# black swordtail question



## rtmaston (Jul 14, 2012)

I got a black swordtail and had her frys yesterday.my question is the first babies she had she only had one babie that I seen and it was in a breeder cage.between the one she had and the ones she had yesterday was 44 days and only had 2 this time.most of mine swordtails goes 28 to 30 days.is 44 days way over.thanks


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## rtmaston (Jul 14, 2012)

hey guy. I thought I would give you an update and a question.my black female swordtail had 2 babies on Wednesday and I put the female back in with the others swordtail but Friday I seen a few more black swordtails in the tank but I could not get them out before thay got ate.my question is is that normal to have babies for 2 days? im going to take my 2 gallon tank and after she has her frys im going to put the females in there for a few days that will let them rest a couple days .the tank the female was in has a lot of plants in it.maybe putting them in the 2 gallon will solve that and any ideas I welcome.thanks in advance.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

The timming could just be she didn't get pregnant right away after giving birth.As for giving birth after being in breeder trap I can only speculate that she was not comfortable (enough) in it.And only giving birth to so few I would really guess she ate the fry in the trap.although if they go down through the V she could not get them all my fry are ALWAYS on the suface of my tank(a 40breeder with floating plants and like over 20 adults(who never eat the fry))..Get floating plants and leave females in main tank.You really couldn't have less than 1 or 2 fry survive?I pull out about 10+ daily,some days over 50.
If they are eating the fry they are very hungry,feed them more.


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## hotwingz (Mar 3, 2013)

Also, sometimes, if the female is stressed or not comfortable enough, she can absorb them. If that was the case, that would explain why she only had a few. But I would still go with the idea, that she was hungry and ate some of them. Maybe try looking in your filter! They might have gotten out of the trap and got sucked up into the filter.


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## rtmaston (Jul 14, 2012)

I had her in a 2 gallon tank by her self and I put her in the 2 gallon tank at least a week before she was due.the only other thing I can think of is I seen the babie fry and watch for awhile and it look like she was through so I put her back in the other tank with the other swordtails was in and had them in that tank and got ate.


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