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Thread: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

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    Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

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    Always love swordtail since I am little in primary school, By chance saw this beautiful species with really big fins and red eyes, can't resist and bought myself a pair of it, anyone manage to produce fries from it?

    Just got it for a day, so far the male hasn't harress the female yet.
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    Re: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

    Quote Originally Posted by phuakokhong View Post
    Always love swordtail since I am little in primary school, By chance saw this beautiful species with really big fins and red eyes, can't resist and bought myself a pair of it, anyone manage to produce fries from it?

    Just got it for a day, so far the male hasn't harress the female yet.
    Hi. Can share where you bought from and what is cost like?

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    Re: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

    There should be stock in C328.
    Nicholas

    Newbie en el cichlid enano

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    Re: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

    This is a nice one! But, can they be bred? There's few occasion where i bought and it didnt even give birth to one fry..

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    Re: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

    Saw them at Yishun Aquastar sold in pairs, not sure if they reproduce...

    phuakokhong, let us know soon !

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    Re: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

    yes, its from C328, price a few red notes. The pair is healthy and happy so far in a 1 feet cube tank. Waiting for the male to harress the female, no sign of it yet!

    But at least the red colour on it to me resemble auspicious, like a pair of red phoenix ushering a new year!

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    Re: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

    The fish in the picture is a cross between the swordtail and one of the high-fin platy strains. The real swordtail has a shorter dorsal fin and longer more streamlined body form. That might explain why you might have difficulty getting fry from them, if this strain has fertility issues. Or that female in the picture is starting to change sex. This is common in some livebearers, especially swordtail and platy. I noticed her anal fin is pointed.

    Nice fish though.

    I'm still looking for the swordtail strains I saw as a child. Something like this:



    Pic from www.tropicalfishandaquariums.com. The swordtail I remember, had a yellow and black sword.

    And this form:



    Green swordtail. Picture from www.dpi.nsw.gov.au
    Fish.. Simply Irresistable
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    Re: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

    yea! nice fishes. albinos right? i saw C328 auntie pack their fries in a bag when 1 of de female gave birth in a bag.maybe ask her lo

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    Re: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

    Thanks for the info stormhawk. Did just read about all young swordtails in fact are female, and possible to see sex changes and then developing the long tail. Just curious, if this is the case, will the gonopodium also appear?

    My male is "very active" since last night. I think my female didnt get a good sleep! Harressment whole night and day!
    Last edited by phuakokhong; 8th Jan 2010 at 09:08.

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    Re: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

    Yes the gonopodium will form when a female changes sex to male, but fertility is lower I think. Haha you better keep an eye out on them. Sometimes the female die from too much harassment. Maybe if you want better luck, get another male. Almost always makes them work twice as hard to make the female pregnant.
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    Re: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

    Im looking for that green swordtails too! It is hard to find nowadays, when few years back, it was common in LFS.

    The green swordtail i've found recently were this:




    I bred some of them and the young are actually gray. Let me grow them up and see how the coloration change.

    Wow.. female give birth inside the bag? i would tapao that straight if im there... hehehe

    Swordtail change sex are quite common. Even the wild strains does that. Some of my Montezumae was supposingly females as it is huge and fat. But few weeks later, the sword starts to come out and the gonopodium forming... She was at 6 months old, with total length of 3 inch.

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    Re: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

    Nice swords, but yes, very hard to find the green and the usual red one nowadays. Almost always I see lyretail swordtails with the males having those extra long gonopodium.. then they cannot breed successfully..

    Nice to know you have monties up north. I haven't seen one here yet.
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    Re: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

    Penang here still can get the normal red one, while the lyretail breeding can be achieve using normal male. The lyretail gene is dominant if im not mistaken, so.. any males can do, as long as it had short gonopodium.

    Yeah, i think im the only one having monties right now.. haha.. i got a colony of 30+ swimming in my cement pond. Still waiting for them to mature and start produce some fries..

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    Re: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

    harnsheng, regarding to the picture of the green male swordtail, is the gonopodium consider on the long side or short side? Actually why is it a short gonopodium is better?

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    Re: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

    It's consider short.

    Long gonopodium cannot function properly, cant inseminate the female due to too long... that male cant even aim properly... LOL

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    Re: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

    Thanks! then my male red hi-fin swordtail is not consider long! And hopefully got good news in weeks to come!


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    Re: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

    Quote Originally Posted by huhengyi1986 View Post
    yea! nice fishes. albinos right? i saw C328 auntie pack their fries in a bag when 1 of de female gave birth in a bag.maybe ask her lo
    what do you mean albinos? if you are referring to the beige coloured swordtails, those are actually the wild coloration.
    why I don't do garden hybrids and aquarium strains: natural species is a history of Nature, while hybrids are just the whims of Man.
    hexazona · crumenatum · Galleria Botanica

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    Re: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

    Bros,

    I bred Swordtails years ago too.
    Ever noticed that when the fries reach adulthood, they will never be as big as their parent? Seems like each generation is smaller in size than the previous one.

    Years ago too, I went to one of the Jalan Kayu fish-shop and saw that it was selling Swordtails. The size is normal as those you will find in most LFS. Then I saw the breeding pair, twice as big and the colour is so intense! Tried buying from the owner but was unsuccessful.

    Bought discus instead
    Warning: All posts are based on personal experience with no creditable validation whatsoever...

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    Re: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

    If the swordtails you are breeding, has had platy genes in its genetic makeup, in many cases the subsequent offspring can get shorter in body size, especially if they are bred brother to sister or parent to offspring without any out-crossing to other swordtails that don't have the platy genes.

    Long gonopodium like those lyretail swordtail strains, will be unable to breed successfully. That is why some commercial breeders (farms etc.) retain the males that have normal gonopodiums in some batches of fry, and sell off the rest since they are incapable of inseminating the females. Sometimes they'll resort to artificial insemination.
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    Re: Xiphophorus helleri aka Swordtail

    Quote Originally Posted by phuakokhong View Post
    Always love swordtail since I am little in primary school, By chance saw this beautiful species with really big fins and red eyes, can't resist and bought myself a pair of it, anyone manage to produce fries from it?

    Just got it for a day, so far the male hasn't harress the female yet.

    yup, can be breed through


    CHeers..

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