Upcoming Fry

[Namor]

Finally got a couple of half decent shots of my female swords last night.-
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj177/Namor_Sask/st4.jpg

I was sure this one was carrying.-
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj177/Namor_Sask/st3.jpg

Not 100% sure about this one though.-
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj177/Namor_Sask/st1.jpg

Also spotted this.-
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj177/Namor_Sask/eggs.jpg
I noticed a cluster like this a few months ago and scraped it off, thinking it was snail eggs. (Doh!)
It was gone this morning::(: but will have to keep a closer eye out for Peppered Cory eggs.
Any idea's on when i can expect young 'uns? The pineapple's stomach looks darker today.

[CACAdmin]

Such pretty swordtails. What coloring is the papa of the expected fry? or do you know?

[Melody]

Swordtail females are evil wenches who fool you by looking ready to pop for weeks. Or they'll look like they're maybe two weeks along and before you can say "set up a brooder tank", they give birth and eat 'em all. I'd say you still have a couple of weeks or so... which means she'll probably give birth tonight :rolleyes:.

I love that red - looks like that one has lots of Platy in it actually. The red around her eye is cool too. Dibs on any babies that look like her! :mask:

[Namor]

I was kinda wondering if there was some platy.
Hoping the pa was either an all orange, who's bottom half of the tail was black.
Or one that was similar to the red.

-Recently picked up two 10g and a 15 long from my bro.:yes:

[OldMan]

To me that pineapple doesn't look close. I would expect the area she carries the fry in to be much larger if she were close. She is large in an area in front of where new fry develop.

[Melody]

You'd be surprised at how many I've thought that with and ended up with eaten fry....lol....years of breeding them and they can still surprise me or have me waiting forever when I think they're about to pop. A lot depends on their age as well, corresponding with brood size and the overall size of the strain. Some will balloon up in a couple of days flat and look pretty much the same until they do. Younger fish are bad for that. Then there's the outside factors like temp. With that one I'd guess at a couple of weeks, but how it goes is anyone's guess.

With Platy's it's usually that they look about to pop for weeks until they finally do, mostly because they're little piglets. :rolleyes:

[OldMan]

I must yield to more recent experience. Last time I bred swords was years ago. Lately it's just endlers, mollies and platies. Presently working to condition some cories and grow out some goodeids to get them big enough to even be in the game.

[Melody]

Maybe yours were better behaved than mine. I always seem to get the rebel fish :rolleyes: . I don't think there is a standard when it comes to these things so the more input the better when a question comes up.

[Namor]

Still no fry to report on.:Waiting:

But i do have a question regarding the demise of one female and the aforementioned males.

After "Eve" passed, (a female cobalt dwarf gourami) i decided it was time to add some females for "Zorro". Although Eve was definitely Queen of the tank, the two of them spent the majority of their time playfully chasing each other around. Zorro seemed lonely after that, so after a couple of weeks and QT added 3 females.
All seemed well, but after 3 or 4 days Zorro was gone.::(: In his case it may have been age, as i had him about a year, and have a feeling (although healthy)
was getting up there when i got him.

Skipping ahead a couple of weeks, i picked up a new male. This one was younger, but again 3 or 4 day's after being introduced, both he and one of the females were
found one morning expired. This second male was about two-thirds the size of the females, and all seemed to be in good health.
This all happened about 4 months ago, and things have been fine in the tank since.

I just found it strange, in both cases having sudden departures after 3 or 4 days.
Was this a ratio issue, or is this kinda thing normal?

[CACAdmin]

Let me preface this by saying, I have never kept Dwarf Gouramis. I do have Opaline Gouramis (I originally mistook them for Blue Gourmis until I realized the difference:rolleyes: ).

As you said there were no symptoms of illness, the only thing I can think of is aggressive behavior. Gouramis can and do fight. Possibly the increased number in the tank (they all need space and lots of cover) triggered aggression.

Possibly one of the females took exception to the attentions of the new male. I suggest that in that that my largest female would react that way to the male's attentions (before he died of old age) and they would fight until he backed down and retreated to hide in a bottom corner of the tank. After a while he simply gave up and avoided her for the most part.

I'm only guessing here. Hopefullym, someone with experience with Dwarf Gouramis, might offer some insight.

[Namor]

I hadn't introduced any female swords until after "Eve" had perished, and i think in her case
it may have been her voracious appetite. She seemed to gobble up half the food intended
for everyone. It got to the point where i would hand feed her some broccoli florets
before feeding the others, and even tried keeping her in a net against the glass to
allow others to feast. That seemed to stress her out though, so only did it a couple of times.

I'm guessing then that in the second case, the two had gotten overly aggressive with each other(?)

Would 2 or 3 males and 8 or 9 females be a more harmonious mix?
I stripped down my 32g and would like to try a planted species tank, with the purpose of breeding.

[CACAdmin]

Sorry, I may have misunderstood your post. Were the newly introduced fish swordtails? When you mentioned Eve was a Dwarf Gourami I made the assumption that Zorro and the newly introduced females were Dwarf Gourmis as well. :confused: Gouramis are usually aggressive only towards one another (except, I gather, if the male is guarding the bubble nest)

[Namor]

That's my bad Jay. Drained the water cooler this morning for Brandy's dish instead of:coffee2: :twitcy:
Zorro was in fact a swordtail, as were the latter introductions.

[CACAdmin]

:laugh: ... and here you had me wondering what was in my :coffee2:. So now that we have that sorted out, we are back to the problem of fish loss... fish being swordtails which has me totally baffled. (often a normal state of mind for me:wink: ). So maybe someone else has some ideas.

[Melody]

Could have been anything really. The survivors (or one of them) could be carrying a bug they're immune to but it's hard to say. Were the ones you lost all from the same store?

[Namor]

Could have been anything really. The survivors (or one of them) could be carrying a bug they're immune to but it's hard to say. Were the ones you lost all from the same store?

Zorro and the three females were all bought at the same store, but nearly a year apart.
The second male was bought elsewhere.
Really wish i'd have been keeping a journal of some kind.:GEEK:
Eve was also bought from the same store as the female swords, and the only reason
i mentioned her was, i've never before or since witnessed anything like the way those two carried on.:rolleyes:
I guess in a way, the forum is in itself a journal sorts.:smile: I thought i may have mentioned something about those two before, and looked back today.
Jan. 3 in the brine shrimp thread...:laugh:
Thanks CAC members and staffers, this place does truly rock.

(Still no fry)...

[Melody]

I do that all the time - check thread dates. I have been doing it to time my clutches in fact.

If it's the same store they may have something(s) lurking in their tanks that the fish are picking up when they come in. If they still get fish from the same supplier, those might be immune to it while other suppliers' fish are coming into the store and picking up the disease from the carriers.

You can test that by putting fish from another store in another tank. If they stay healthy while everything you put into the sick tank gets sick, you'll know there's a bug involved and can bleach the system. That's how I knew for sure I had a superbug in one tank a few years back. Just be sure to use separate equipment for that tank or bleach it in between.

All pretty much a baseless theory though...lol...hopefully you won't see it again and that will be that. There are times that I don't mind being wrong at all. :yes: