Description and photo of aquarium fish swordtail
Swordtails are viviparous fish of the Poeciliidae family. The homeland of this species is mountain rivers, swamps, lakes and lagoons of Central America.
The swordtail aquarium fish was first discovered in the waters of Central America Photo: Getty The characteristic features of the swordtail's appearance are:
- head extended, pointed, slightly flattened from above;
- black eyes with a golden or silvery iris;
- narrow, slightly oblate body up to 80 mm long with a bright longitudinal strip in males;
- elongated body up to 120 mm long, more pale in females;
- the xiphoid process on the lower part of the caudal fin in males;
- gonopodia in male specimens - anal fin, transformed into the sexual organ.
Swordtails that live in overcrowdedfemales in aquariums, can change their gender. Females develop a xiphoid process on their tails, and a gonopodium gradually forms. The transformed fish acquires the ability to fertilize other females.
Red Swordtails - artificially bred aquarium fish
In the wild you can only findgreen swordtails. However, in artificial conditions, representatives of this species successfully cross with pecilia, giving life to hybrid forms with various colors. This is how representatives of the most numerous group of red swordtails are born, including the following subspecies:
- lyretail with elongated upper and lower rays of caudal fin;
- red-eyed with irises of bright orange or ruby color;
- high-flying fish with elongated dorsal fin;
- Berlin with black tail fin;
- Cuban with a wide black longitudinal stripe running below the sideline;
- bilinear with black lower and upper rays of the caudal fin;
- tiger with a lot of black spots on the body.
During the selection process, other varieties of swordtails were also bred: neon, lemon, white, gold, marble, pineapple and black.
Features of the Sword
Swordtails are kept in a spacious aquarium, densely planted with small-leaved aquatic plants. Aquarists who decide to keep these fish are recommended to:
- maintain the acidity of water in the range of pH 7–8, hardness - at the level of 8–24 ° dH;
- make sure that the water in the aquarium does not fall below 15 ° C, ideally to keep it at 22–26 ° C;
- thoroughly aerate the water;
- regularly feed the fish with greens and live food - coretica, tubule, cyclops, daphnia, bloodworms;
- Replace 1/3 of the aquarium water once a week.
Experienced aquarists do not recommend placing them in a common area.Aquarium of 2 males: the stronger individual will constantly pursue and injure the weaker one. It is advisable to have either 1 or 3 or more males that will be able to distract the attention of the dominant fish. There should be at least 3 females for each of them. In general, swordtails are unpretentious fish that do not require special conditions of maintenance. That is why representatives of this species can be called the best candidates for the role of the first inhabitants of home ponds created by novice aquarists. Read more:
