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 Liverbearers:
Swordtails Swordtail (Xiphophorus helleri): Many colour varieties of
Swordtails.
ORIGIN: Central America.
TEMPERAMENT: Peaceful. Mostly used in community tanks because they are
so easy to care for. Good for people new to Tropical Fish.
CARE: Feed with Live foods and flakes. Some aquarium salt in the water
will help prevent fish deseases. Very easy to breed and look after.
WATER CONDITIONS: pH 7.0 - 7.5.Temperature - 25 - 28*C. (77-82*F)
GENDER: The gender can be told by the male's anal fin (gonopodium) and
by the male's long extension fin on the bottom half of the tail fin.
Females are bigger and have a more rounded body.
BREEDING: Swordtails are livebearers. Plants should be used for the
survival of baby Swordtails, as the parents may eat their fry. Breeding
them is very easy because they are livebearers. The babies should be
removed as soon as they are free swimming to a separate tank to make
sure they survive.
COMMENTS ON THE SWORDTAIL: These fish are very facinating. They are
active, fun and nice to look at. The dominant swordtail male in a tank
will grow the longest sword on his tail. If a new male is placed in the
tank with a more dominant male, the dominant male's tail will get even
longer. It isn't unknown for a female to change into a male, especially
when affected by parasites. Among the livebearers, the swordtails are
regarded as the most active. They are the first to jump out of the
aquarium when stressed or involved in a frantic courtship. Therefore, be
sure to provide enough plants as hiding places and as deterrents to
their impulse to jump. It’s also a good idea to purchase an aquarium
cover that fits well.
What Should I Know About Keeping Swordtails?
Most swordtails will grow to about 3 inches in an aquarium (not counting
the male's tail extension), but I've seen pond-raised swordtails that
were more than 5 inches in length. You probably should consider a bigger
tank than you orginially planned on. Because swordtails should be kept
in groups, we have found than a 20 gallon is just about the minimum for
a group of 5 fish..and the fry will need to be removed from that. If you
put them in a community tank, you will need to remember that these fish
can suffer with mediocre water quality. The fish come from flowing
rivers and streams (not lakes and ponds) and prefer clean water with
frequent large water changes.
Some folks think that swordtails are rather combative and will attack
one another in too small a space, but what they are probably witnessing
is a male dominance pattern. Swordtails develop strict hiarchries in
their communities...the alpha male will be the male with the largest
sword and will defend "his" females in mostly ritualistic displays or
aggressiveness. Keeping several females and a couple of males together
in a larger tank will generally solve any problems.
Swordtails will eat commercial flake foods and live foods. We feed our
breeding stocks blackworms, grindal worms and fruitflies in addition to
flakes. They also need to have some vegetable matter in their diet, so
we add biweekly feedings of Spirulina based flakes. We also encourage
algae on the sides and the back of the tank. The fish graze on the algae
giving them a good source of plant material.
They are very adaptable to different temperatures, from the low 70s to
the low 80s. We keep our tanks at about 75 F. The Ph of our system water
is nuetral. We sometimes find a group that prefers harder water and use
the affluent from our RO unit to change water in those tanks. The
resulting water will be about 7.8. Our water has a TDS of 110 ppm.
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