# Yea! I've got Swordtails!



## sumpthinfishy (Jan 21, 2005)

Looked in the tank the other day (board was down) and had babies! Woohoo! I've scooped out 10 to date. The mamma still looks pregnant and every now and then a new baby will pop up? And it's new. Much smaller than the others. Is this possible? Just having one every few days?

At about what age do they start getting their colors. Have two I can tell are males, they're getting a bit orangey. About 1/2 inch long right now.


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

I have sword babies too. One must be a female. She is about 6 weeks old and is the size of a fancy male guppy without the tail. She grew very rapidly and is twice the size of her siblings. I am assuming they are males, but even at 6 weeks I cannot see a gonod?? fin. I have a 2nd batch of baby swords that are 3-4 weeks old from the same mother and they are only about 1/3 inch long.
How can you tell on the newborns that they are male as they are so small?
And yes sometimes fish deliver over a number of days. My guppies do.


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## sumpthinfishy (Jan 21, 2005)

I'm thinking that any future fry will have to just hide out in the plants and not go to the maternity tank. Otherwise, I'll be in the market for swordtail buyers! Yeesh! 

My female never really got a good deal smaller. Only slightly. She never lost her gravid patch, even for a day either. I know they can start another pregnancy with the stored sperm immediately, but seems like for a short period of time she'd be smaller and not so dark.

I see two now that are getting more orange. I'm guessing there will be more males, but only these two are showing right now.

The mom is really pale yellow. I'm not sure, but I'm thinking pineapple color? So, this must have been a red daddy, 'cause they are getting about as orange as the "reply" on the post reply button belowl


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## osteoporoosi (Jan 27, 2005)

I have grewn a lot of fry, and all my males seem to grow their sword and gonopod when they are about six months old. They grow much bigger and healthier when they don't pick on each other.
Males that grow their sword early tend to stay smaller.


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