Is my Swordtail pregnant If so how long until she gives birth?

[Courtney Harrison]

Hey everyone! I am new to having my own tropical fish tank. So I am not sure If my swordtail is pregnant and if so how long until she will give birth? What should I do if she does give birth? This was an unexpected pregnancy so I do not have a breeding box I have a 60-litre tank. Any help would be great!
Fish In the tank at the moment, If this helps.

• 3 mollies (2 females and 1 male)
• 2 swordfish (female and male)
• 2 siamese fighting fish (2 females, they are good with other fish)
• 4 guppies (2 female and 2 male)
• 2 rosy barbs (female and male)
• pleco sucker fish
• cory catfish bottom feeder
• and 2 other bottom feeders leopard type.

 

[Courtney Harrison]

why is no one replying? i need a answer

 

[Jessie J.]

She should give birth in a week or so; the black gravid mark on her belly is a tell-tale sign.
If you don't have a place to keep the fry, get a big jar and scoop out the fry as fast as you can, then put the jar in the tank so they can see each other but don't interact until you can get a breeder net. Scoop out a little water each day and put in new water from the tank. Put some live plants in the jar so the fry feel comfortable and can find tiny natural food- sprinkle teeny bits of crushed up food in their jar a couple times a day to feed them if you don't have live foods. Good luck with your fry!
Remember, this is only for a couple days until you can get a breeder net.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

New why is no one replying? i need a answer

All new members have their first post checked by the moderators to make sure they are suitable for the site. It can take up to 24 hours for the post to be checked and made live. During that time nobody else can see the post so we can't respond to it until it is made live.

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Yes your swordtail is pregnant. Livebearers (mollies, platies, swordtails & guppies) carry the developing babies for 1 month before giving birth to free swimming babies.

The best thing to do for female livebearers is to have lots of plants in the tank. Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) is the best floating plant for them. If you get too many plants you can grow them in the substrate where they turn into a nice light green shrub.

The babies hide in the plants and can be fed on small powdered fish food and newly hatched brineshrimp.
There is more info on hatching brineshrimp at the following link.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/back-to-basics-when-breeding-fish.448304/

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If your tank is less than 2 months old, I would suggest you only feed the fish once every second day and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding.

You should also monitor the water quality for ammonia and nitrite and do a 75% water change any day there is a reading above 0.

Try to keep the pH above 7.0.

If you can contact your water supply company (via their website or telephone), they should be able to tell you what the pH and general hardness (GH) of the water is. If the GH is below 200ppm you could have trouble with the swordtails, guppies. And if the GH is less than 250ppm you could have trouble with the mollies. If the pH is below 7.0 you will have problems with these fish too.

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The following link has some information on what to do if your fish ever get sick. It's pretty long and boring but worth knowing so I recommend printing it out and reading it in bed to help you fall asleep.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-to-do-if-your-fish-gets-sick.450268/