Two Swordtail Pregnancies

[RRaquariums]

Yup. Idk how you intend to do it but a suggestion that you might find useful is something I learned the hard way.
If you use breeder boxes it's ok but don't stick the mother in there it will stress her out and I made this mistake and it killed her because she didn't have the baby's right because of the stress.
So here's what you do when she looks very very close like you think it will be in the next few hours turn off the lights and let her have the babies this will give them the best chance of not getting eaten. Then once your pretty sure she is done turn back on the lights and catch the fry in a small net and place them in the breeder boxes.
Another tip get a clamp or a file folder clamp and make sure the breeder box is secured to the side if it's free floating it has a nasty tendency to get tipped over or float under the filter outflow and get dumped into the tank then all the fry become snacks.
Also keep some type of top on the breeder boxes I've had fish jump in there to eat the fry.
Sorry for all the talk but yeah there's a few things that are just better to be learned ahead of time

 

[arielsworld17974]

I really wanted her to have them in the tank I was just so worried she would eat them. The light trick is a good idea. I woukd Rather let her finish having them then just remove her. Are they ok in a 20 gallon or do they need to be in the breeder box??
Oh and the breeder box will be in a an empty tank or with newly born fry. Depending on which female wants to go first. So no risk of other fish Jumping in and eating them.

 

[RRaquariums]

Ok if they are going to be in there own tank then its best just to put them in the breeder box for a few days reason for this is I've found its super hard to feed them in anything bigger then that until they are a little older and can come to the food.
It will also give them a chance to rest after birth and get strong enough to swim around.
Other then that they will do great on there own and should grow faster since they will be in there own tank :$

 

[Akasha72]

I just wanted to say that these two females could drop somewhere in the region of 200 fry. It's not nice to see them get eaten but think about it ... what are you going to do with 200 fry? If a few get eaten then it keeps the numbers down. 
 
 
As a example - I once had a guppy female who was so fat that she was pineconing. I was convinced she had dropsy and after two days of watching the pine coning get worse I decided the kindest thing was to euthanise. I got my clove oil ready and the jug that I keep for this job, got another jug with a bit of tank water to net her into, got my net and I was just netting her when she dropped a fry .... and another ... and another. She went on to drop so many fry that I was forced to go and buy a 2ft by 1ft plastic storage box to put them in! There were hundreds of them. I can still remember the raw panic I felt at that moment. And then there was the problem of what I was going to do with them! I didn't want to keep hundreds of guppy fry ... I had enough with the adults I had! In the end I had to go and see my lfs and ask for their help. They took them all in in the end as I just couldn't cope.
 
This is just a classic example of livebearer's. A few getting eaten (as awful as it seems) is actually helping you in the long run. From my first batch of platy fry I kept 3 nice ones. The rest went to the lfs and were given away for free. 

 

[arielsworld17974]

Yeah I'm totally fine if a few get eaten. Just wanted to try and save the majority. I can sell them at my lfs. They will give me 1/3 the sale price. Not that money is that inportant! I just want a successfull batch! I really want the experience of being able to successfully have Babies. But the boxes I bought not all of them are going to survive they can still get up where the mama is.

And I will definitely keep them in the box for a week or so first. Just until I think they're big enough to be in the tank. Good advice everyone. I'm very excited about these pregnancies!

 

[Akasha72]

you have a good lfs. None of the lfs' in the U.K will pay for livebearer fry 

 

[arielsworld17974]

They won't even give you store credit?? I'd take that as well. Because fish are actually kind of expensive lol

 

[Akasha72]

no, not for livebearers. They're too common, they'd go out of business in no time. They given credit for all other types of baby fish though

 

[arielsworld17974]

That is horrible!

 

[arielsworld17974]

Have my tank all ready to go now. Should.I just put the two pregnant females in right now or should I wait till they are closer to giving birth???

 

[RRaquariums]

Probably best just to put them in there now so they have a chance to get used to it and don't get super stressed out later.
And not to disagree with Akasha72 but if this is the fishes first time at having a batch of fry you are probably only looking at 20-30 fry of corse that's just a guess but the first time they have babies they tend to not have very many and usually they don't have huge batches anyways.
Some fish break that rule and have insane amounts of babies but it's pretty uncommon at least for me.

 

[Akasha72]

Hi Matt ... that was why I said 'somewhere in the region of 200'. It's a pure guesstimate with livebearers and I was taking into account that there are two females due to drop fry aswell. 
As you've said the first - and sometimes 2nd and 3rd drop tend to be smaller but once they get going they could be dropping 100 fry each every few weeks Ariel is going to have fry on a week by week basis. I was just trying to prepare her for that

 

[dave840f1]

Not to worry you but Swordtails are one of the worst livebearers to eat there own young. (In my opinion). Having said that best of look with your forthcoming fry. Is your tank heavily planted that will help save a lot of the fry.

 

[RRaquariums]

Hi Matt ... that was why I said 'somewhere in the region of 200'. It's a pure guesstimate with livebearers and I was taking into account that there are two females due to drop fry aswell. 
As you've said the first - and sometimes 2nd and 3rd drop tend to be smaller but once they get going they could be dropping 100 fry each every few weeks Ariel is going to have fry on a week by week basis. I was just trying to prepare her for that

No worries yes they will have a good amount of fry but thankfully here in the US at least I've found its pretty easy to sell them them to either an LFS or other peopel. Plus the swardtails are one of the less common species here and they can be sold rather easy.

 

[Akasha72]

I wish I lived in the states! I lost count of the livebearer fry I gave away to the lfs for nothing