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my swordtail gave birth to 27 babys but ate 5

8K views 53 replies 6 participants last post by  chrisandmarie 
#1 ·
i was up till after 2.00am watching her i didnt know if she was or wasnt i couldnt tell and i put her in birthing tank as looked abit plump then when i looked again she was popping one out and then another then another im a nanna lol to 22 babys more for my tank hehehe here is a pic of my little ones
 
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#2 ·
its common for swordtails, mollies.. guppies and even egglayers to eat their own fry.. they dont know any better, for best survival your best off separating them ( different tanks, tank separator, or fry cage ) or if you only have the one tank or just want to keep them where they are, provide maximum hiding spaces ( a type of floating plant and clump of java moss on the ground work good if live plants, or alot of fake plants for them to hide in ) anyways congrats!
 
#5 ·
you can try fasting ( no food ) for a full day or two to try to clear out the digestive tract then offer a shelled pea
how are you sure it is constipation?
how big is the tank? how often do you do water changes? how often do you feed? what do you feed?
its also possible that the molly is pregno- mollies,guppies,swordtails ( all livebearers ) are extremely prolific fish. (it only takes 1male+1female=many babies)
 
#6 ·
yeh i know got lots of babys lol the size tank is 18-12-12 and do 2x water changes a week ,i feed the pregnant ones 3 times daily with crushed flakes in the morning and at night and micro worm in afternoon if i can get better pic in a mo could you tell me if she is prego as some people said shes not
 
#8 ·
How big is your main tank? In your previous post it looked like, what a 28 gallon bow front? If thats correct then you don't have room for 22 swordtails and you might want to look into finding them homes.

Also, I asked this question in your other thread, but your just ignoring me. What is your exact water parameters?
 
#9 ·
look mate if you have seen my other postes i olso have a 4ft-2ft-2ft tank they will be going in there when there big enough i do know somethings about fish and know that the tank is ample untill they get bigger i wont be selling them as im going to breed them ater on
 
#10 ·
Ok... I wasn't trying to say you don't know anything about fish... But you still haven't answered my question. In your other tank with the endlers, you said they were dying off, you also had no substrate in it. So I figured the tank was more then likely not cycled.
 
#11 ·
i have an air filter i emailed the guy who i bought them off and he said its just bad luck but getting some more of him to compencate for 1s i lost they seem to be ok now doing another water change later just to make sure there mating and happy ill get a good pic if i can
 
#12 ·
Lol ok, like I'm not trying to be rude, but I think we are having a miscommunication here.

Do you know your water stats? Like ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates?

Wait I remember you said you just added water and then like 25 minutes later added the fish? This means your tanks not cycled and you will be having ammonia and nitrite spikes in your tank for the next little while. I wouldn't recommend adding any more fish until your tanks cycled. They will more then likely die.
 
#16 ·
I thought you knew a thing or two about fish?? Why are you doing that in cups? And why are you posting pictures instead of telling me what the ppms read?

Sorry but this is frustrating..
 
#20 ·
Yeah pet stores suck. Your babys are in a lot of trouble 50ppm ammonia is deadly. Do a water change now say 15-20%. And do water changes daily if you want to save them.
 
#22 ·
What Little-Fizz tells you is what will work if you want to save them. I had the same ammonia readings for days & days in a smaller tank and I did the daily water changes until the tank was finally cycled. I didn't lose anyone in the process. Do the daily water changes and hopefully it'll all work out. Good luck!
 
#24 ·
Yes, wait until your water parameters are stable and your tank is cycled, then you can think about adding more fish.

During water changes I always treat the water I'm going to use with a dechlorinator. Are you using one? Just curious.....
 
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