Swordfins

[sally2]

what do you think of swordfins for beginners?

we are cycling a 47.5 gallon tank and hoping to have platys and endlers or guppies

thanks

sorry i mean swordtails- green - ive heard they are hard to look after.


thank you

 

[jayjay]

do you mean swordtails??

 

[sally2]

yes green swordtails

thanks

 

[Nevergone815]

swordtails aren't hard to look after IME. they will though readily breed with platies. and the endler's will readily breed with guppies (just a tidbit of info if you didn't know). if i'm not mistaken though the green swordtails are the natural wild type of swordtail. i want to put some in my 150 gal when i set it up. i plan to have a 150 gal south and central american community tank.

 

[Annastasia]

...and the endler's will readily breed with guppies (just a tidbit of info if you didn't know)...

You do not want to keep Endlers and Guppies together for just that reason. Pure Endlers are hard to find, and if you breed them with Guppies, that perfectly good pure-ness is gone forever. Don't keep them together.

Green Swordtails can be the wild type, but there is also a man-made version which is most likely what you're talking about, sally. They are pretty hardy fish for Beginners, as long as you have a big enough tank (which you do) and you get the stocking right. 2-3 females per male is the recommended amount, however more then one male Swordtail can cause some aggression issues. It's ususally recommened to have one per tank, just to rule out aggression, unless you have a pretty big tank.

 

[bleechme]

swordtails are just as easy to take care as other live bearers such as guppies/platy/mollies.

 

[Nevergone815]

...and the endler's will readily breed with guppies (just a tidbit of info if you didn't know)...

You do not want to keep Endlers and Guppies together for just that reason. Pure Endlers are hard to find, and if you breed them with Guppies, that perfectly good pure-ness is gone forever. Don't keep them together.

Green Swordtails can be the wild type, but there is also a man-made version which is most likely what you're talking about, sally. They are pretty hardy fish for Beginners, as long as you have a big enough tank (which you do) and you get the stocking right. 2-3 females per male is the recommended amount, however more then one male Swordtail can cause some aggression issues. It's ususally recommened to have one per tank, just to rule out aggression, unless you have a pretty big tank.

the endler's breeding with the guppies was what i was getting at sorry i didn't mention it. some people want to breed them together to get hybrids and no matter what you tell them they don't listen to reason, so i usually leave that part out to make sure a fight/debate doesn't occur that has been around hundreds od times.

nice to find out that green swordtails can be "man produced" as well. this makes me a little more cautious about paying more for "wild types" that may not be.

it comes to show you that even if you don't ask a question you could ALWAYS learn something new on this forum.

thanks anna