Swordtails

[mattbond]

will swordtails breed at a ph of 7.5?
what is the ideal ratio of male to females?
help plz?

 

[nosoup4you]

7.5 is actually great for Swords. The suggested male to female ratio is at least 2 (preferably more) females per male.

 

[Truck]

just remember lots of plants to represent the amazon

 

[mattbond]

theres plent of plants in there, but thinking of getting some floating ones
im a bit worried about buying and breeding swordtails from the same batch, wont they be brothers and sisters? doesnt that create stunted fry?

 

[Dan81192]

hmm, i think chances of you getting brothers/sister are rare

ph 7.5 is great though

 

[mattbond]

isnt each batch in the fish shops from the same brood though? generally

and will the fry survive in a community tank with, neon and rosy tetras, cories, 3 clown loaches, kribensis and an ancistrus?

 

[nosoup4you]

You don't really need to worry about inbreeding at this stage, it would take lots of inbreeding to cause deformities and such.

 

[mattbond]

so what would you reccommend, adding a new fish every year?

and what about the fry's survival in a community?

 

[nosoup4you]

A new fish a year sounds about right. If your tank is well planted, you should end up with a few survivors from each drop.

 

[mattbond]

thanks, will swordtails cross with platies easily or does it take special conditions?

 

[nosoup4you]

Swordtails and Platies will cross fairly easily, though will prefer to breed with their own kind if available. Most store bought Platies are already hybridized with Swords.

 

[OldMan47]

I think I'm missing something here. Why would a person want to simulate the Amazon Truckasauras? Xiphophorus are almost exclusively a Mexican group of fish and X helleri, the ancestors of most fancy swords, are definitely not at all an Amazon species.

 

[mattbond]

u'v confused me, i just want some nice wild type swordtails?

talking of that, where can i get some good looking wild type swordtails around the watford/london area?

 

[OldMan47]

Wild type swords can be very hard to find. They are most likely to be seen at club auctions and similar places. They will go by names that start with xiphophorus and can have any of a large number of second names such as helleri, montezumae or nezahualcoyotl. The different recognized varieties of wild xiphophorus include at least 28 kinds. Some are considered to be swordtails and others are considered to be platies. There are even a few that have a common name of swordtail that have no sword and vice versa. Of the wild types, the montezumae have the largest swords relative to the size of the fish so lots of folks look for them. On the other hand the nezzies are a very robust fish with a relatively short sword. The helleri are the ones that are most likely to be the ancestors of typical aquarium swordtails.

 

[helterskelter]

just remember lots of plants to represent the amazon

Oldman is correct these fish come from Mecixo and not all the rivers are heavely planted infact some locations their is almost no plants (only in the margins) and the adult fish like in the open waters.

u'v confused me, i just want some nice wild type swordtails?

talking of that, where can i get some good looking wild type swordtails around the watford/london area?

Their some 35 species of wily xiphophorus includeing the platies.
If you looking for wild fish then you need to join something like the BLA www.britishlivebearerassociation.co.uk (£12 a year)
Or viviparous.org.uk and your find plenty of options.

Dunchp and Fish48 here have some nice swords, would be better asking in the Rare livebearers section.