# Sword fry are here!



## KMoss (May 7, 2011)

Ok, so In dec i started my 20 gal long, cycled the tank, planted, successfully added female pineapple swordtails about 3 weeks ago, and guess what? Babies! They were busy before I got them.... I have 3 little yellow fry that I moved to a breeder box with some moss. They were hiding in a bunch of plants, but I feel better with them in the box so they're safe & can get their food.


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## KMoss (May 7, 2011)

here's a pretty good pic of the 3 little fry. can't believe they held still long enough to get a pic!


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Very nice!Swords can store sperm for upto 6-7 bunch of fry without a male anywhere near them.Good job with putting plants in with them.Enjoy!


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Congrats!


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## Amethyst (Jul 15, 2012)

Very pretty! How many do you have in the breeder box? They will likely get darker, more like their mama(s) as they get older. By the way, they won't grow very well if you leave them in the breeder box for more than a few days. They need room to swim freely. You may lose some if you put them back into the main tank, but at least some will make it until they are too big to eat. If you plan to raise them all you will definitely need another tank, at least 20g - preferably long. They take several months to grow out, and some of the males won't start differentiating until toward the end of a year, though they will be fertile before reaching full size - just like us humans, adolescents are capable of reproduction. I've had female swordtails give birth when they were still under 2".

You may have already known all this, of course, but just in case you didn't... I found out the hard way when I took my first female swordtail out of the community tank and let her give birth elsewhere. She had at least 84 babies - I counted that many while moving them, in case you're wondering. I had to keep moving them into larger containers as they grew. As they reached selling size - ~2.5" - I took them to the petstore that gives me credit for them, and then others grew to that size. At the end of a year I had only two that had shown signs of being male while I still had them, but others may have developed late. I've noticed with other batches that some that I am sure are female will differentiate as soon as the obvious males are out of the tank, even when they're already as big bodywise as their daddies, or bigger. At the moment I have 1 male and 3 females, along with 2 mollies and some male guppies in a 29g, another male and 4 females in a 20g long, and about a dozen half-grown to young adult swordtails with some guppies of various sizes/ages in a 45g, including a male who looks pretty mature, another with about .5" tail, and 2 or 3 others just beginning to grow their swords. That is after having removed 2 or 3 other males along the way and taking them to the store. I also have little fry that are offspring of some of the oldest in the tank, even though none of the females are full size yet. None of these were born separated from the parents, and most have lived at least a week or so in the main tanks before removing those that I can find. At the moment I have at least one fry in each of the main tanks - one is a leftover from some I removed a week or so ago - it hid too well for me to catch it. The baby in the other tank is the only one I've seen recently, and it is very tiny. I'm sure there were more, and there may still be more. It's hard to tell in a planted tank, since they hide by instinct. It becomes quite an operation if you plan to raise all the fry.


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## KMoss (May 7, 2011)

Amythest: 84!!!! Woah.... I would be freaking out if that happened! Thanks for the great advice. I started with 3 fry in the breeder box and found 2 more yesterday, so now 5. There's another one hiding out in plants that i haven't caught. I didn't intend to breed my fish (that's why I purchased females), but I sure am enjoying these fry. They're so cute. I have a 6 gal tank I can temporarily use for them until I can get another 20 long. Again, thanks for the insight!


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## Amethyst (Jul 15, 2012)

Yeah, she probably had more than you've seen, and you may still discover a few over the next few days. Good luck with them. They are lots of fun to watch growing up.


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