It's Been Over 2 Months And Still No Drop.

[FishBlast]

You could get one of those large storage boxes for them, with a sponge filter & heater they'd be ok until big enough to go in the main tank.
Also if your main tank is well planted they're very good at hiding

I don't have any spare filter / heater and I looked for storage box long ago and couldn't find any that didn't have any holes. I don't know if I can convince my mom to let me get the 23L back from the attic.

The ones I've saved weren't good at hiding at all, they sat on the sand and did nothing. Would have been lunch long ago.
The only ones I see surviving are in the plant and are small, probably going to end up as males.
Basically these fry are either doomed to get killed in the main tank or if daily water changes won't be enough I'll lose them, but nothing much I can do, at least they get a higher chance to survive. One of them though might be best to feed him to the other fish, his tail is missing or bent, probably got bit. -.-

And my tank isn't well planted, I just have 1 plant in a basket that houses 2 fry so far and is frequented by all the other fish though and a tiny branch of it. It's a water sprite.

 

[FishBlast]

Only other option would be throwing them in the tank but then I'll just see the male killing them, or maybe the hoplo might reconsider and start snacking on them at night. He often lands in that plant so it's not 100% safe there.

Although oddly the 2 calicos were next to him and they were so obvious in the sand, surprised they didn't get eaten before I netted them out. Took ages to raise them into the net.

 

[LucyB]

I don't think you can sex them at such a young age can you? I don't know, I keep platies not swordtails

 

[FishBlast]

I don't think you can sex them at such a young age can you? I don't know, I keep platies not swordtails

I'm only basing it on experience with other batches I've had in the past. The slim ones were males when they grew to about 2-3 cm and the fat ones were most likely females (unless late developing males).

And when comparing them, I see some are slim, others appear fat.

The albino's so cute... I don't want to throw it there, it's an easy catch

I'm giving the one with the tail problem time till tomorrow. If he keeps going in circles, unfortunately he'll be in the lions' pit -.- (aka food for the adults)

Oh, btw, I figured how to heat their water: my room heater. It's worked for the main tank before. Should work even easier for the tub.

 

[FishBlast]

The calico in the main tank seems to be playing with danger, but same time know what he's doing.
He just did a dash along the tank, all the way to the other side... only to get under a bunch of tiny weeds. During the trip there, he seemed to be waiting for the adults to chase him, then he was like "Can't touch this!". I hope he'll be safe till he grows though. I've seen fry venture only a few nods away from the main plant and get pecked and killed in an instant.

 

[FishBlast]

Now I noticed there are 2 calicos in the main tank's plant. One's fatter. Haven't seen the pink one that was hiding deep within the plant.

I'd name the calico that keeps teasing the big fishes Trident. Because he has 3 black lines on his tail that looks like a 3-dented fork. Yesterday he managed to avoid becoming food for the catfish (Tzuppy seems to eat anything at the surface, even plants), he seems to just get nipped at by his parents and he has found a lot of hiding places.
He hides behind the filter, under floating weeds, always swims on the sides of the tank and usually at water surface so he isn't spotted by other fish and sometimes hides behind the heater's cable. He's so funny when hiding like that and darting to the next object that could hide him.

But the ones in the tub don't seem interested in crushed flakes. I changed their water, still they don't want to check the flakes out. Looks like I'll need to get daphnia tomorrow, if my dad agrees -.- Else, I hope they'll be hungry enough to eat the flake.

 

[FishBlast]

Crazy little fry.

His parents seem to ignore him, and the catfish only ignores him if he's at mid / bottom water level.

 

[FishBlast]

Haven't seen him or his siblings since noon when he last went into the plant. That might mean the number of survivors in the main tank is 0 as the parents keep sitting atop the plant. -.-

 

[FishBlast]

Starting to work on a homemade fry nursery.

Unfortunately, all I have is some black semi-transparent plastic, but it can be made into a 28 x 10 x 14 (L x w x h) cm box with very tiny holes for filtration and put in the main tank.
Will use some rubber wire to hang it on the glass.

The 4 fry are still active, although the calicos keep being nippy towards their lighter siblings when it comes to food.

 

[FishBlast]

Meh, mom had to stop that plan. Grr -.-

Had to settle for a normal fry nursery made out of net. I put some plants in their net too.
But now the 4 fry are in the attention of my swordtails... Think they can jump in after the fry or the fry jump out? My lid doesn't exactly touch the top of the nursery...

 

[FishBlast]

One big happy family... until some fish thinks it would be funny to jump in or out... Might need a lid.

Poor kittyfish Tzuppy, he's sitting still ever since I've installed that fry box. Lol.
Bee seems to have other plans though, ever since she saw the baby fish in the trap, she started nipping at the net and calculating how to get in by looking at the top...

 

[FishBlast]

I wonder if some day I'll have to get rid of one or two of the fry when they grow up...
Who knows what I'll end up with. By the looks of it, they are 3 females and a male, but that could easily change.

And even if they are all females, I don't know if my tank could handle 6 swordtails (the fry + their parents).

 

[FishBlast]

Well, looks like I won't have to worry about the numbers, one ninja-looking fry died over night.
Last night he was hiding between the net and the plastic cage, I thought it was a bit odd, but didn't think he was sick since he came out of the hiding spot and went back into the plant with his siblings.
I forgot how fragile fry are, some just don't make it past their first week. And there might still be some that will die within a month. -.-
Found him dead and seemingly bloated too. But I only fed them one small piece of flake 3 times a day. Should I cut it down to only twice or once a day?

 

[Neptune54]

I'm sorry about the ones that didn't make it. It happened to me, too; I started out with 17, and by the time they were 1 1/2 months old, I only had 4.

 

[FishBlast]

I'm sorry about the ones that didn't make it. It happened to me, too; I started out with 17, and by the time they were 1 1/2 months old, I only had 4.

I'm sad about finding out that none of the ones hiding in the tank survived. The plant got spread all over by my catfish and when I looked between the plants, no more fry there.

And I only saved 5 aside (1 I had to give up, as his tail was bit by his dad and was also curved), ended up with 4, and this morning I found one of my favorite fry dead and bloated.

So only 3 left. I know that some fry don't make it past their first week, and with each week more may die though the chance decreases.
Though I didn't think that tiny one would die, saw him hiding oddly between the net and the plastic cage but I didn't think it was a bad sign, as he was eating that day and was active until night.