Post by MADMIKE on Oct 14, 2006 14:03:14 GMT -5
Swordtail
Origin
Central America
Maximum Size
Over 4 inches in a large tank
Housing
20L aquarium great
Security
Loves planted aquaria
Temperature
Prefers 75 to 80o
Attitude
Good natured, eager eater, fantastic jumper
Foods
Loves all foods. Likes vegetable matter.
Water
Prefers pH above neutral. Add salt.
Sex Differences
Mature males sport the sword plus gonopodium
Gestation Period
6 weeks
Number of Young
Dozens – likes to eat babies
Life Span
Two years on average
Water Conditions: Swordtails prefer a pH above neutral. Swords also like salt in their water – one teasthingy per gallon. A little more couldn’t hurt.Size: Sold at under two inches, swordtails grown in large tanks can easily double that length. Swords separated by sex grow the largest. We have seen (once) a six-inch swordtail.
Sex Comments: Males chase the females all the time. Provide your males two or three females. Females grow larger than males. You can see the eyes of the developing babies in the female’s gravid spot
No Goldfish: Oddly enough, swordtails don’t mix well with goldfish. Swords constantly pick, pick, pick at goldfishes -- apparently snacking on their slime coating. Sometimes they will also pick at angelfish and gouramies.
Swordtail Foods: Swordtails eat whatever you feed them. They need foods with algae or other vegetation in them. They also constantly snack on the algae growing on your tank’s walls. Swords also love live foods, frozen foods, and their own fry. Swords also respond well to those worm flake foods that increase their litter sizes. Feed several times a day for maximum production.
Saving Fry: Swordtail eggs hatch inside the female. Swordtail fry taste good to other fishes (and to mom). They start life only a little larger than baby guppies. If you want baby swords, you need to keep your eyes open. Healthy females release live fry every six weeks. Give expectant moms a well-planted 10-gallon tank so the babies can hide. Those so-called breeder traps are too small. Moms can find their babies too easily. Keep mom well fed on brine shrimp or she will devour every one of her fry.
Protective Plants: Hornwort <Plant,%20Hornwort.htm> makes the ideal plant in a swordtail breeding tank. It grows well in any kind of water. Just give it light. It also grows thousands of tiny pine-looking leaflets for the babies to hide within and provides multiple areas for tiny edible protozoans to thrive upon.
Fry Foods: Baby swordtails eagerly eat powdered dry food. They also love newly hatched shrimps <Live%20Food,%20BS%20Eggs.htm> – even the frozen ones. They grow best when fed several times a day (up to a maximum of five times). Add snails to clean up the excess.
Origin
Central America
Maximum Size
Over 4 inches in a large tank
Housing
20L aquarium great
Security
Loves planted aquaria
Temperature
Prefers 75 to 80o
Attitude
Good natured, eager eater, fantastic jumper
Foods
Loves all foods. Likes vegetable matter.
Water
Prefers pH above neutral. Add salt.
Sex Differences
Mature males sport the sword plus gonopodium
Gestation Period
6 weeks
Number of Young
Dozens – likes to eat babies
Life Span
Two years on average
Water Conditions: Swordtails prefer a pH above neutral. Swords also like salt in their water – one teasthingy per gallon. A little more couldn’t hurt.Size: Sold at under two inches, swordtails grown in large tanks can easily double that length. Swords separated by sex grow the largest. We have seen (once) a six-inch swordtail.
Sex Comments: Males chase the females all the time. Provide your males two or three females. Females grow larger than males. You can see the eyes of the developing babies in the female’s gravid spot
No Goldfish: Oddly enough, swordtails don’t mix well with goldfish. Swords constantly pick, pick, pick at goldfishes -- apparently snacking on their slime coating. Sometimes they will also pick at angelfish and gouramies.
Swordtail Foods: Swordtails eat whatever you feed them. They need foods with algae or other vegetation in them. They also constantly snack on the algae growing on your tank’s walls. Swords also love live foods, frozen foods, and their own fry. Swords also respond well to those worm flake foods that increase their litter sizes. Feed several times a day for maximum production.
Saving Fry: Swordtail eggs hatch inside the female. Swordtail fry taste good to other fishes (and to mom). They start life only a little larger than baby guppies. If you want baby swords, you need to keep your eyes open. Healthy females release live fry every six weeks. Give expectant moms a well-planted 10-gallon tank so the babies can hide. Those so-called breeder traps are too small. Moms can find their babies too easily. Keep mom well fed on brine shrimp or she will devour every one of her fry.
Protective Plants: Hornwort <Plant,%20Hornwort.htm> makes the ideal plant in a swordtail breeding tank. It grows well in any kind of water. Just give it light. It also grows thousands of tiny pine-looking leaflets for the babies to hide within and provides multiple areas for tiny edible protozoans to thrive upon.
Fry Foods: Baby swordtails eagerly eat powdered dry food. They also love newly hatched shrimps <Live%20Food,%20BS%20Eggs.htm> – even the frozen ones. They grow best when fed several times a day (up to a maximum of five times). Add snails to clean up the excess.
