Strange Question-Part 2

GrandmaLisa

Well, it happened. Exactly 4 weeks (to the day) from the time she gave birth, she did it again. I came home from work yesterday to find brand new tiny fry. When all was said & done, I caught 27, saw her eat 6 and still have approx. 8 left to catch. This is sooooo NOT funny!!!!!!!!!!! If she is "holding" any more sperm; I'm going to scream!

coley

Welcome to the wonderful world of livebearers. They are breeding machines.

GrandmaLisa

Breeding Machines????????????? I'm not new to aquariums and livebearers. Had tanks when I was in high school and when my kids were little. My problem is.........I had NEVER heard of the ability to hold sperm! Good grief, I'm 48 years old and yesterday found myself yelling at my mommy fish. Who is their right mind would hold sperm????? What am I going to do w/47 baby swordtails? And, what if she's not done w/this madness?????? :(

fish_4_all

Learn something new every day, especially in this hobby. There are some live bearers, I can't remember the name of them, that will hold for 2 years and can have 12-15 batches of fry from one fertilization. I have never seen anything for fact but I doubt that Swords, platties and other of our common live bearers will have more than 3-5 spawns from one fertilization. So only 2-3 more to go.

The birhgt side is if she is having so many batches so fast you must be keeping some pretty good water quality and making her very happy!

okiemavis

Are you separating the fry after they are born? If so, I'd recommend not doing that any more. It may sound a bit harsh, but it's just how it goes, and the strongest will survive. Plus, the rest of your fish will be well nourished. At least then you won't have *quite* so many to deal with.

When I kept guppies, I gave them away on craigslist, instead of to my LFS. That way I could pre-select all the people taking them, to make sure it wasn't gonna be for live food. You should have a very easy time giving them away on clist, if you put a posting in the "pets" section.

Oldman47

Sorry to hear of your trouble Lisa but I'm afraid its time to start screaming. My guess would be 2 more batches before most of the sperm is gone and she stops or slows down quite a bit. As others have said, if you don't want fry, don't spend the effort to catch them. It may sound cruel but its better than overstocked tanks full of fish you have no room to keep.

GrandmaLisa

Yes, I know that you are right. I've done so well with finding good homes for my babies. So, far, I have placed 19 of them. With this last batch, I contacted someone I know who works at our local Pet Store and she is going to take this last (27 fry) batch, when "I" feel that they are old enough and ready to go. I hope my mama is done; because I don't think that I can ignore the fry; should she decide to be the energizer bunny and keep going. I'll let you know what I end up doing; if she puts me in this predicament again.
As far as using Craig's list; that is something that I can't do. My only computer acess is here at work and they would REALLY frown on that. :)