Swordtails Gave Birth!

[theking]

my swordtails gave birth I managed to separate 2 fry the rest were probably eaten.. question is - where should I keep them? I have that fish net you use to catch fish or should I keep them in a betta tank that doesnt have any filtration?

 

[theking]

I apologize for the double post but I do not see the edit option.. I ordered a breeding box along with an air pump and it will be here friday.. meanwhile where should I keep these fish? I only have one fish net and I fear putting them in it because the female swordtails dont seem like they are finished.. they are still on the gravel barely moving.. the betta tank has no betta gravel plants or anything like that in it.. i believe its a one gallon... if i leave the fish there will they live for these 2 days? until i get the breeding box

 

[WILDER]

Floats some plants at the top of the tank. They will hide in the plants.
I will move your thread over to the livebearers section of the forum.

 

[theking]

both my gouramis already ate some of the fry and they are actively standing behind the female waiting for the fry to come out so that they can eat them..

 

[snazy]

A non-cycled tank is the fastest fry killer. Many people do it but not all the fry survive. If you only have two and your fish net is big enough, you can keep them there for a couple of days until your breeder box arrives. Newborn fry normally fall to the gravel and don't move for a few hours. That's when they are most vulnerable, but then the gravel is also their hiding place.

 

[theking]

thank you, I now have 4 fry with the 5th one hiding in the gravel.. the fish net isn't all that big but it seems enough until friday when I get the breeding box.

 

[WILDER]

I forgot about fry hiding in the gravel.

The only thing with the net is that sometimes mature fish will jump in and eat the fry.
I would still advise floating some plants at the top of the tank. I did this and nearly all my fry survived till I set a fry tank up.

 

[theking]

my gouramis are constantly trying to eat them but the space on top of the fish net is way too slim for even a swordtail to jump through.. problem with floating plants is that they may float away and i already had one of the swordtails give birth a few weeks ago with all fry getting eaten.. and also the cover that allows me access to the aquarium is holding the net in place..

i tried crushing flake food but they dont seem to eat it.. when do they start eating? how long would it take them to reach 1 inch?

 

[saffholly]

If you have a old ice cream or margarine tub you could float it in the tank with a small amount of water in, just keep changing the water. Either that of leave them in the tank and let them take their chances. If your lucky your swordtail will give birth again in a month or so and you will be prepared for it.

 

[snazy]

i tried crushing flake food but they dont seem to eat it.. when do they start eating? how long would it take them to reach 1 inch?

The flake really needs to be crushed like fine powder in the beginning for them to be able to eat properly. And don't worry if they don't gang up on the food like the adults do, it takes time for this. Just leave the food for a while and make sure the net stays clean enough as the sides and bottom can get all covered in floating stuff from the tank and the food you put in.

 

[theking]

well i had 5 fry, 4 escaped from the net i do not know how i checked the net and it had no holes so its safe to assume they jumped out even though the water level was 2 inches below the net.. hopefully they will survive, when the swordfish gave birth last month i saw 3 fry and then none up until the 2nd one gave birth now, i put the fry that was left inside the fish bowl i will change the water daily and hope it survives.. once i get my breeder i will get a swordtail male so that the females will keep getting pregnant, was a huge mistake putting them in the net

 

[snazy]

They can't jump out of the net really, unless the net is not fine enough and they went through the holes?