# is my swordtail pregnant?



## piotrkol1

alirght so i decided to post this here since no one has even looked at my other thread...so my swordtail that i recently bought might be pregnant, ive always heard of the "gravid spot" on livebearers and my swordtail does have a black spot on her lower abdomen so could this be it? if so how long until she gives berth and i have a breeding trap on standby


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## SueM

Hi piotrkol1
Its kind if hard to go by days unless you actually know the furtilization date,
it is aprox 30 days between broods. Once she has her first batch you will more closely be able to time them, and since a female Swordtail can store sperm in her body from a single fertilization for up to six batches. You may have allot of babys on your hands :smile: Look for a very dark spot (its actually the babys eyes) and her belly will look like she is going to burst. I would recomend that you put allot af small leaved plants, floating and planted, and maybe some java moss if you can get it. I dont like the small breeder nets as I think they stress the mother. But if you have enough plants, she will have them in the plants, giving them a fair chance, Then you can move you if you wish. I dont, but I have it heavily planted.
Here is one site that may help.....
Good luck & have fun :smile: 
SueM
http://www.livebearers.info/swordtail.php


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## piotrkol1

yeah well thanks for the info but unfortuneatley it died just a couple of minutes ago... :chair: ...cant exactly say it was in the best condition either as its fins were kinda rotty and nipped at lookin, well i still have anoither female and male in there so i guess ill work from that and they look like they are in good condition


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## Matt_1313

Sorry about the fish. It is pretty hard to tell when they will have babies, because sometimes they barely look pregnant, and you wake up with babies all over. other times they get soooo big you think for sure they are going to just explode, but they dont have them for a week or so. On another note, SueM, are you sure it is only 30 days? i know thats gestation for guppies, but mollies platies and swords always seem to take much longer than that for me..more like a couple months, and thats in tanks with no males, so it isnt just that they are getting re-fertilized or anything.


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## Matt_1313

Sorry about the fish. :sad: It is pretty hard to tell when they will have babies, because sometimes they barely look pregnant, and you wake up with babies all over. other times they get soooo big you think for sure they are going to just explode, but they dont have them for a week or so. On another note, SueM, are you sure it is only 30 days? i know thats gestation for guppies, but mollies platies and swords always seem to take much longer than that for me..more like a couple months, and thats in tanks with no males, so it isnt just that they are getting re-fertilized or anything.


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## SueM

Yep, Pretty sure  ....

Swordtails give birth to live young. They produce 20-200 young after a gestation period of 24 to 30 days. They are sexually mature at 8 to 12 months and can undergo sex reversal under certain environmental conditions.


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## Carlton

i've heard that guppies have a spot when pregnant.


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## Guest

Wow, nice random message, Carlton. How could your fish just die? Was she pregnant?

Thanks,
Tessa.

P.S. Sorry about your fish.


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## jmel

*Help!*



Hello we are new 2 this site and are pretty inexperianced in fish, we brought some sword tail fish from our shop ths week and he said one of them were pregnant, we are unsure how long but no she is. we have 2 Angle fish in our tank 2 and are scared that if she gives birth then they will eat them, we have a small seperation box net but she is verry unhappy and gets stressed by being in there is there any other way we can save our new born fish??


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## Guest

jmel,

can you upload a pic? what color are the swordtails? since you dont have a birthing tank you could add lots of plants, either live or fake, to the tank to provide the fry a place to hide. its best that you keep them in the tank it self and once the mom has dropped her fry you can fish them out. 

hope this helps


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## lollypopzxo

When your fish has its fry depends on how big and squarish her belly gets and the bigger her gravid spot gets.


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## XxswordtailsxX

i got a swordtail yesterday i have tried to choose a female that looks pregnant. not sure though it s very fat. but it hasa large red spot inside is abdomen. is that still ok. i know it is supposed to be the frys eyes so could they have orange/red eyes?


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## StripesAndFins

can you get a picture?


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## XxswordtailsxX

hey found out she is deffently pregnant as has popped out 11 beauties so far! starting giving birth at about 20:30-20:45!


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## dannyodon

*yours isnt the only one!*

hi guys, i joined a few mins ago, my tank is full of fish, and my female swordtail may be pregnant! she spends alot of her time hiding from the others, theyre not mean to her, just she stays in this skull ornament i have... in my tank i have 2 swordtails, 5 silvertip tetras, 4 scissor tails, one albino pleco, 5 white clouds, 2 angels, one that i have no clue as to what it is but i got it with the scissors, and 2 stargazing dorads i love the dorads, i call one solar and the other luna. the suit them well as solar is light grey whilst luna is almost black, i think this means i have a male and female so hoping for those guys to breed aswell  need help with my swordtail, i just got her yesterday and when i got home found out she was pregnant!!! so i havent got a breeding tank set up yet.... post more as it goes along!! ;-)


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## TheOldSalt

Just joined, eh? Welcome!

Since you are new, all the message threads will look new to you for a few days. If you look right over the person's name, though, you'll see the date they made that post. This can help you prevent making useless posts in old threads where they won't be any help to anyone. That sort of thing tends to annoy some folks.

Now, as for your swordtail, you're going to need someplace safe for the babies. Those other fish will see any swordtail fry as tasty snacks, and the momma might try to hold them in to protect them even if it kills her... which it sometimes does.


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