8 wk old lyretail swords tail development
- Thread starter beckyd
- Start date
Newman, I swear you must have steroids in your water! These fish are TINY. Getting this photo took about 30 shots, I swear. My 3 mo old swords are only about 3/4" long. They are all in the 75g community tank and I feed them constantly. They get frozen brine shrimp and bloodworms every day. Plus first bites and the variety I feed the whole tank. I shamelessly overfeed that tank because of all the fry in there. (yeah, I have to just as shamelessly clean the darn thing) How on earth are yours always so big? Do you think the live baby brine shrimp you feed are making that big of a difference?
LOL! Steroids, nah 
I do what you do. I feed them the same food, and basically anything my adult fish in that tank eat. Spirulina 20 is their every-morning food now.
I doubt the BBS make that much of a difference...maybe the parent female has genes for making bigger swordtails? The parent is 3.5" long.
Also the water parameters in that tank (and of my tap water) are ideal to livebearers, or so ive read:
pH 7.4-7.6
GH: 26 dGH
KH: 8 dKH
I also put a little salt in thar...
So yea, ive noticed that everywhere i searched online, their (other people's) 1 month old fry are about 1/2" and mine seem way larger...dont know why that is. Gotta be genes.
I have no reason to brag, most of my fry actually jumped out of my tank, and two only remain from the last brood. i have around 20, week-old ones in there though and theyre at about 1/4"
Heres a comparison pic at 1 month...
I do what you do. I feed them the same food, and basically anything my adult fish in that tank eat. Spirulina 20 is their every-morning food now.
I doubt the BBS make that much of a difference...maybe the parent female has genes for making bigger swordtails? The parent is 3.5" long.
Also the water parameters in that tank (and of my tap water) are ideal to livebearers, or so ive read:
pH 7.4-7.6
GH: 26 dGH
KH: 8 dKH
I also put a little salt in thar...
So yea, ive noticed that everywhere i searched online, their (other people's) 1 month old fry are about 1/2" and mine seem way larger...dont know why that is. Gotta be genes.
I have no reason to brag, most of my fry actually jumped out of my tank, and two only remain from the last brood. i have around 20, week-old ones in there though and theyre at about 1/4"
Heres a comparison pic at 1 month...
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my non-steroid swords...
Here are some comparisons of mine. The adults are about 2" (bodies). There are 2 ages, so the fry are many different sizes.(more on the way any day now) And I got a good pic of one of the unique fry, so I tossed it in. Look how the adults compare in size to the other fish. Maybe my swords are just a smaller line than yours.
Yeah Chuy, fish ARE hard to photograph. Good thing mine are such pigs. They all swarm when they see me cuz they think I'm going to feed them
Here are some comparisons of mine. The adults are about 2" (bodies). There are 2 ages, so the fry are many different sizes.(more on the way any day now) And I got a good pic of one of the unique fry, so I tossed it in. Look how the adults compare in size to the other fish. Maybe my swords are just a smaller line than yours.
Yeah Chuy, fish ARE hard to photograph. Good thing mine are such pigs. They all swarm when they see me cuz they think I'm going to feed them
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Sword fin development update 13 wks old
Lots of lyretail development is evident now. I think I can sex a few of the non-lyres, but the lyretails all look the same. Some of them are acting like males though, flaring and chasing each other. The last one of this group has a white spot on his belly and white fins. Very pretty little fish. He's younger, around 9 wks old.
Lots of lyretail development is evident now. I think I can sex a few of the non-lyres, but the lyretails all look the same. Some of them are acting like males though, flaring and chasing each other. The last one of this group has a white spot on his belly and white fins. Very pretty little fish. He's younger, around 9 wks old.
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ye, wow those are pretty awsome. most look like theyre female to me...except for the third pic.
looks like that 9 week old one is gonna ba a girl lol.
How big are these now? especially that 9 week old one?
The two sword fry i had survive from my first brood are gonna be 10 weeks old tomorrow. theyre both over 2".
I know theyre not 3 months old yet, but i separated them already on suspect of one being a male....Becky, can you help decide which is male?
First one i think is my female and the second pic(s) are the male right?
looks like that 9 week old one is gonna ba a girl lol.
How big are these now? especially that 9 week old one?
The two sword fry i had survive from my first brood are gonna be 10 weeks old tomorrow. theyre both over 2".
I know theyre not 3 months old yet, but i separated them already on suspect of one being a male....Becky, can you help decide which is male?
First one i think is my female and the second pic(s) are the male right?
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I agree with you on the sex of yours. Gosh, too bad you lost so many. Jumpy little things! Glad my tank is covered. {Although that still didn't stop that lunatic betta}
I simply must have that beautiful carpet of whatever you have in the third pic. That makes the red fish look SO good! I see the CO2. What kind of cash do I need to spend on appropriate lighting? Gosh, I just really don't want to drop 200$ on lights. UGH! I'm going to have to start up FKA (fishkeepers anonymous) pretty soon. Hi, my name is Becky and I am an addict... We all have our struggles.
And why is your tank not covered? That sounds accusatory, but I don't mean that. I mean, is that for the lighting? The true LFS I go to, not a chain, has lots of planted tanks. Their tanks have these lights that are set up from the water. None of them are covered either. I don't handle jumper-deaths well enough for that. Is there another way?
See what I mean about how the lyres all look the same, sex wise? I am agreeing with you though. The last one's definitely female. Yeah, I called her a he. She doesn't care. The third's fins look exactly like mama's but as they are longer than the others, I'm guessing they'll keep going and its a boy. I am suspecting that the first one may also be male because of its behavior. He/she flares at the third one and at daddy(which promptly gets his/her little butt chased rapidly into a corner) Daddy doesn't like being sassed. Which also reminds me that although I am really wanting some stunning males for the finnage, I can only have a few more and still keep the peace. Daddy likes to be king.
I also have piles of normal finned youngsters. Roughly 50% I guess. They all look female right now. We'll just wait on them. I think the regular males' swords take some time to develop. Which also fits with your guy still having a regular tail. Can you see a sword yet? And he's huge!
I tried to get them all to line up along the side, so I could mark their growth on the tank, but they just wanted to be fed. Pigs. Anyway, the biggest ones are not lyres and measure 1.5". The oldest lyres are interestingly smaller at 1.25". The 9 weekers are all 3/4 to 1". And the 4 weekers are, well... teeny. I certainly feed them enough because they are pooping everytime I try to take a picture Your 10 wk olds are easily as big as my adults. They are around 2". The male's sword is 1" longer than his tail and the females tail is nearly 2.25". Wow, I never realized her tail is as long as her body!
I cannot believe I just documented the size of my fish as if I were sending measurements for them to be fitted for a wedding. I need counseling...
I simply must have that beautiful carpet of whatever you have in the third pic. That makes the red fish look SO good! I see the CO2. What kind of cash do I need to spend on appropriate lighting? Gosh, I just really don't want to drop 200$ on lights. UGH! I'm going to have to start up FKA (fishkeepers anonymous) pretty soon. Hi, my name is Becky and I am an addict... We all have our struggles.
And why is your tank not covered? That sounds accusatory, but I don't mean that. I mean, is that for the lighting? The true LFS I go to, not a chain, has lots of planted tanks. Their tanks have these lights that are set up from the water. None of them are covered either. I don't handle jumper-deaths well enough for that. Is there another way?
See what I mean about how the lyres all look the same, sex wise? I am agreeing with you though. The last one's definitely female. Yeah, I called her a he. She doesn't care. The third's fins look exactly like mama's but as they are longer than the others, I'm guessing they'll keep going and its a boy. I am suspecting that the first one may also be male because of its behavior. He/she flares at the third one and at daddy(which promptly gets his/her little butt chased rapidly into a corner) Daddy doesn't like being sassed. Which also reminds me that although I am really wanting some stunning males for the finnage, I can only have a few more and still keep the peace. Daddy likes to be king.
I also have piles of normal finned youngsters. Roughly 50% I guess. They all look female right now. We'll just wait on them. I think the regular males' swords take some time to develop. Which also fits with your guy still having a regular tail. Can you see a sword yet? And he's huge!
I tried to get them all to line up along the side, so I could mark their growth on the tank, but they just wanted to be fed. Pigs. Anyway, the biggest ones are not lyres and measure 1.5". The oldest lyres are interestingly smaller at 1.25". The 9 weekers are all 3/4 to 1". And the 4 weekers are, well... teeny. I certainly feed them enough because they are pooping everytime I try to take a picture
Your 10 wk olds are easily as big as my adults. They are around 2". The male's sword is 1" longer than his tail and the females tail is nearly 2.25". Wow, I never realized her tail is as long as her body! I cannot believe I just documented the size of my fish as if I were sending measurements for them to be fitted for a wedding. I need counseling...
Haha!
That last line was great.
Yea i do keep my tanks open because of the lighting, just like you saw at your petstores. i dont like tank covers obscuring any amount of light reaching my plants (all my main tanks are planted)
The type of light i run on that tank in the pic with the green carpet is T-5 and that, like you said, can get expensive.
The carpet plant is called HC (hemianthus callitrichoides) It's a fairly popular, high-light carpet plant...i've had my problems with it, but it has begun to grow back lol.
As far as the behaviour of your swords go, that flaring of the younger fry to the father does sound like male behaviour. But then again i've had my female sword fry constantly chace my male fry since they both were around 3 weeks of age. eventually, like i said i moved the male fry into his own tank (well not really, it is my female betta's tank lol)
Good luck with your swordtails! Hope some turn out like you wanted them to. And its great you keep your tank covered lol, that way you get to keep 100% of your fry
That last line was great.
Yea i do keep my tanks open because of the lighting, just like you saw at your petstores. i dont like tank covers obscuring any amount of light reaching my plants (all my main tanks are planted)
The type of light i run on that tank in the pic with the green carpet is T-5 and that, like you said, can get expensive.
The carpet plant is called HC (hemianthus callitrichoides) It's a fairly popular, high-light carpet plant...i've had my problems with it, but it has begun to grow back lol.
As far as the behaviour of your swords go, that flaring of the younger fry to the father does sound like male behaviour. But then again i've had my female sword fry constantly chace my male fry since they both were around 3 weeks of age. eventually, like i said i moved the male fry into his own tank (well not really, it is my female betta's tank lol)
Good luck with your swordtails! Hope some turn out like you wanted them to. And its great you keep your tank covered lol, that way you get to keep 100% of your fry
Well, a carpeted tank of green like that with red swords is hopefully in my future cuz its puurty!!
Check these out. I swear some of my lyres are getting little swords. Soon, I'm going to pull some lyre females to keep virgin and go on the hunt for a male blue hifin platy to mate with them. See what I get.
The first pic was an accident. I was trying for the middle one. See how the bottom tip is elongating? I ended up with a goldilocks version of swordfish sizes. This is one from every brood. Even though she isn't a lyre, that top girl is a nice shape and color isn't she?
These are three different lyretails that I think have potential to be males. We shall see
Check these out. I swear some of my lyres are getting little swords. Soon, I'm going to pull some lyre females to keep virgin and go on the hunt for a male blue hifin platy to mate with them. See what I get.
The first pic was an accident. I was trying for the middle one. See how the bottom tip is elongating? I ended up with a goldilocks version of swordfish sizes. This is one from every brood. Even though she isn't a lyre, that top girl is a nice shape and color isn't she?
These are three different lyretails that I think have potential to be males. We shall see
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Yeah, why do you guys do this to me??? So, should I put the hifin blue female platy in a tank alone with the male sword? Or, now that I have female lyretails that I can scoop out and keep virgin, do that and get a blue hifin male? Then I might get a blue lyretail hybrid. OK, I got it. I have an empty 10. I will scoop out some lyretail youngsters and the female platy. Put them all in the 10- well say 3 of them, with the male sword for a few weeks. Then we'll see if Romeo will cheat on Juliet while on vacation. Once she's gravid, they can both go back home and I'll try to find a hifin blue male platy. One of the Petcos here has them occasionally. I'll put him in the 10 with his own little sword harem. Since it sounds like I need a blue platy and an albino sword, I think you guys will defeat me in this quest as I have never seen an albino sword here. But, with luck, I'll get some cool blue/red mixes like those coral platies bass got.
don't worry about me beating you. all i have to work with is red swordtail females. chuy is the one that's gonna win cuz he has albino swords... I'm guessing that my red color genes might repress the blue genes from the platy.
Also since i want a blue hybrid that looks more like a swordtail, im using a female sword and a male platy. i believe the offspring get the body shape of the mother in this case.
Also since i want a blue hybrid that looks more like a swordtail, im using a female sword and a male platy. i believe the offspring get the body shape of the mother in this case.