booger Posted May 17, 2004 Report Share Posted May 17, 2004 Last night while watching my pregnant livebearers, i have guppy platy & swordfish, i saw a little baby swimming around now i'm unsure who gave birth to this little critter and they still all look fully loaded with babies. Do they give birth all at once or drop them one at a time? Also after having babies does their belly go down straight away or will it take a couple of days? This is gonna sound dumb but i willing to ask....... how do i know if she has been fertilised or she just has a belly full of eggs? At this stage one of them has had a baby should i take the males out or leave them in with the females? Thanks for ya help :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suemack Posted May 17, 2004 Report Share Posted May 17, 2004 hi booger firstly Congratulations next.....unfortunately if all your fish are in together most, if not all of the babies will be eaten. You sometimes get a few survivers if the tank is well planted with places for the fry to hide. Quite probably one of the females has given birth to all her fry and the one baby you saw is one of the lucky ones. If the fish are young sometimes they only have a few fry and don't look much different before and after dropping their fry. If the females are in with a male their eggs will be fertilised......and even if you take the male out for a while they will still be fertilised as the females store sperm. If the baby is still in the tank you could carefully catch him and pop him into a breeder net which sits in the top of the tank (get them from the lfs)......this would mean he'd be safe from being eaten. If you don't have another tank this is one way of saving a few of the babies. If you have another tank available it wouldn't hurt to take the male out for a while so that the female has time to recover without being chased round the tank.....the males chase them even more just after the females have given birth. good luck sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booger Posted May 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2004 Thanks Sue I will have a look but they are very hard to spot, tiny we buggers they are. I can move the males into a community tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livebearer_breeder Posted July 17, 2004 Report Share Posted July 17, 2004 i find with all my livebearers, platys, swordtails, guppies, mollies, that a tell tale sign of when to put them in a breeding trap or tank, is when they suddenly look like there about to pop! and start floating near the bottom of the tank. and i also suggest you let the females rest in a different tank with either very placid fish or other females or by herself otherwise she will useualy die, as i have found out when i started in the hobby, the males seem particularly dependent on breeding straight after they having given birth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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