Swordtail Breeding

[Clarence]

I wanted to get further into marigold swordtail breeding and was looking for some info. I have been able to sucessfully breed these in the past but never in quantity. What can be changed to increas the number of fry my swordtail? What is the best male to female ratio? Will an aeration system aid in the keeping the tank and fish in good condition? If i get a low watt bulb for my tank light can i use a breeding trap? I have a 55 gallon tank how many swordtail can i keep in it? Will maybe one good sized pleco also be good to get rid of some dirt in the tank? What is the average amount of fry my marigolg swordtails will have under good conditions? What is the survival rate on the fry in good conditions? Can i easily sell the fry to fish stores and other people? Can all this be profitable if i try?

Wow i ask a lot of questions but i am really looking into going pro with breeding marigold swordtails!!!!!!

 

[theotheragentm]

Swordtails will breed on their own. Keep a minimum of 3:1 ratio between females and males. If you have more females they should get pregnant too. Just keep good, stable water for them and nature will take its course. Shoot for full grown sizes of your fish and go for one inch per gallon. Plecos grow huge. Read up on that if you're not sure. Only private local fish stores will buy fry, not chain stores like Petco or PetSmart. Assuming they don't get eaten, your fry should have no problems surviving. I wouldn't us an incubator for birthing as it causes stress and your fish will abort the fry. Just net up the fry when they're born and separate them if you want them to grow up. They're pretty hardy.

 

[PoPoV]

I dont know about most people but i dont breed fish for money. I do it becouse it beutiful to see nature take its course. And i cant stop my livebearers from making fry Though I dont know about sword tails but fry ussually arnt to profitable. My LFS will only give store credit for livebearer fry.

 

[Clarence]

So for my 55 gallon tank i should have about 25 females and
7 males? But when the female bcomes pregnant what am i supposed to do with her? I would never have the money to buy a separate tank for each female.

 

[theotheragentm]

I'm not familiar with swoardtails. You should be planning for full grown sizes, not just what you would pick up from the store. Also, you will have a high bioload if you stock that many, requiring more water changes and cleanings.

I would recommend against incubators as I have been reading other people's experiences indicating that this stresses the fish, causing them to abort at least a portion of the fry. If you are trying to breed these for money, you should invest properly. If you're just breeding just to let nature take its course, you will soon be overrun with fry. Give plenty of hiding places in the main tank and some of the fry will survive. You can always keep a fry tank, netting the fry out after they are born, but in the same tank, some are bound to get eaten.

 

[Clarence]

I will have 2 tanks and possibly 3. I will have a 55 gallon tank for the main tank. Then i will have a 20 gallon tank for fry. As for a tank to put the pregnant females so they can have there fry; could you put 2 or more pregnant females in like a 20 gallon or would they figh? I dont see why not though.

 

[dwarfgourami]

I would start with a smallish number of females, say 3-4, and 1 male- not the whole tankful. Remember that you are going to need growing-out room for 4x20 fry a month or so (could be more) and that the shop probably won't want to take them until they are approaching adult size, certainly not until they are sexable. You could keep two pregnant females in the same breeding tank no doubt, just remember that they may eat each other's fry (or their own).

 

[theotheragentm]

Adding fish slowly is the way to go too so that the bacteria have a chance to colonize. If you add all those fish all at once, you'll get an ammonia spike as the bacteria won't be able to keep up with the bioload.