A loss

[biggun110]

Hi All,

My female Xiphophorus signum died today

. Signums are a species of very large green swordtails. They can reach 7 inches. The males have very short (1") swords that are lemon yellow with black borders. The species is called the "comma swordtail" because both sexes have what looks like a big black comma in the lower third of their caudal fins. I had 3 males and this big female from fry I raised. The female gave birth yesterday and I saved 18 fry. Today she died. I guess it was due to problems with giving birth as she seemed to have alot more babies inside her. She was a beautiful 4 inch fish and only 9 months old.

Bobby

 

[RamPuppy]

biggun, sorry to hear about your loss, sounds like she was bound up and couldn't birth the rest of the babies.

Hopefully, you will get a new female out of all the fry.

Good luck friend!

 

[biggun110]

Hi Ram,

Thanks

. I think you are right. She was bound up. It happened a few years ago with this great red hi fin lyretail female sword I had. She had dropped 2 huge batches of fry (200+ each) but the third one was just too much for her. I think I feed too much protein and cause the females to carry too many and too large of fry sometimes. I hate it when it happens as I always feel guilty. I had let a friend keep these and he let all but the 4 adults die so I am trying to keep the species going. They came from the big cancer research center they have at Southwestern State in San Marcos. It is called the Xiphophorus Center and it keeps all the species and locations of swords and platies and breeds them for use in cancer research. They cross certain species to get tumors!
Its been going since the 1930's. They have 1500 tanks. Theyhave a huge webpage. Just search for Xiphophorus Center. I think it's a <.org> address.

Thanks friend,
Bobby

 

[RamPuppy]

Hey Biggun, you know I actually live about 25 minutes drive form San Marcos?

 

[biggun110]

Hi RamPuppy,

Yeah, I remembered you said you lived near San Antonio. You should go check out the Xiphophorus Center at the school if you get a chance. I think they are pretty good about letting hobbyists see it with prior notification. I found more fry this morning -- 24 total now

.

Bobby

 

[RamPuppy]

awesome, you have a very good chance of getting a few females out of that batch.

Have you been to Critters and Things in San Marcos?

 

[Spectabilis73]

Sorry about your loss, I know what it feels like, I never thought I would get attacehd to a fish, but I did.

 

[biggun110]

Hi Ram and Spec,

Thanks Spec. It's fuuny how attached one gets to fish but then fish are very smart and behave just like humans. Example. I just moved a bunch of lyretail swordtails into a big tank from several smaller tanks. The last 2 days the swords that "knew" one another before have been hanging together like buds.

No, Ram, never been there. I haven't been to SM in a long time. We used to collect darters and Texas Cichlids in the river -- along with all those great plants. Of course, San Antonio has the best sailfin mollies in the river -- huge and colorful. The last time I was there and was bent over looking at the male mollies displaying and a pigeon dropped a load on my head!

Bobby

 

[Spectabilis73]

So that's where the fish stores get their texas cichlids. I didn't know that mollies lived in texas though!

 

[RamPuppy]

Man, the pigeons have a sixth sense, freshly washed car or an uncapped head, they will psychotically stalk and nail both!

San Antonio river, amusingly enough, has a couple of nice oscars in it as well... amazing they can live in that filthy thing.

(For those of you that don't know, tour and dining barges go up and down the river constantly, about 20 hours a day. The river is drained and cleaned once a year, but it's just...well.. not clean. The chemicals from all the crowded barges and what not have been known to eat a hole in the shirt of people that get splashed.)

Where are you living now biggun?

 

[biggun110]

Hi Spec73 and RamPuppy,

Mollies -- P. latipinna -- are all over the Gulf Coast, from Florida, all across the South, in Texas and down into Mexico. The ones in Texas have moved inland from the coast and the population that lives in the San Antonio area are a really big race with the males having huge sailfins. They are great. I sent some to a friend in Denmark last year. In the Yucatan, latipinna is replaced by P. velifera which is an even bigger species (5 inches) with an enormously wide and high dorsal fin on the males. Most of the big sailfins you see in stores are velifera based crosses; whereas, 30 years ago most were latipinna based crosses. The dorsal fin is not quite as nice in latipinna -- but close. In Central America, velifera is replaced by a third sailfin molly species -- petenensis. It is the biggest (6 inches) and the male has a small black sword on the bottom of his caudel fin.

There's bunches of places to collect Texas Cichlids in Texas. The San Antonio river is full of them as is the San Marcos river -- which is crystal clear and cool and full of great huge aquarium type plants. The best Texas Cichlids are half black and half blue/grey when breeding -- gorgeous. You'll see big groups of several mated pairs in a single area each one guarding eggs or fry. It's fantastic to watch. The old males get these neat head humps. We collected one that was 10 inches once.

Ram, I am in Houston. I didn't know they drained the river every year. How do they do that? What happens to the fish?

Bobby

 

[RamPuppy]

Biggun

The San Antonio river is artificial - and the water flow is controlled by locks. Every year they close them off, pump out the water, and clean up the river bed. They also search for a Texas Revolution Era cannon.

 

[D muscipula]

Hey biggun, sorry to hear about your loss. Your knowledge of the fish demographics (or should that be "ichthygraphics"?) is remarkable. I didn't realize mollies were so close at hand.