Swordtail Gravid Spot

theeyrietrainer

theeyrietrainer

Large Fish
#21
May 19, 2003
880
1
0
Canada
www.electricplug.blogspot.com
#21
yes, basically, livebearers are for the average beginner aquarist. many people get them with the ease of takking care of them and their ability to have population explosions. many people like watching and taking care of their fry and then they move on to other fish...forgetting about the 'deliciously' beautiful livebearer...:( sob sob
 

bunker_1

bunker_1

Large Fish
#25
Mar 24, 2008
584
0
0
Cincinnati
#25
None of my mollies ever got the gravid coloration like my swords. I have silvers and they would get as big as the floats on the Thanksgiving parade and they never showed any extra color.
 

Z

zoewright10

New Fish
#26
Dec 1, 2008
6
0
0
#26
thanks. i was a bit unsure as i could not see this gravid spot. i suppose time will tell as to whether or not she is pregnant, but she certainly looks like it. i will just have to keep an eye on her. ive only had the tank for about 6 months so its all pretty new to me. i have 3 mollies i think only one is female thou ( plus other fish). All are doing really well, the only problems i had were with the guppies, i had 10 to start with and now have none, but they are the only ones ive ever lost, all the others have been fine!!!
 

bunker_1

bunker_1

Large Fish
#27
Mar 24, 2008
584
0
0
Cincinnati
#27
If you have a male and a female there is a 99% chance she is prego. I would find out if you have 2 males and one female. You really want at least 2 females for every male. My molly has fry every 6-8 weeks and drops 100-200 fry. So I would start planning where they will go.
 

Z

zoewright10

New Fish
#28
Dec 1, 2008
6
0
0
#28
Will have to get some more female mollies then!! do they have to be dalmation mollies like the other 3, there are defo 2 males and 1 female. I have seen the male chase the female around the tank loads in the past. I have one orange platy, 2 clown loaches, 1 elephant nose, 10 neons, 5 rainbow tetras, 2 other type of tetras. 2 plekos,1 african dwarf frog, and 2 dwarf gouramis. they all live peaceful!!. like i said all my guppies died< dont know why???. so i am staying clear of those as i cant seem to keep them. I will keep an eye on the mollie as i dont want the other fish to eat the fry, but dont want to seperate her from the others too soon. And i obviously dont know when she was pregnant so got no idea when she will give birth!!.
 

bunker_1

bunker_1

Large Fish
#29
Mar 24, 2008
584
0
0
Cincinnati
#29
I would assume that you could find more dalmations.
You will have to watch her. You will notice her in a corner going up and down over and over. Then she will do a lap or two and then back to going up and down. If you could get some floating plants and/or java moss, some will survive with out your help. A breeder box worked for me at the begining. Still had to find a place for those fry, so I now have 18 tanks set up. Be careful, you do not want to turn out like me!!! lol
 

I

iapetus

Large Fish
#31
Jan 15, 2008
572
0
0
34:09:39N, 118:08:19W
#31
zoewright10 said:
Will have to get some more female mollies then!! do they have to be dalmation mollies like the other 3, there are defo 2 males and 1 female.
Click to expand...
You don't need to get dalmatians, zoe. Mollies will mate with any other type of molly. Heck, they'll even breed with swordtails and platys! Getting a few more females would be wise. When the male-to-female ratio is too high, the males will constantly pester the females, sometimes stressing them to the point where they die. OTOH, more females means more babies! :eek: If you're low on room (how big is your tank anyways?), you might want to consider trading in one of your males for a female.

bunker_1 said:
You will have to watch her. You will notice her in a corner going up and down over and over. Then she will do a lap or two and then back to going up and down.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I caught one of my swordtails doing this dance before she gave birth.

Then again, one of my swordtails (I know she's not pregnant) does this, too (I recently moved her into a new tank).
 

Z

zoewright10

New Fish
#32
Dec 1, 2008
6
0
0
#32
Hi, just thought id let u know i right about my mollie. she was pregnant and was acting very strange last night and when i got up this morning her belly had gone down and she had given birth to the fry!!. dont know how many as i never took her out of the tank and only managed to save one!!!. Never mind, i have got a net to hang in the tank for the fry, and i know for next time to take her out when i see her behaving like that!!. Ive had a really good look for any others, undert rocks and in the live plants, but nothing. I pressume the others had a real feast last night!!!. Someone asked about the size of my tank, it is a 380 jewel aquariam, so quite big. and i got 4 more female mollies a few days ago to out number the males as i noticed that one male in particular was constantly pestering the female!!
anything i need to do in order to keep my 1 fry alive??
thanks guys for all the advice!!*twirlysmi
 

fishkid64

fishkid64

Large Fish
#33
Jul 8, 2004
269
0
0
33
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
#33
back when i had swordtail's, i had a fish that i wasn't quite sure if she was pregnant and she ended up being, so it is possible. The funny thing is i only saw one of the babies, it was so cute, i watched it grow up:( boy do i miss her.
 

Z

zoewright10

New Fish
#34
Dec 1, 2008
6
0
0
#34
well its my first really big tank, so am a bit of a novice!!. i thought she was, but she had no gravid spot which made me unsure. But my gut instinct was right, just a bit sad that i could only save one, with it being my first experience!!
 

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iapetus

Large Fish
#35
Jan 15, 2008
572
0
0
34:09:39N, 118:08:19W
#35
zoewright10 said:
Never mind, i have got a net to hang in the tank for the fry, and ... anything i need to do in order to keep my 1 fry alive??
Click to expand...
Sorry to sound ignorant here, but by net you mean a breeding net, right?

IME, the fry do better when they're free swimming in the tank (provided, of course, they escape the adults -- but that's surprisingly easy in a tank with plant cover). But, enough fry have been born in my tanks that I am OK with just letting the fittest survive; I no longer go through any extraordinary measures to keep fry alive. When my first batch of fry were born there was one that I simply could not catch. He turned out to mature the quickest of all his siblings.

Given that you've only got one survivor, I understand if you want to be more conservative. I'd keep your lone fry in the breeding net only as long as he's small. Once that fry is bigger than the largest mout of the largest adult, let him out.

Oh, and are you feeding fry food? You can buy foods like Hikari First Bites. Or, you can hatch your own brine shrimp. Fry will go for baby brine shrimp.

Congrats! And, good luck! :)
 

M

maggie

New Fish
#36
Sep 9, 2008
8
0
0
isle of man
#36
believe me i started out with 1 pair of swordtails , with -in 6 months they were coming out of the wallpaper!! mind u i can say that about my platies . guppys , mollys, etc , if i had relies how[ easy @ many] fry i would end up with, i would have my male@ females in diffrent tanks.
 

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