# Pregnant Swordtails not giving birth



## petrult (Jul 2, 2008)

Hi, 
I am new to this forum and have a fair few swordtails that are pregnant, they have been for sometime over, 2 months. They have the very dark spots in the stomach area but none of them are giving birth. I have done water changes every two weeks but still nothing. I have the right temp and plenty of hiding spots. Please help I don't know what will happen to them all.

Also on another note I just noticed one of them today has one swollen eye with blood shot look to it - what is this?? 

Thanks for your help:fish:


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## sneasle (Jun 25, 2008)

I'd suggest making a separate post in the disease are about the eye problem.

It is possible that they aren't pregnant, just fat and happy. I have a fish that I assumed was a female swordtail, but now I think it is a platy of some kinda. I thought she was pregnant at one point because her belly grew very quickly, but it turns out it didn't get big enough and the rest of her body caught up very quickly.

You may want to dig a bit in the older threads as I seem to remember reading a nice post about sword tail breeding. It may have gotten lost in the reset but I'm pretty sure it's still there.


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## COM (Mar 15, 2008)

I never seem to find any sword or platy fry either. I just assume the fry get eaten right away.


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## petrult (Jul 2, 2008)

Thanks for your advice, I also thought that they weren't pregnant and if they were they were being eaten straight away. Any way I won't worry so much now and just see what happens. I will also make another post in for the eye disease in the correct area.

Thanks again


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

presumably you have a male in the tank??
My girls all look pregnant but they have never been bred.
They are just full of my live plants.


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## petrult (Jul 2, 2008)

mousey said:


> presumably you have a male in the tank??
> My girls all look pregnant but they have never been bred.
> They are just full of my live plants.



Yes I have many males and I'm pretty sure I have seen them mating. The black spot the females get in the stomach area is that true that it is the babies eyes and this is when they are almost ready to give birth?


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

The black spot is called the gravid spot.In some fish it is hard to see. for example in an orange platy the gravid spot is often pinkish. baby eyes show up as silvery circles in my fish.
Some people say the gravid spot is the uterus.


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