When will she give birth?

Question

pic 1   QUESTION: Hi,

I have a community tank with mostly livebearers. All of my livebearers are pregnant. I want to raise some and learn the process of growth of them.I won't keep most of them because I'm trying to raise money for plants. My swordtail is in deep pregnancy, but being new to live bearers ( I've always stuck with goldfish) I was wondering if you can tell me when she will give birth. I have a plastic breeding things, do I need it? if I do when should I put her in?

ANSWER: I would suspect you will see fry in the next 4-5 days if not sooner.  She should start hiding around the tank somewhere and that is a good indication that she is about to give birth...  Put her in the breeding box when she starts to hide... you will see her sitting on the bottom or something similar... dave

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QUESTION: Thanks,

She hasn't given birth yet when I saw 2 baby platies in the tank. That time, I chose to release the swordtail and put the mama platy. She gave birth to around 10 at around midnight. There were probably more but I didn't see any. My gourami kept chasing them up to the top half, they would then unfortunely get eaten. Anyway to stop that without disturbing the mom while in labor? How long does it take for her to give birth to a batch? When is it clear to put her back in knowing none will be born for while?

Thanks
Emily

ANSWER: I am a bit confused by your question... where was the platy when she gave birth??? why were the fry around the other fish???? dave

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QUESTION: the swordtail was in the breeding compartment ( the plastic one with a v shaped vents) and platy in regular tank. I saw 2 fry swimming around and knew it was the platy. So I decided to release the swordtail and put in the platy. she was still in labor and I saw 10 being born but when they were born they would go to the bottom half, a gourami would see it and try to get it. then the fry would swim back up eventually get eaten by the mom so at the end in the morning only one was seen. Any way to prevent this? When should I release her?

Answer
You can try to feed her... giving birth is a lengthy process during which time she does not eat.  You can also try to put her in a separate tank or provide a lot of cover for the fry.  Java Fern works well... as does a large clump of Java Moss or any other type of moss that is dense.   dave