Labor?

[LesGerber]

Our pregnant sword female has taken to lying on the bottom on her belly. She nips at the platy females in the tank with her whenever they come near. She just lays there with her side fins moving very fast and even ignored frozen brine shrimp. Her favorite!

Anyone know if these are signs of labor as this is our first sword to be pregnant and doing this.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Kryten]

Does she look fatter than normal, as this is the main clue

Most fish don't seem to be too adversely affected by pregnancy. It may be wise to give the fish a salt bath if you don't already have salt in the tank already

 

[William]

If you were to disturb her, try to do it as subtly as you can so as not to stress her too much. I just want to check that shes swimming okay as the fact she is not eating isn't a good sign! But if shes fat as kryten says chances are she'll just be pregnant, perhaps the reason she is having trouble is because she is small ? and there a lot of babies

 

[LesGerber]

Good Morning All,
We have 3 fish that we belive are actually pregnant. The female sword is a pretty red girl and she is one of the largest swordfish I have ever seen. She is moving around fine when she wants to move. Most of the time she will sit there and fan one area like she is a wild fish spawning on a bed.
Last night all three were acting the same way sitting and fanning and after about 2 hours of watching we were rewarded with getting to see 3 little fry swimming and hiding in the rocks and plants we have set up.
Not sure what they are but there are 2 larger ones that we have noticed and 1 smaller so I think that maybe they are a couple of swords and one platy.
My only question is how long do they take to give birth. From all that I have read I have never seen how long it can take. I thought maybe they would be done this morning but they all are back fanning so I am not sure. All the times before they did their birthing in the tank and we always found out after the fact but now we have a maternity tank and we get to watch them alot closer so we are learning alot about their behavour.

Any info that can be passed along will be greatly appreciated

TIA

Les

 

[LesGerber]

One last thing I forgot to add. As far as the eating.....She will sit there and fan for awhile and then she will come out and eat a bit and then go right back, so she is eating. To be honest it seems as if she is in a trance. If I didnt know any better I would swear that she is a fish in my local fishing hole and she is spawning......I have seen hundreds of fish act like she is in the wild .....but I am uncertain with captive fish



Les

 

[William]

Hi les, livebearers very rarely drop all their fry in one go, it can be spread over as much as a week with a few each day. just keep checking!

 

[LesGerber]

Allie just said NOOOOOO DONT TELL ME THAT.....lol She also said something about having heart problems worry about the fry with momma in the same tank.
To be honest I didnt think it could go on as long as a week but I read that it could go a few days. Well I guess Allie better get out the Nitro so she dont have heart attack till its over....lol
Thanks all for the great advice, I guess now its a waiting game


Les

 

[playfulalliecat]

UPdate!!!

We now have at least 8 fry. Not sure who had them. One of the platys got really thin so we took her out and put her back in the community tank. The female sword is still fat but started chasing around the maternity tank trying to catch the fry so back in the community tank for her too. The other platy is still in with the fry and as far as we can tell she hasn't bothered any of them. They are brave little boogers too coming all out in the open then darting back into the plants or the gravel when she comes around! She is still as fat as ever so who knows when she is going to drop hers!

I am soooooooo ready to get her done and out of that tank so we can keep those babies safe!!!!!!!!