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Hello!
I was just siphoning out some water, and I noticed a tiny baby!! Then while looking, we saw another one that was a tad bigger (it had an orange tint to it). But I wasn't able to catch any of them.
I only have 3 adult swordtails in the tank at the moment.

Is there anything I can do to help them survive? How long does it take before they aren't "food" to the adults?

I'm spazzing out, I'm so excited!

Also, I thought I was seeing translucent waste coming from them, but is that from them giving birth?

Christina

[span class="edited"][Edited by crickit99 2004-08-07 16:19][/span]

get a fry net and a 10 gallon tank or so, raise them in that. Most fry eat newly hatched brine shrimp and there's also some fry fish food as well you can get. I'de say keep them away from the adults until they look too big to fit into their mouth; maybe at least 1 inch? I'm not 100% sure on most of this, but I'de say at least get the fry out of there fast!

I'm going to get a turkey baster, hopefully I can catch them...I can't even find them!. I'm excited!

If you want to leave them in your tank or don't have another tank setup you can also put in some floating plants. I dumped in a bunch of hornwort and then the fastest/smartest survived. Otherwise you might end up overrun! Also, turn up the temp-I recommend turning it up one degree 3x per day. I have mine set at about 80 deg and my fry grow quicker. You will want to feed them also 2 or 3 times daily... I suggest using the liquid fry food b/c it's easiest, although mine also learned to hang out under the filter and eat the smaller bits of flake. Speaking of filters, you might want to look in your filter and make sure none of them got sucked in, ppl on here also suggest that you take panty hose or netting and rubber band it around your filter intake to prevent that from happening. Good luck with your fry-keep us posted on them!

-Beth

Well, I don't have much to update, I have seen 2 but I cannot find them. But I am still watching!

I'm going to try to read up, but if anyone can suggest good places to read about Swordtails and the birthing process, that would be great!

One of the females has been more aggressive, especially around the side where I saw the babies. Is that probably the mother?

When I'm trying to save fry I get out my buckets. First thing I do is siphon water from the tank into the buckets so I can put all the big fish one. Then I take out all the plants. Swish them around to dislodge any fry hiding in them. Then with a brine srimp net, because it's very fine, soft mesh, I catch the babies and put them in the other bucket.

Make sure you have plastic buckets, metal isn't good for fish. Also they have to be clean, especially if they had soap or some other chemical in them originally.

I just feed mine crushed flake or firstbites. Liquid fry food makes a mess of the water.

Good luck, Mike



[span class="edited"][Edited by Mike R 2004-08-08 01:28][/span]

I think crushed up flakes can make more mess if you overfeed. If the liquid is making a mess it means your using too much. I've been using it all year with my paradise fish fry. I just add a drop for every few fry i see and scatter a few drops around the 20g. I know I'm adding far less than the instructions but I don't have enough fry to eat all that so why add it. I see no point in adding it by the gallons in your tank. They get crushed flakes when they start coming to the surface for the food and don't just look like 2 eyes swimming around. I also crush up shrimp pellets which makes a powder even smaller than flakes.

How To Keep Baby Fish from Being Sucked Up the Power Filter 101:

Take a filter sponge (ie an Aquaclear sponge or similar)

Cut an X into it

Push it over the end of your power filter uptake tube.

No more fishies in filter!

Anyways that was just a side note. If you've seen one baby, then in a month or so you'll probably see more. Unless there are other fish besides swordtails in the tank, I wouldn't bother taking them out; livebearers rarely eat their babies. A friend of mine did a college project on this; they will chase the babies and grab them in their mouths, but usually spit them out; they are teaching them to swim away from danger. They generally only eat them if they are inexperienced, really hungry, or the babies are deformed.

Any livebearer fry food will work, liquid or powder. Live foods (or frozen) work well too. Plants are a must!

Congrats on being a fishy grandparent! lol

And I second the oppinion on temperature; they grow better with a higher temp. Good luck!

I'm so adjective, I verb nouns!

Well, as I have only seen 1 baby at a time, they have either been eating them, they hide well, or there's just the one.
Good news, I caught one! I must give credit, because that was a lot of work!! Haha, those suckers can move!

Here are pics, fuzzy since it's a camera phone!
http://www.geocities.com/crickit99

He/she is currently in one of those net things in my tank. I am going today to get a small tank to set up, although I may go for a smaller tank since it's just the one right now.

Any advice on what to put in the fry tank? I know just a simple filter & heater, but gravel/plants/lighting? Any other fish I could put in the fry tank (cleaner type fish)?

Christina