Swordtail Type Index?

[Tokis-Phoenix]

My swordtail fry are growing up nicely and some are fully mature now (though not fully grown). Their mothers are all Wild/Green type Swordtails though i have no idea what type of swordtails their fathers were as i bought the 3 mothers pregnant (though they did not appear so at the time of purchase, as we all know mature female common livebearers bought from LFS which are not pregnant are a rarity lol!). I think the fathering swordtail was probably either orange or red.

While the frys bodys are grey, they have all developed orange colouration on their fins (particularly their dorsal fins & tails, with most also having the orange spill under their dorsal fins giving an orange saddleback appearance) with a red zig-zag line down the dorsal line (which is more prominant on the males). The males have very beautiful defined long strong-coloured wild type swords (metallic yellow with black edging) and their metallic greens along their sides are becoming stronger & more vibrant by the week. Some of the older males are also starting to develop dark red pattening on their orange dorsal fins & tails.
There is one odd-one-out female fry who looks like a standard wild type swordtail, though i noticed the other day that she developing some dark speckle patterns around her dorsal fin area, so i think she could look quite interesting as she continues to grow as well.

On the whole i am really enjoying watching their progress as they grow up from fry (who were all originally born medium grey in colour) into colourful & beautifully patterned adults. They are all very healthy & very inquisitive (i love just sitting down to the tank which is in a quiet room and watching them v ), but i was wondering, are there any decent swordtail type index's out there which give the common names for the various colourations & patternings that swordtails come in?
I've seen a few, but they either have innaccurate listings or they only name a few types. Because my fry are crossbreeds/mutts i'm not sure if there is a name for their particular colouration & patterning '_' ?

 

[OldMan47]

It sounds like your swords are coming along nicely TP. Unfortunately the common names of swordtails are more a case of marketing than of genetics in most cases. If you had a specific species, with collection data, on your Xiphophorus, you might be able to do something with it. Since you have pet shop quality fish, the best that you can probably do is to identify a strain of domestic fish that you have and do your best to preserve them. For a purist like me, that would be a disappointment, but many very nice fish have no real species identity and are merely known for their special characteristics. Such fish have a value in their own right, aside from any wild content status. There are indeed recognized specialists who are known primarily for breeding particularly fancy strains of Xiphophorus. If you have obtained one of their strains, you have a fish well worth propagating and preserving.