wierd happening in practice breeding tank

[tom5000745]

so I got this small fish tank to practice breeding fish before I moved onto breeding big fish to make sure I have the right kind of practice.So I went to a fish store and bought two nice swordtails (one male one female) and I got three mollies (one male two female) to up the chances of getting fry but over time one of my female mollies died so now I have two mollies and two swordtails in my small tank but as I was reserching I found some reports of female swordtails turing into non fully functioning males by growing a sword there rear fins.the other night as I was feeding them I saw what I think is a swordlike thing it was growing out of the lower peice of her rear fin it was the same color as her rear fin (which is the same color as her body) and it had a little peice of white stuff on the end of it it looked like a small peice of white fungus so I changed the water in the tank today but it didnt come off.I need help please tell me if you know if females CAN grow swords and if it will stop the swordtails from breeding or not Ill keep my eye on it anyway .

 

[Knowdafish]

"Practice" breeding tank? Is that where you watch the videos 1st?

 

[geeimatree]

breedings all about environment
you need good water quality and it helps to have the most where they come from looking environment possible

you can't really "practice" breeding

but anyway, if you changed your water today, dont expect it to come off in a couple hours...

 

[dmed]

Generally it's the fish that need the practice, as they are doing the bulk of the work

I'm curious why you would be "practicing" breeding livebearers in the hopes of later breeding large fish?

Also, do you have them in brackish water?

 

[chesterthehero]

its fish breeding...
tank + good water + fish = more fish.....


sounds like yer swordtail possiably has a spot of ich... keep an on on them...

swordtails are weird... the males have the sword.. sometimes it grows fast and long... sometimes short and slow *ahem*...
once yer male figures out that he likes breeding.. hes going to run the female ragged.. the stress may be to much for her worst case... she dies... or she might absorb her eggs (they are livebearers but they still make eggs... the eggs stay inside till the fry hatch and then live birth) or she might be fine if she has places to hide to get away from the male... the males are my kinda fish.. they will try to breed while the female is giving birth... so you might want to get another female or 2 if hes overly aggressive... it would also be good "practice".. with 2 parents yer going to get fry that have trates of both.. with several females and 1 male you could breed spacific trates/colors.. and learn about culling... as for the brackish thing.... platys are freshwater... they like a ph of 7-8..

also putting some foam over the intake for your filter will keep the fry from getting sucked in... the bigger the foam pad the less chance of them getting stuck to it..

 

[sammy5772]

He might not be able to practice the actual breeding but you CAN practice raising fry and livebearers are good for that. Obviously mollies are going to be easier to raise than discus so it is good not to go straight to something hard to breed first try.

 

[The Ippster]

swordtails are brackish fish, they will breed in fresh water but if you slowly add aquarium salt, and make its slightly brackish, it will boost the likelyhood that your swordtails will breed,

all swordtails are born female, and while they are still very young, without the presense of a male some will turn male and grow a "sword"

how big are your swordtails?

 

[chesterthehero]

swordtails are brackish fish, they will breed in fresh water but if you slowly add aquarium salt, and make its slightly brackish, it will boost the likelyhood that your swordtails will breed,

all swordtails are born female, and while they are still very young, without the presense of a male some will turn male and grow a "sword"

how big are your swordtails?

swordtails are not even close to brackish when you buy them from a lfs. yes, they can tolerate some salt, but i wouldnt call them anywhere even close to brackish. a teaspoon of salt per gallon does not make brackish water. you need to check out the brackish fish threads. mollies can handle true brackish water much better than swords can. ive kept my swords in full fresh and had NO problems breeding them or raising the fry.

swords are not all born female. it takes about 4 months for the male physical characteristics to begin to show. swordtails are not fish that can change their gender. they will develop a gonadopodium and their tail will begin to show the "sword". as they mature, the sword will get longer. sometimes, if you have a dominant male, that male can suppress the development of the male characteristics in other, smaller males.

please make sure you do your own research on this. some people seem to be giving out some serious misinformation about swordtails. google has wonderful sites with great info about swordtails.