Lyretail X Normal Swordtail

[snazy]

The swordtails will interbreed with your platy too. Your male swordtail makes no difference between a platy and swordtail. Also, swordtail males are really aggressive towards other males and can kill each other so just one is best. And generally, swordtails grow big enough and are not recommended for a 15G tank. They are very active fish and like swimming space. If you are going to breed them and intend to start with 8 adults, you'll be overstocked in a couple of months.

 

[hawil]

The swordtails will interbreed with your platy too. Your male swordtail makes no difference between a platy and swordtail. Also, swordtail males are really aggressive towards other males and can kill each other so just one is best. And generally, swordtails grow big enough and are not recommended for a 15G tank. They are very active fish and like swimming space. If you are going to breed them and intend to start with 8 adults, you'll be overstocked in a couple of months.

So 15gal with 8 adults is not recommended? 2 males and 6 females but right not it is stocked with 1 male and 4 females.

I won't worry with increasing numbers of my swordies regarding to fry, I have one empty 28gal i think it's enough to hold the first few batch of fry then if it still increases most will go to an available LFS.

 

[snazy]

The swordtails will interbreed with your platy too. Your male swordtail makes no difference between a platy and swordtail. Also, swordtail males are really aggressive towards other males and can kill each other so just one is best. And generally, swordtails grow big enough and are not recommended for a 15G tank. They are very active fish and like swimming space. If you are going to breed them and intend to start with 8 adults, you'll be overstocked in a couple of months.

So 15gal with 8 adults is not recommended? 2 males and 6 females but right not it is stocked with 1 male and 4 females.

I won't worry with increasing numbers of my swordies regarding to fry, I have one empty 28gal i think it's enough to hold the first few batch of fry then if it still increases most will go to an available LFS.

It's not impossible to keep 8 swordtails in this tank but it is not recommended. They grow up to 3.5 inches which is 28 inch of fish. If you go by the rule of one inch per gallon, you should have no more than 15 inch of fish which is just nearly your current 5 fish. The only point I'd make is that swordtails are very active fish, so they won't do well overcrowded.And I would have just one male for all the females. I don't think you'll get away with two males in a tank that size, one will eventually "eliminate" the competition.

The females can give birht eight times after the last pairing with a male so 4 females, eight times each, between 20-100 fry each time possibly is a lot of fry even if you get lucky and most get eaten. Then if you keep them long enough for the males to mature so you can at least sex them, they'll start fighting.

 

[hawil]

The swordtails will interbreed with your platy too. Your male swordtail makes no difference between a platy and swordtail. Also, swordtail males are really aggressive towards other males and can kill each other so just one is best. And generally, swordtails grow big enough and are not recommended for a 15G tank. They are very active fish and like swimming space. If you are going to breed them and intend to start with 8 adults, you'll be overstocked in a couple of months.

So 15gal with 8 adults is not recommended? 2 males and 6 females but right not it is stocked with 1 male and 4 females.

I won't worry with increasing numbers of my swordies regarding to fry, I have one empty 28gal i think it's enough to hold the first few batch of fry then if it still increases most will go to an available LFS.

It's not impossible to keep 8 swordtails in this tank but it is not recommended. They grow up to 3.5 inches which is 28 inch of fish. If you go by the rule of one inch per gallon, you should have no more than 15 inch of fish which is just nearly your current 5 fish. The only point I'd make is that swordtails are very active fish, so they won't do well overcrowded.And I would have just one male for all the females. I don't think you'll get away with two males in a tank that size, one will eventually "eliminate" the competition.

The females can give birht eight times after the last pairing with a male so 4 females, eight times each, between 20-100 fry each time possibly is a lot of fry even if you get lucky and most get eaten. Then if you keep them long enough for the males to mature so you can at least sex them, they'll start fighting.

Okay. I got it. Thanks for the help. So these will be enough then. The stock is 2 orange ones (the male and female), 1 kohaku female, 1 peppered female, and 1 peppered yellowish platy though it is still a juvy.

Really weird though, 2 of the females had very clear gravid spots then after the month ended it was gone. Did they drop them? It was their first time having a gravid spot

Really weird though, just a month ago both the

 

[snazy]

Did they develop big "square" type bellies? The front bottom part of the belly drops down along with the gravid area(opens up a bit), giving the fish a "square" look but that also depends on the ammount of fry. The gravid spot gets darker the more the pregnancy develops, depending on the colour of the fish too as it's impossible to see on some. It takes anything between a month to 40 days to drop the fry and since yours are living with a male they'll be constantly pregnant. The fry will appreciate some floating bushy plants to hide and other plants of course and they do hide in the gravel when they are very little, it's hard to see them. Don't expect them to proudly march around the tank

 

[hawil]

Did they develop big "square" type bellies? The front bottom part of the belly drops down along with the gravid area(opens up a bit), giving the fish a "square" look but that also depends on the ammount of fry. The gravid spot gets darker the more the pregnancy develops, depending on the colour of the fish too as it's impossible to see on some. It takes anything between a month to 40 days to drop the fry and since yours are living with a male they'll be constantly pregnant. The fry will appreciate some floating bushy plants to hide and other plants of course and they do hide in the gravel when they are very little, it's hard to see them. Don't expect them to proudly march around the tank

They did not get to the squarish stage though they got fat then the gravid spot went gone. I really think they dropped it. Is this normal with first timers in females?

I can't put plants, they love to uproot plants. I substituted it with rocks and caves. It has been a long time now I don't think a fry was born.

 

[fluttermoth]

If they're young females they might not have had very many fry, and swordies are avid fry eaters, so without much cover they probably all got eaten.

If your fish uproot plants, then try floating ones. Indian fern will grow floated, and is a perfect cover plant for fry as it has fine leaves and loads of roots that hang down. Livebearer fry prefer to hang around at the top of the tank.

 

[snazy]

Did they develop big "square" type bellies? The front bottom part of the belly drops down along with the gravid area(opens up a bit), giving the fish a "square" look but that also depends on the ammount of fry. The gravid spot gets darker the more the pregnancy develops, depending on the colour of the fish too as it's impossible to see on some. It takes anything between a month to 40 days to drop the fry and since yours are living with a male they'll be constantly pregnant. The fry will appreciate some floating bushy plants to hide and other plants of course and they do hide in the gravel when they are very little, it's hard to see them. Don't expect them to proudly march around the tank

They did not get to the squarish stage though they got fat then the gravid spot went gone. I really think they dropped it. Is this normal with first timers in females?

I can't put plants, they love to uproot plants. I substituted it with rocks and caves. It has been a long time now I don't think a fry was born.

It's possible that they gave birth and the adults ate the fry if there isn't enough hiding spots for them in the tank. If the females are young and not too big, the first few times they may have smaller ammount of fry though this is not always the case. The other alternative is that livebearers can abort the fry if they are stressed, either from being moved to another tank or water quality issues, etc...

 

[hawil]

Did they develop big "square" type bellies? The front bottom part of the belly drops down along with the gravid area(opens up a bit), giving the fish a "square" look but that also depends on the ammount of fry. The gravid spot gets darker the more the pregnancy develops, depending on the colour of the fish too as it's impossible to see on some. It takes anything between a month to 40 days to drop the fry and since yours are living with a male they'll be constantly pregnant. The fry will appreciate some floating bushy plants to hide and other plants of course and they do hide in the gravel when they are very little, it's hard to see them. Don't expect them to proudly march around the tank

They did not get to the squarish stage though they got fat then the gravid spot went gone. I really think they dropped it. Is this normal with first timers in females?

I can't put plants, they love to uproot plants. I substituted it with rocks and caves. It has been a long time now I don't think a fry was born.

It's possible that they gave birth and the adults ate the fry if there isn't enough hiding spots for them in the tank. If the females are young and not too big, the first few times they may have smaller ammount of fry though this is not always the case. The other alternative is that livebearers can abort the fry if they are stressed, either from being moved to another tank or water quality issues, etc...

All I know is before giving birth is they become squarish but they did not. I think they dropped it. Anyways, there will be a next time. As they say "Rabbits wished they breed like livebearers"