Tropical Fish Forums

[invertmaniac]

I've got 1 pair of orange swordtails in my 55 gal. heavily planted community tank. I was wondering if they are going to breed under these situations. I think the only threat to the fry would be ghost shrimp and the filter. there's plenty of java moss to hide in but should I be expecting babies?
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Trying to spawn Barbs and Clowns
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[invertmaniac]

sorry mattyp, I didn't even notice I used your title. my bad.
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Trying to spawn Barbs and Clowns
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[MattyP]

lol, thats alright

[spacecadet]

In my experience swords breed no matter what. You should get fry at least once a month, and I never lost a fry to ghost shrimp. If every fry survived your tanks would be overloaded in time at all. My male would always trail the female during birthing and grab the fry as they appeared. To prevent that I would use a tank divider just before delivery time. Once she started giving birth I would turn off tank lights and cover the tank to block the light from the room. This way the mother couldn't see the fry, giving them a chance to make their way down into the gravel where they hide for at least several days, to a week. Then they begin to hang out in the water more. Of course by then the mother and all other fish are on the other side of divider and fry are safe.

With no divider, I have found turning the lights off and covering the tank helps fry survival also. They grow up very fast.

[invertmaniac]

thanks! my female molly used to give birth to a fry, turn around, then eat it. funny to watch but I didn't get any fry . do you have any experience with swordtails and platies interbreeding. it seems to happen a lot and I'm gonna try it out. thanks again for the help
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Trying to spawn Barbs and Clowns
>.<

[spacecadet]

your welcome!
No I never had them interbreed but owned a couple hybrid. From what I understand about swords and platy, the females we buy are already preggers and can carry the sperm to a prior breeding for several months. So unless you raise them from fry and know who the only male in the tank is, it would be hard to tell who's the daddy. These fish do not usually pair up like some do. If you had just one very young female sword and one young male platy, it might work, but would it worth the trouble as you can buy them already mixed these days. I did have a hybrid platy chase after some female swords but don't know if they ever really mated or not...it's hard to tell. They were mickey mouse swordtails.

[Bob]

A good way to raise lots of Livebearers is to make piles of large pebbles (Golf and Tennis ball size) so there are plenty of gaps in between, the mums will instinctivly give birth above these piles of stones and the fry will instinctivly stay in these gaps until they feel safe enough to venture out (A little more each week).

Can't say I am a fan of breeder nets.

One last tip, it a good idea to keep a ratio of 1 male to 2/3 females Livebearers to lesson the pester factor of the male on one female.

Bob