Jessica Hruschak - 2010-06-20 I have 2 female swordtails, I got them from a pet store, one was pregnant and so far I have only seen 1 baby fish... Did it eat the others? Do they give live birth all at once or every few days until the babies are ready? o_o I've already put the baby in a separate place away from the mother..
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Rahim - 2010-10-03 It's a good thing you put the baby in a separate... This morning my S.T fish gave birth to a total of 9 babies this was every 10 minute, while giving birth she then started hunting them and eating them, I managed to save 6 of them and separated them. The Female Sword tail looked hungry but would not eat flakes so I fed her blood worms, and she just kept on eating and eating.
Stevie J - 2010-01-30 The white film could be Ick. Female's get EXTREMELY stressed when carrying fry and if they are the only Female for the Male, even once pregnant, he will literally chase her to death by still trying to mate. I have found Platy's to be the worst for this situation and the 3 Females I had got pregnant, and then stressed out and died from what looked to be Ick (white film anywhere on the body, particularly fins and mouth)Two of my female Swordtails have also died from this same stress. Other fish such as Gourami's will notice the change in the Females Biological Structure (having fry inside does create a different smell in the breeds)and will also chase the pregnant female knowing she has 'food' in the fry. I have a female platty and swordtail now pregnant, no ick, I treated the water with an Ick treatment BEFORE they got pregnant, not during.
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Chris - 2010-02-17 This also happened to one of my female Swordtail... I was looking all over to try and find out what was wrong with her. I presume you can purchase Ick treatment from most aquariam fish stores.
Sean - 2010-05-24 Ick shows as small white spots that are easily mistaken for as bubbles. I made this mistake and lost two lovely clown loaches, which are extremely prone to the ick parasite. Closely monitor the spots to see if they change to determine whether or not they are bubbles or cysts. Ick cannot survive in water above 83 degrees Fahrenheit, coppertone is my choice for parasite treatment of most varieties but a white film sounds like velvet disease. What should you do...GET COPPERTONE!
Paul Pedigo - 2010-07-07 Ick usually is white cysts along the sides and the fins of multiple species of fish. The most prone to ick is the black moor goldfish. I personally use Ick Away from wardley. It works wonders if you need to eradicate ick. White film sounds like velvet to me. But velvet usually uses the same color as the fish.
Christopher Ashby - 2010-04-19 Hi was wondering how to tell that my female is pregnant?
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Caitlin Perello - 2010-06-02 If your female swordfish is coming straight toward you (be patient, it eventually will), and it looks pregnant at that time, then it is probably pregnant. A black spot in its abdomen doesn't actually mean anything; it can't be the babies' eyes because there are many babies at once, not just a few.
Paul Pedigo - 2010-07-07 Christopher, a female that is pregnant is really FAT and will have a black spot near her anal fin. Hope this helps.
Paige Felbaum - 2004-04-06 I think this is a very wonderful fish. They come in all different colors and will breed easily. But if you are like me and breed your fish these are a good fish to start on. The fry are kind of hard to take care of but if you know how to do it they will probably live. They are very easy to take care of and live a while. My oldest one is almost 7 months now in a heated aquarium around 75 F and fed twice a day. He lives with a mollie, african dwarf frog, female guppy, tiger barb, red platy and 5 jumbo neon tetras.(in a 10 gallon tank)
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Debbie - 2010-03-16 My female swordtails tail had a white spot on it she was pregnant, after she had the babies it went away and she is doing fine I use bottled spring water.. but I have a hard time having the babies live... they die on me. I have them in a separate little tank and feed them the flake food... how do I take care of the babies and keep them living so I can breed them?
Caitlin Perello - 2010-06-02 I think you might want to get a bigger tank for all of those, especially with a frog in there. In my ten-gallon tank, I have a pair of swordtails (the female I believe to be pregnant), and my marble angelfish.
jj - 2010-01-22 I have that same problem of white lips on my platy but it never dies. Triple sulfa seems to work so far but I have not yet completed the treatment.
ROD DALE - 2010-01-19 I have a 29 gal aquarium and have been trying to raise red wag swordtails along with guppies, placo, cory, and neon tetras. Every time I get a female swordtail, she will have her babies, get a white coating around her mouth then die within a day of the white stuff on her mouth. I've had my water tested and it has tested a Ph of 7.2, nitrate of 20 which is normal range. I have no other problem with any other of my fish getting this white coating & dying. Does anyone have any idea what is going on in my tank? Thank you for any responce
Tony - 2009-09-18 3 years ago I put a pair of green swordtails and a pair of reds into my tank and I raised many fry which have now bred further generations. I have added another red pair for genetic variety and now have swordtails of an astonishing colour mix, including red-white tuxedos, red eyes and albinos. I have one pink female! She has produced her first batch of thirty babies which seem to be either pink or silvery-white or gold! The swordtail is a beautiful and hardy species and mine are thriving in a tank with angels, albino corys, chain loaches and dwarf cichlids. The angels and corys have also produced young successfully.
Josh - 2009-01-29 Hey everyone. This is one of the best websites for pets. I use this one and 2 others. These the only 3 I use. First off thanks to this website, I have become a big help for my neighbor who I gave fish to. If you are trying to find a way to feed your swordtails (and possibly snails and/or pleco) without taking a lot of money out of your wallet, you should try feeding them blanched zucchini (I think that is how u spell it). Blanched means that you cut it into slices, put it in a pot of boiling water for about a minute, and then put it in a pot of ice cold water. It brings out the color and makes it sink. All you do is drop it in, either with the skin (for if you have plecos and snails in the tank or if you want to give more nutrients), or without the skin (easier for swordtails to eat).
Anonymous - 2008-11-25 I just started breeding all kinds of fish. Sword Tails are the easiest by far! I have 2 oranges and the mother had all orange but 1 white came out also.
Josh - 2008-11-24 Blue swordtails are actualy a blue wag and and swordtail cross ("beautiful fish" is one of the only ways to describe it). I have a small 10 gallon tank but my 15 swordtails (around that much, adults and babies combined), 1 leopard pleco, and (at least) 110 mystery snails are all happy and have learned their feeding schedule. I'm going to get a bigger tank once I have room to house more fish and hopefully get a second pleco so my plecos might breed.
The most popular fish next to the Guppy is most certainly the Swordtail!
I have 2 female swordtails, I got them from a pet store, one was pregnant and so far I have only seen 1 baby fish... Did it eat the others? Do they give live birth all at once or every few days until the babies are ready? o_o I've already put the baby in a separate place away from the mother..
It's a good thing you put the baby in a separate...
This morning my S.T fish gave birth to a total of 9 babies this was every 10 minute, while giving birth she then started hunting them and eating them, I managed to save 6 of them and separated them.
The Female Sword tail looked hungry but would not eat flakes so I fed her blood worms, and she just kept on eating and eating.
The white film could be Ick.
Female's get EXTREMELY stressed when carrying fry and if they are the only Female for the Male, even once pregnant, he will literally chase her to death by still trying to mate. I have found Platy's to be the worst for this situation and the 3 Females I had got pregnant, and then stressed out and died from what looked to be Ick (white film anywhere on the body, particularly fins and mouth)Two of my female Swordtails have also died from this same stress.
Other fish such as Gourami's will notice the change in the Females Biological Structure (having fry inside does create a different smell in the breeds)and will also chase the pregnant female knowing she has 'food' in the fry.
I have a female platty and swordtail now pregnant, no ick, I treated the water with an Ick treatment BEFORE they got pregnant, not during.
This also happened to one of my female Swordtail... I was looking all over to try and find out what was wrong with her. I presume you can purchase Ick treatment from most aquariam fish stores.
Ick shows as small white spots that are easily mistaken for as bubbles. I made this mistake and lost two lovely clown loaches, which are extremely prone to the ick parasite. Closely monitor the spots to see if they change to determine whether or not they are bubbles or cysts. Ick cannot survive in water above 83 degrees Fahrenheit, coppertone is my choice for parasite treatment of most varieties but a white film sounds like velvet disease. What should you do...GET COPPERTONE!
Ick usually is white cysts along the sides and the fins of multiple species of fish. The most prone to ick is the black moor goldfish. I personally use Ick Away from wardley. It works wonders if you need to eradicate ick. White film sounds like velvet to me. But velvet usually uses the same color as the fish.
Hi was wondering how to tell that my female is pregnant?
If your female swordfish is coming straight toward you (be patient, it eventually will), and it looks pregnant at that time, then it is probably pregnant. A black spot in its abdomen doesn't actually mean anything; it can't be the babies' eyes because there are many babies at once, not just a few.
Christopher, a female that is pregnant is really FAT and will have a black spot near her anal fin. Hope this helps.
I think this is a very wonderful fish. They come in all different colors and will breed easily. But if you are like me and breed your fish these are a good fish to start on. The fry are kind of hard to take care of but if you know how to do it they will probably live. They are very easy to take care of and live a while. My oldest one is almost 7 months now in a heated aquarium around 75 F and fed twice a day. He lives with a mollie, african dwarf frog, female guppy, tiger barb, red platy and 5 jumbo neon tetras.(in a 10 gallon tank)
My female swordtails tail had a white spot on it she was pregnant, after she had the babies it went away and she is doing fine I use bottled spring water.. but I have a hard time having the babies live... they die on me. I have them in a separate little tank and feed them the flake food... how do I take care of the babies and keep them living so I can breed them?
I think you might want to get a bigger tank for all of those, especially with a frog in there. In my ten-gallon tank, I have a pair of swordtails (the female I believe to be pregnant), and my marble angelfish.
I have that same problem of white lips on my platy but it never dies. Triple sulfa seems to work so far but I have not yet completed the treatment.
I have a 29 gal aquarium and have been trying to raise red wag swordtails along with guppies, placo, cory, and neon tetras. Every time I get a female swordtail, she will have her babies, get a white coating around her mouth then die within a day of the white stuff on her mouth. I've had my water tested and it has tested a Ph of 7.2, nitrate of 20 which is normal range. I have no other problem with any other of my fish getting this white coating & dying. Does anyone have any idea what is going on in my tank? Thank you for any responce
3 years ago I put a pair of green swordtails and a pair of reds into my tank and I raised many fry which have now bred further generations. I have added another red pair for genetic variety and now have swordtails of an astonishing colour mix, including red-white tuxedos, red eyes and albinos. I have one pink female! She has produced her first batch of thirty babies which seem to be either pink or silvery-white or gold! The swordtail is a beautiful and hardy species and mine are thriving in a tank with angels, albino corys, chain loaches and dwarf cichlids. The angels and corys have also produced young successfully.
Hey everyone. This is one of the best websites for pets. I use this one and 2 others. These the only 3 I use. First off thanks to this website, I have become a big help for my neighbor who I gave fish to. If you are trying to find a way to feed your swordtails (and possibly snails and/or pleco) without taking a lot of money out of your wallet, you should try feeding them blanched zucchini (I think that is how u spell it). Blanched means that you cut it into slices, put it in a pot of boiling water for about a minute, and then put it in a pot of ice cold water. It brings out the color and makes it sink. All you do is drop it in, either with the skin (for if you have plecos and snails in the tank or if you want to give more nutrients), or without the skin (easier for swordtails to eat).
I just started breeding all kinds of fish. Sword Tails are the easiest by far! I have 2 oranges and the mother had all orange but 1 white came out also.
Blue swordtails are actualy a blue wag and and swordtail cross ("beautiful fish" is one of the only ways to describe it).
I have a small 10 gallon tank but my 15 swordtails (around that much, adults and babies combined), 1 leopard pleco, and (at least) 110 mystery snails are all happy and have learned their feeding schedule. I'm going to get a bigger tank once I have room to house more fish and hopefully get a second pleco so my plecos might breed.