which will pertrude when heavily pregnant, the anus is likely to stay like this for up to a couple of days after birth. There should however be a black spot on her belly which are the frys eyes. Some fish give birth in staggered bursts but the common sword will give birth to all her fry within a hour or so. This means it is unlikely she will give birth in the breeding trap, if you want to keep her in the trap anyway then make sure the light is off, dont feed her until she is out (note she will be starving after birth so please sont keep her in there for too long). dont keep her in there for anymore than 24 hours.

Swords store sperm so she can become pregnant again at any point she wants too without mating with the male, it is very unlikely she will inpregnate herself for at least 3 weeks.

Fry will head for cover immediately after birth, if there is no cover they will be eaten. To increase fry survival rate provide heavy planting and if possible some floating plants, if you cant plant the whole tank then heavily plant a good portion of one side, the fry can effectivley hide in here until they are big enough not to be eaten and this way you can be more accurate with feeding the fry as you will know exactly where they are. Finely crushed flake food will be fine, specialist fry foods are packed with protein and other nutrients but aren't necesarry for tough fry like Xiphs. If you want a more protein packed food for them try powdered egg yolk - it has always worked a treat for me, you can feed baby brine shrimp after a couple of weeks.

Good luck and enjoy raising your fry.

 

[OldMan47]

I agree with JonnyF, a heavy planting is called for to save fry. I usually have a large mass of java moss in my livebearer tanks. Even a tank where you can't grow plants can have lots of cover using silk plants. The pictures are what I mean when I say heavily planted.
Some java moss in a 20 gallon

A little anacharis in a 29 endler tank

and finally some silk plants in another 29

 

[nosoup4you]

If your swordie is orange, the anus will most likely always be white.

 

[Bambi211]

Thank you for all your adivce. It was most helpful.

She didnt have any more fry. I managed to catch a baby fry that was swimming around my tank, and swapped the mother and the baby. And put the mother back in the tank and the baby in the baby tank.

Ive bought some baby fish food for it aswell. So it should live shouldnt it??

And yes I meant white dot on the anus. And yeah its an orange female so thats most likely why.

xxx

 

[OldMan47]

If you can keep the water in the baby tank clean and can keep the guy fed, it will be fine. If you have a close look at the gravel in your tank you may find more fry hiding right along the edge at the very bottom of the tank. They almost disappear in that location which is why they will hide there.