Breeding Swordtails

[ronanmurphy98]

Hi Guys,
I have a tropical fish tank for about 18 months now. In the tank I have a silver molly, 2 golden widow tetras, 4 zebra danios and 3 swordtails. 2 of the swordtails are female while the other is a male. I want to breed the swordtails now, but even though they are supposed to be easy to breed, I am having some difficulty's. The pH of the water is 7.2 and ammonia is zero. Both of the females have gravid spots (for a very long time now) and their fins are very slightly eroded. The females tend to stay around the filter for most of the time, but not once have I ever seen any babys for the past year. I have been told that the other fish can eat the young, but could they eat them that fast? I have a medium planted tank, with a small breeder tank and fry trap. I have also seen the male around the females alot, not penetrating them thought, although the danios do occasionally irritate the females. I really want to breed the swordtails soon and would appreciate any suggestions!
Thanks, Ronan

 

[FishBlast]

Hi Guys,
I have a tropical fish tank for about 18 months now. In the tank I have a silver molly, 2 golden widow tetras, 4 zebra danios and 3 swordtails. 2 of the swordtails are female while the other is a male. I want to breed the swordtails now, but even though they are supposed to be easy to breed, I am having some difficulty's. The pH of the water is 7.2 and ammonia is zero. Both of the females have gravid spots (for a very long time now) and their fins are very slightly eroded. The females tend to stay around the filter for most of the time, but not once have I ever seen any babys for the past year. I have been told that the other fish can eat the young, but could they eat them that fast? I have a medium planted tank, with a small breeder tank and fry trap. I have also seen the male around the females alot, not penetrating them thought, although the danios do occasionally irritate the females. I really want to breed the swordtails soon and would appreciate any suggestions!
Thanks, Ronan

Sitting around the filter may mean that there's too low air or there may be nitrite in there. Did you test for that too?
Swordtails don't care much about PH, they adapt to any kind of PH, 7.2 is pretty good.

A way to tell if the babies were eaten is to see if the females have returned to their slim body shape after being fat for a month or two.
It took one of my female swordies 2 months before she had her first ever fry batch. She is quite young too.
I find swordtail fry almost always because my catfish seems to care for them (either by sitting over them or by making plant nests at the surface and guarding them from the parents). Still, that doesn't help when they just get hunted down within 2-3 days by their parents because the fry wander off.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum ronanmurphy.
Zebras can indeed eat fry faster than you can spot them. They are very efficient predators. If you want to have swordtail fry survive,I would start by setting up a drop tank. Once you have that drop tank, add lots of either java moss or najas grass as cover. With the cover in place and the tank working right, add either of your female swords and wait a few weeks. It will not take very long before you will find fry in that tank that have escaped a well fed female sword. Once she has finished her drop, remove the female as her job is done. It will be up to you to feed and care for the 30 to 50 fry that she has left behind in your tank.
Swordtails are among the easiest of poeciliids to breed but even swordtails take some minor amount of care if you want to succeed.

 

[jcowen777]

i agree with the two previous posts. i have two female swordtails and one had babies today and the other on wednesday. the sword that gave birth today was not nearly as big as the other. if your fish are like mine, your fish may still be pregnant, but they may not have many fry inside them. my smaller sword (that gave birth today) only had around 22 fry while my larger had over 40 (too many to count!). also, did you add aquarium salt to your tank. swordtails to like it, as do mollies. in addition, what temperature is your tank? most livebearers prefer temps at or slightly above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. i hope i was of help!

p.s. if you are really worried about over-stresssing your fish you should either buy a drop tank or a breeder tank. i used/am using breeder tanks for both of my swords an have found great success. the fry simple fall to the bottom, out of harm's way. good luck!

 

[Staxx]

my leopard danios eat fry too. didnt realise until i seen one literally swallow a platy fry whole!!