I can not breed swordtails

[Final Dynazty]

when they have fry they get eatin in the main tank. when they have fry in a brreder net they get eatin by their mother. there is just no winnig. any suggestions?, Cuz i have a male neon sailfin and i want to breed his traits out.

 

[Angry_Platy]

take the female out QUICK!!!

 

[Final Dynazty]

she just ate of of them 10 min ago when i wasn't watching.

 

[Polardbear]

Put lots of floating plants (I use hornwort, java moss is also good) in the tank so the fry have someplace to hide. I also cover the bottom of my tank with glass marbles. I have swordtail fry coming out my ears.

 

[Final Dynazty]

live plants die in my tank. I dont have the special lightin and carbon difuser for them. idk I think im gunna give up on the whole tropical fish thing and go for american cichlids.

 

[GuppyDude]

ok here i know what your talking about, i always lose a few fry when i put my momma fihs in the net and iv got a method that makes a world of differance. first off ditch the net and buy a 5g tank, they fry need a growout tank anyway. then by some java moss, one quart is fine. fluff out the moss so it takes up 3 forths of the tank. ok now add the very prego mother fish. stuff her full of food, spoil the littel buggar. 3-4 times a day feed her tilll she can eat no more. this not only keeps her appitite at bay but it will also help greatly in the health of ur baby fish makeing them loads faster and les prone to early illness. after mama has her babys she will probably eat a few, but she will not be able to eat them all as she is alrdy quite full and the babys are trenched in deep with the java moss. be sure you do remove the female thogh and keep a close eye on her while she is in the tank, leaveing her in the tank after she is done haveing the fry will definately sort you a few fish. also make sure there is a spong filter and a heater to keep teh tank clean and warm. if u are really intent on keeping the babys alive this 50 dollar invesment should prove effective. as for your plants dieing, java moss is very hardy, reqires no light at all and doesn't even need fertilizer. but i do recoomend buying a fertilizer/conditioner combo or the tank as it will keep the plant heathly so that it will last longer, its also good to have some kind of rocky substrate in there as well, less than and inch of medium sized gravel is perfect, they fry will hide in there as well. good luck!

 

[Final Dynazty]

I tryed feeding her a lot, but i thought they have a surge of hormons making them less prone to eat their fry. I will have to see because im contiplating on cichlids. I already started in my 20 as you can see. thanx for your advice.

 

[enchanted]

live plants die in my tank. I dont have the special lightin and carbon difuser for them. idk I think im gunna give up on the whole tropical fish thing and go for american cichlids.

You don't need special lighting and CO2 for live plants. Many live plants, such as Anubias, crypts, Java Fern, and Java Moss, will grow great in low light tanks as long as they recieve 10 to 12 hours light a day.

 

[Polardbear]

You can also get by with plastic plants. The key is to have some dense cover for the fry to hide in. My first batch of fry was in a 10 gallon tank with Mom and 4 of her closest friends all on the hunt for snacks. I crammed every plastic plant I had into one half of the tank and put the glass marbles on top of the gravel and 15 managed to survive. That was just before I moved everyone to my new 55 gallon tank, 2 days after the move my pineapple swordie had her babies. I had put the marbles in the big tank at the time of the move so even though the plastic plants weren't so dense I still managed to net out 25 pineapple fry and transfer them to the 10 gallon. As someone else pointed out, a separate tank to raise the fry in is a big help. But even without it some will survive if they have sufficient cover to hide in. 5 that got left behind in the big tank survuved just fine. I use the hornwort as floating cover now and the marbles for ground cover. The hornwort also provides a good food source for both the babies and the adults.

 

[twobit]

as soon as i seen that she was pregnant i move her into another tank that has bigger rocks for the subsrtate .. like 1-2 cm dimiters and the babys will go stright to the rocks and into the plants .. haven't have a prob with her eating them yet on my sencond baby batch!

 

[Fishy411]

thats whats harder about livebearers. U cant take out the mother when u notice that there are eggs. Just keep a careful watch and keep a net handy. Try this breeder. Worked for a lot of people i know.

http/www.petco.com/product_info.asp?fami...mpartments&ct3=

 

[jbennett]

Final Dynazty, You say that Live plants die in your tank. Well your problem will definately be related to the fact that you only your lights on for 4 hours a day. This you stated when try to give advice to another forum member in your post #576686. And for someone who works in an LFS, this is a very ill advised statement from someone who can't grow plants. Try doing some research first before making eronius statements that might confuse new members and beginners. I am wondering if you work in one of those LFS's that have hundreds of fish in a tank with loads of airstones bubbling away, and a tank of plants covered in algae growth. sama: