How to create the best conditions for the swordsman in the aquarium. Aquarium swordfish How fast koi swordtails grow in an aquarium

Rybka swordsman most common among aquarium hobbyists. The swordtails were brought to Europe in 1907.

A distinctive feature of this species, for which it received its name, is gonopodium. This is a reproductive organ in the form of a xiphoid process that develops in male swordtails.

This type of fish can be easily bought at the bird market or pet store, and it is very easy to care for and breed.

DESCRIPTION

Swordtails or Xiphophorus Helleri, belong to the family pecilide, detachment - carp-toothed.

Homeland - Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Central America.

Swordtails come in a wide variety of colors: green, yellow, red, tricolor, black. The most common colors of these fish are red and red with a black fin.

All of them were obtained by artificial breeding - crossing platies with wild species of swordtails, which in nature have an olive color. Also, after numerous crossings, different forms of gonopodia appeared in swordtails.

The shape of the fish: flattened from the sides, grow up to eight centimeters in length. Females are usually larger than males. They can reach twelve centimeters in an aquarium. But males are much brighter in color.

Fish live from three to five years.

CONDITIONS OF DETENTION

To the conditions of keeping the fish, swordtails are unpretentious. It often happens that negligent owners keep their pets in three-liter jars, and the fish live and breed. But it is better not to bring the fish to such a state, but to provide them with good living conditions.

Water temperature will be optimal in the range of 25-26 degrees, but swordtails will be able to survive drops to 16 degrees.

It is better to prepare water of medium hardness, although this is not the main condition.

There must be at least three liters of water per inhabitant.

Aquarium you need to purchase the optimal size, it should be closed on top with a glass lid. During games, males can leave the aquarium by jumping out of it, especially at night.

For well-being, swordtails, like all other aquarium fish, need a constant aeration And filtration.

It is also important to equip the "home" for your pets. Aquas must contain living plants forming lush thickets. They will serve as shelters. And in the aquarium you need to provide a lot of free space for swimming.

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Video: appearance

What care is needed?

Weekly, a third of the water should be replaced with fresh, pre-settled.

You can feed swordtails with any food. But diet fish should be enriched with both live food and various combined mixtures with the addition of plant components: lettuce, algae, spinach. From live feed, daphnia, bloodworm, tubifex are suitable.

Fish are fed in the morning, preferably once a day. Shouldn't be allowed overeating because it is detrimental to their health. For one feeding, the fish are given as much food as they can eat in five minutes.

If you urgently need to leave somewhere for a week, and there is no one to look after the fish, then you don’t have to worry. Swordtails calmly do without food for a week. They can eat aquarium plaque and algae and suck out small mollusks from the shell.

COMPATIBILITY

For fish of this species, you need to choose spacious and bright aquariums that are not overcrowded with various inhabitants. Due to the lack of light, they can become aggressive and attack their neighbors. In general, swordtails are calm fish, but old individuals can run amok.

You should not settle in the same aquarium swordsmen and goldfish, because the former can eat the large and beautiful tails of the latter. And also a large number of males should not be kept together, as this will entail frequent fights.

The fish have a pronounced hierarchy, usually the main male drives the rest. It is best to have three females per male.

Swordtails will get along well with fish of about the same size, namely with:

  • Guppy;
  • Pecillia;
  • Mollies;
  • angelfish;
  • Neons;
  • Gourami.

BREEDING

In order to activate the breeding processes in swordtails, you need to raise the temperature of the water by one degree. The male will then begin courting the female. After fertilization, it is better to transfer the female to another aquarium, otherwise the male can torture her to death.

The "tummy" of the female will begin to gradually increase, future eggs will ripen in it. fry. The duration of pregnancy is about forty days. On the full abdomen of the female will appear dark spot- this will be a signal for the imminent approach of childbirth. Then the fish gives birth to fry.

Spawning lasts from three to twelve hours, depending on the number of offspring. The female swordtail can produce a very different number of fry: from five to more than a hundred pieces. The number of juveniles depends on the age and size of the fish.

The cubs are also weaned from the mother, as she can easily devour them, like other representatives of the aquarium inhabitants, if you have not previously weaned the female. After giving birth, the female is returned back to the general aquarium.

The fry are born quite full-fledged fish, able to move and feed on their own. They are fast growing and active. You can feed them with daphnia, brine shrimp, cyclops and add spirulina to the diet.

Sex characteristics, namely the anal xiphoid process in males, appear 3-4 months after birth. By the age of five months, juvenile swordtails have already reached puberty. What the fry will become: female or male depends on the temperature of the water. Males will turn more if the temperature is around 29 degrees.

Video: reproduction

Viviparous or not

Swordtails are viviparous fish. They also have some amazing features:

  • The female can turn into a male on her own(she will have a xiphoid process, and she will be able to fertilize females, but in this case, almost all females will be born, and sometimes become barren);
  • After fertilization, the female can give birth up to eight more times without a male.(she can "freeze" the sperm in herself, and then fertilize herself).

DISEASES

When you buy a new fish, always pay attention to the condition of its appearance. The presence of plaque on the body in the form of white grains or fluff will indicate a fungal disease. In this case, you should not immediately plant the swordsman in a common aquarium.

If there are also any sores and blotches on the body, this may indicate a viral infection. It is better to refrain from buying such fish if you are a beginner aquarist. Because viral fish diseases are difficult to fight and recognize.

The swordtail is common among aquarium fish breeders. Even a schoolboy can cope with its maintenance and care.

In swordtails, it is easy to distinguish a female from a male. Males are brighter and have a "sword" on the anal fin.

With proper care, this viviparous fish will reproduce perfectly, giving offspring every month, and delight its owner with bright colors.

One of the most popular exotic domestic fish is the old-timer of many aquariums and the favorite of not only experienced but also beginner aquarists - the swordtail. Many breeders liked Xiphophorus Helleri for its cheerful disposition, mobility, variety of shapes, species and colors, as well as unpretentiousness to living conditions. Nevertheless, it won’t hurt to learn some of the subtleties of keeping and caring for these fish, and this article will help with this.

The homeland of the swordsmen are Central America, Southern Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. These fish have chosen there overgrown reservoirs with slowly flowing or stagnant waters.

In nature, only green swordtails are found, and all aquarium varieties are artificially bred by selection and crossing with platies.

The fish were brought to Europe by the doctor and botanist B.K. Geller. They got their name for the xiphoid outgrowth on the caudal fin, which is found only in males (translated from Greek, xiphos is a sword, phoros is to carry).

Description

Aquarium swordtails have a body of 5-8 cm, elongated and laterally compressed. Their mouths are slightly upturned to make it easier to take food from the surface of the water. Females are larger with a prominent abdomen and rounded fins, are duller in color, and do not have a sword on the caudal fin. With good care, these fish can please owners for up to five years, which is considered the average life expectancy.

Initially, swordtails were only brownish-olive with a silvery sheen, a pale reddish stripe along the body and a yellow, red or green sword. But today many varieties of black, lemon, red color have been bred, there are even spotted individuals. Breeders also experimented with fins, resulting in fish with elongated fins and even with two swords.

Male swordsman of natural color.

Behavior in the aquarium

The character of the swordsmen is peaceful, they, as a rule, do not show aggression towards representatives of their own species. It can be kept in the same container with neons, tetras, minors, thorns, zebrafish, guppies, various types of catfish, angelfish, etc. It is undesirable to settle with veil fish, since the tails and fins of the latter are at risk of being plucked.

Swordtails should not be placed together with large aggressive fish such as astronotus, acara, cichlazoma and the like.

Within the species, skirmishes and fights can occur between males, especially if there are only two of them in the aquarium. Therefore, experienced aquarists recommend housing at least three male swordtails at the same time.

How to arrange a habitat?

When choosing an aquarium, it is better to stop at a wide version, with a volume of at least 30 liters. The calculation should be such that one fish has three liters of water. The length of the container is recommended to be at least 30 cm. A lid or glass is required on top, as swordtails are very nimble and can accidentally jump out.

As for the quality of water, it is better to stick to the temperature within 18-26 degrees, hardness 8-22 DH, acidity 7-8 pH.

The purity of the water is very important, so installing a filter will be useful. Regularly (about once a week) you need to replace the water by a third of the volume of the aquarium, before having stood it for about a day.

To prevent diseases of the swordsmen, experts recommend adding a tablespoon of sea or table salt for every 10 liters of water. But this is not always possible, as it can negatively affect other inhabitants of the aquarium and plants.

Fish do not tolerate a lack of oxygen in the water, so aeration is a prerequisite for their maintenance.

Lighting should be good, but not in direct sunlight.

Swordsman color "koi".

The soil can be taken in any color and texture.

As for algae, for the background it is better to arrange dense thickets of kabomba, toothed elodea and the like. On the side of the aquarium, small-leaved and long Indian limnophila, glitter, and pinnate are planted. It is good to place Riccia on the surface of the water. The foreground should be free space for swimming and feeding.

You can decorate the aquarium with stones, grottoes, snags. But this is not necessary, since swordsmen do not need shelters.

What to feed?

Unpretentiousness in food is another of the advantages of these fish. But in order for their growth and development to be the best, nutrition should be diversified and alternated. What can be used?

  1. Dry, live and frozen food ().
  2. Vegetable food prepared independently (algae, spinach, nettle, lettuce leaves are scalded with boiling water and then crushed).
  3. Non-standard top dressing: boiled egg yolk, crackers, squid or boiled fish. Of course, everything must first be crushed.

Swordtails are not only omnivorous, but also prone to overeating, so fasting days and even a week-long hunger strike will not hurt them.

Remaining food should be removed so that the water in the aquarium stays clean longer.

A swordsman with a forked tail.

About diseases

These fish don't get sick very often. The main causes of diseases of the swordsmen are non-compliance with the conditions of detention, colds and infections that have come in with food.

After buying new pets, you need to especially carefully check them for plaque, fluff, rashes or sores on the body. If any of the above is present, then the fish is sick.

A salt bath (at the rate of one tablespoon of salt per liter of water) for 15-20 minutes will help treat your pet and prevent general infection in the aquarium. You can fix the effect of the bath by placing the fish for two days in a weak solution of methylene blue (temperature about 25 degrees).

For the treatment of diseases of the gills, scales, as well as for infectious individuals, trypaflavin and biomycin are used in solutions.

A female with an upper tail.

If the aquarium is overpopulated with female swordtails, then they can change their gender to male. At the same time, the xiphoid process grows in them and a gonopodium appears on the anal fin. Males do not have the gift of reincarnation.

Now, having studied the features of keeping and caring for swordtails, even novice lovers of these fish will be able to create ideal conditions for their pets.

In every home where there is a child, sooner or later, conversations about pets begin. The kid several times a day asks his parents for a bird, then a dog, then a kitten ... He wants to look after and watch someone, feed the pet, play with him and take him for a walk, show off his new friend to his comrades. But what if the apartment is too small for a dog, dad is allergic to cat hair, and mom just can’t stand the piercing sounds made by a parrot?

fish

A great way out is to get an aquarium! There is a minimum of hassle with fish, and the whole family will get the maximum aesthetic pleasure! In addition, these bright tropical creatures can be admired endlessly. Such contemplation of the domestic underwater world calms, gives and has a beneficial effect on the psyche.

Plus, the aquarium will add a juicy touch to the decor of the room, and your child will look after its inhabitants, thus getting used to discipline and responsibility. Moreover, a modern "house" for fish can look like anything! The aquarium can easily be chosen so that it harmoniously fits into the overall style of the nursery. Be sure to take the baby with you to the pet store, let him, as an adult, help you choose the tank of the desired shape and size, find tenants for it. In addition to fish, you can buy unhurried snails, a variety of algae, as well as all kinds of paraphernalia - decorative locks and elegantly curled shells. As for the choice of the pets themselves, it is better to start with unpretentious types of fish, such as guppies, mollies, zebrafish, barbs, neons ...

swordsmen

For more pampered angelfish, funny shrimp and slow telescopes, if you want, come back later. Explain to your child that you first need to learn how to handle simpler fish. Naturally, in any case, consultation with the seller is necessary. He will make sure that there are no predatory and peaceful fish in one "house"; advise food, soil, decorations, a net; will tell you which compressors, filters and lighting devices are most convenient to use.

Surely, the swordfish will also be on the list of inhabitants proposed by him.

These undemanding fish (most often bright red or black) with beautiful sharp tails are ideal as first pets for your baby. Firstly, they do not need special conditions of detention, secondly, they easily get along with other types of fish, and thirdly, they are viviparous. The reproduction of swordtails in an aquarium, one might say, occurs almost by itself. And imagine how much joy a child will have when he sees the first fry that will grow before his eyes!

Reproduction of aquarium fish

So, the choice is made - the swordsmen. Reproducing them is a fairly simple process. Fish reach sexual maturity at the age of 6-8 months. The female of the swordsman is larger, the male is smaller, but only he has the famous long tail in the form of a sword, for which, in fact, this species got its name. Therefore, it will not be difficult to distinguish between them and understand how many “boys” and “girls” are in the aquarium. Better to have more females than males. There is one more detail: if there are only two males, they can behave aggressively towards each other and often fight.

Therefore, let it be either one or four or more - then their attention is scattered, and aquarium swordfish will behave much calmer. Consider this nuance when buying them.

To get offspring, you need to maintain a stable water temperature, make sure that the filter works well, there are areas shaded by algae where fry can hide. Moreover, it is desirable that the plants be different - both those that are planted in the ground, and those that float on the surface (duckweed, Riccia, Pistia).

Approximately once a week, or as it evaporates, you should carefully add a certain amount of clean water to the aquarium. Only, God forbid, not from the tap!

First, it must stand for at least three days, and only then can this water be used. Of course, from now on, the sacred duty of the child is to feed the fish on time. Swordtails eat mostly live food, such as bloodworms, tubifex, daphnia, or cyclops. However, they do not disdain combined types of food, and crushed oatmeal, or they can pinch algae.

Aquarium swordfish will not be lost, even if you decide to leave them for a week, for example, to go on vacation to the village. They will be able to find food at the bottom of the aquarium and its walls, among pebbles and on plants. But this does not mean that they can be left to themselves without looking into the aquarium for 2-3 weeks.

Features of keeping fish

When biological balance is established in the "fish house", the swordtails get used to each other, their reproduction will take place without outside interference. One fine day, the child will simply notice that one or even several females have noticeably “rounded out”, become more pot-bellied and slower. Explain to him that soon the fish will have babies. Here will be joy!

Pregnancy lasts about a month and a half, and after this time a whole flock of fry is born. There can be as many as 15-20 pieces, or much more, sometimes the number reaches up to a hundred. These are fully formed fish, only small and translucent. They independently swim, feed, have the instinct of self-preservation - they hide in the branches of algae, swim under decorative ornaments. However, if you want to keep all the fry, at first they still need to create special conditions. So, it is better to move a pregnant female shortly before giving birth from other inhabitants of the underwater world.

Important note

For this purpose, a small aquarium or even an ordinary glass liter jar washed with baking soda is suitable. There you need to pour part of the settled water and part of the water from the aquarium, plant a couple of plants. It is desirable that the algae be small-leaved and of both types - ground and floating, then it will be easier for newborns to hide in them. Let the child carefully, with a special net, catch the expectant mother and quickly launch her into the prepared temporary dwelling.

After the offspring is safely born, the female must be returned back to the aquarium, since with her sharp teeth she is able to destroy careless fry. It is better to feed newborns with cyclops and daphnia. When the fish in the bank grow up a little, they can be hooked up to the rest of their relatives.

In fish such as swordtails, breeding under favorable conditions - stable water temperature, good lighting, live food - can occur every month. The fry quickly turn into sexually mature individuals. So, already in 3-4 months, the males will acquire a tail-sword, and in a couple of months full-fledged adult swordtails will swim in the aquarium. Reproduction of fish will begin again ... However, if pregnant females are not resettled in another container, such a law of nature will operate, during which not all fry will survive, but only the most dexterous and nimble ones.

A small conclusion

Here they are unpretentious, swordfish. Their reproduction, as you already understood, practically does not need any correction, and if you give them free rein, the inhabitants of your underwater world will multiply to such an extent that you can give fry to all your friends and relatives. We wish you success in breeding them!

For breeding swordfish, you need to use special glass spawners. In the same place, fry of the swordtail can grow and develop. Caring for them in such a tank will not be easy even for a novice aquarist. Sword fry are born immediately ready for a full life.

What to do after childbirth?

After giving birth, they fall to the bottom of the aquarium, then rise to the surface to take their first breath. For one spawning, a female swordsman can bring into the world 50-200 cubs, which depends on the age and type of fish. After the first spawning, there will be 30-50 fry, in the next - 70-100 and more.

After the end of childbirth, the female must be transferred to a common aquarium so that she does not harm the fry. The female and male of the swordsman do not provide care for their offspring. Also, the female can be transferred to the sump, feeding her with food so that she gains strength.

See how to breed swordsmen.

If you are planning to breed swordtails in a community tank, plant small-leaved plants in the tank that can form dense thickets. In them, the fry will hide from the attack of adult fish. The following types of plants are suitable for shelter: toothed elodea, kabomba, myriophyllum, aponogeton, vallisneria, isoztis.

After the fry are born in the community tank, they can be transplanted using a small mesh net. If there is little hiding place in the tank, adult swordtails will hunt the brood by eating it. As a result, few cubs will remain alive. Newborn fish are already formed, have a bright color, so they are easy to spot, which simplifies their care.



How to raise newborn fish

The fry are born in the morning, their average size is 10 mm in length. Their body is formed, translucent with bright shades, the yolk sac is visible, the contents of which ended in fetal development. After they calm down at the bottom, they will begin to swim chaotically. The fry of the swordsman adapt well to the conditions of life in the aquarium, the first days of their life they stay in a flock and swim in the upper layers of the water. They prefer to hide in plants, during a fright they blur sharply in all directions.

Caring for swordtail fry can deliver some surprises. The fact is that the number of males and females in the brood depends on the temperature of the water. At low temperatures, more females appear, at high temperatures - males. The water in which the fry live needs to be replaced once a week, 25% of the total. Babies are sensitive to environmental pollution. Be sure to purify the water with an internal filter, and saturate the water with oxygen using a compressor.

Newborn fry can be fed with brine shrimp nauplii, cyclops nauplii, ciliates, microworms, nematodes, rotifers and other live food. At the age of 1 month, fry can be fed chopped tubifex, branded food for fry of live-bearing fish, hard-boiled egg yolk. It is recommended to feed fry 2-3 times a day in small portions, all food should be ground into powder. With a diet enriched with protein, they will grow faster, adult fry will be easier to care for.



If the feeding rules were followed, then small swordtails will grow 5-6 cm in size by the age of three months. At this time, small males will have the first rays on the caudal fin, which will resemble a sword. To prevent inbreeding and premature mating, babies should be sorted into separate aquariums, males separately from females. They can become sexually mature at 6-8 months, but this depends on the water temperature. Some become sexually mature at three months. During puberty, the anal fin of males turns into a cone-shaped gonopodium, while in females it is rounded.

If different species of swordtails live in a common aquarium, they can interbreed with each other, bringing fry with a beautiful appearance. An exception is the breeding forms of these fish, which must be protected from such crossing. An interesting fact is that swordtails do not have sex chromosomes, therefore, with age, a female can become a male, and vice versa.

The permissible temperature for keeping fry in the spawning ground is 22-26 ° C, however, having matured, changes may occur with them. With a shortage of male or female individuals, the swordsmen try to preserve their appearance. If a female and a male (former female) interbreed, then their cubs will be female.


The swordtail is almost the most unpretentious aquarium fish. This species first appeared in 1964 and has only been gaining popularity ever since.
The long outgrowth on the tail of the males gave the name to the fish. They are loved for their unpretentiousness, beauty, variety of species and ease of breeding.

In general, the swordfish aquarium fish is peaceful, individuals get along well in aquariums with other species. But their characters may differ, bullies come across, mainly for males. Most often they show aggression towards each other.

It is recommended to keep the fish in an aquarium that is densely planted, but also with free space for swimming. The presence of algae floating on the surface of the water will help diffuse the light and provide an excellent hiding place for future fry.

Like other viviparous fish, these individuals take root well in salt water, but it is not necessary to do it on purpose.

Differences between males and females

Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish small females and male swordtails from each other, but it is possible with certain knowledge. Naturally, at first it is important to pay attention to the fin on the tail, which is long on the bottom of the males and resembles a sword. In females, there is no such difference.

In addition, you should examine the fin next to the anus, located at the bottom of the abdomen. In males, it has an unusual shape - it is elongated and looks like a tube. Thanks to him, he fertilizes the eggs in the abdomen of the female. The same fin in females is rounded in shape.

Males and females do not differ in coloration. And because of the many crosses, hybrids of any shade are bred.

The swordfish aquarium fish is unusual in that females are able to turn into males. The sex of the fish is formed in several stages.

Among the fish of the age of 4 months, small males are first formed, and after a while some of the females also become males. Some of these females have already spawned at first. But if you keep the swordsmen in favorable conditions, then they will not change their gender.

Varieties of fish

  1. - is distinguished by its olive color with a greenish tint. Along the horizontal of the body, he has a bright red stripe and a few more lighter ones. The body is flattened from the sides, and the sword on the tail of the males is beautifully bordered. Females are slightly larger, their shades are lighter.
  2. variety of the previous species. Its difference lies only in the yellowish tint of the body. They do not survive well when breeding.
  3. - also an albino variety, but they are more viable than lemon ones.

  4. Black - a hybrid from crossing green swordsmen and black pelicia.
    Their body is somewhat wider compared to the usual species. Color - black with a greenish or bluish tint. Fish often suffer from a disease associated with an excess of pigments in the body. This makes it difficult for them to reproduce.

  5. Red - were obtained by crossing green swordsmen and red pelicia
    . The species is distinguished by a bright red body color.

  6. - they were named so due to the tricolor color - the main white color of the body is complemented by several large black and reddish spots.

  7. Rainbow - similar in color to Australian rainbow fish
    . Their body is gray-green in color with an orange sheen. Along are red-brown stripes. The fins of the fish are bright orange.

  8. - they got their name because of the pronounced black spots on a red background. Males have a long sword on their tail.

  9. Mountain
    - their body is creamy yellow, and on the sides there are small spots and barely noticeable zigzags.

  10. - the birthplace of this species in nature - the country of Mexico. The size of individuals is from 5 to 5.5 cm, females are also larger than males. On the body from the tail to the eye is a brown stripe in the form of a zigzag. The scales of the fish are gray-yellow, and there are specks on the back fin. The sword on the tail of males grows up to 2 cm in length and is distinguished by a yellow color.

  11. Micro-sword swordsman (Xiphophorus xiphidium) - this species also lives naturally in the Mexican climate zone. The female swordtail reaches 5 cm, while the male does not grow more than 4 cm. This type of beige or olive hue with or without vertical stripes. There are dark spots on the tail. The sword on the tail of males is transparent and short, only 5 mm.

  12. Swordsmen of Clementia
    (Xiphophorus clemenciae) - individuals reach 4.5 - 5 cm in length, but the female is much larger than the male. Silver-blue body with reddish horizontal stripes. The sword on the tail of the male is large - up to 3.5 cm in length.

  13. Montezuma swordsman (Xiphophorus montezumae) - the body length of the female of this species reaches 7 cm, and the male - a maximum of 5 cm. The body is painted in a lilac shade, which turns brown on the back. Also on the body are several zigzag stripes that are paler than the base color. The male is distinguished by a yellow dorsal fin with a dark speck.

  14. Swordsman KoiKohaku
    , otherwise Santa Claus - this species is distinguished by three large spots of bright red color on the white body of the fish. Santa Clauses can be up to 10 cm long.

  15. (forked) - got its name due to the unusually forked shape of the tail.

  16. - a variety of bright red with black fins.

  17. - a large individual, growing up to 10 -12 cm in length, excluding the tail in males. The lower fin resembles a pike, and the lower part of the abdomen is darkened.

  18. - has bright orange fins and the same color lower half of the body.

  19. - so called because of its dorsal fin, it is large and resembles a sail in appearance. A subspecies is considered to be a swordsman ruby ​​flag of deep red color. Also a subspecies of the flag species is the red black-tailed.
  20. - is a selection form of green swordsmen with an unusual tail fin.

How to properly feed the swordsmen

These fish can be fed flakes, fresh live or frozen food, and other suitable aquarium fish food. They require a varied diet including plant-based foods high in fiber. The thing is that in natural conditions, almost the entire diet consists of algae and their fouling.

It is impossible to plant a huge number of plants in an aquarium, so you can always buy special bait based on plant components. It is recommended to make these flakes the basis of the diet, and give live food only as a supplement in a small amount. You can choose any live food, as the fish are completely unpretentious in food.

How is reproduction

Swordtails are viviparous fish, the fry appears already fully formed. The eggs are fertilized inside the body of the female and hatch until fully mature. This time is about 30 days.

Breeding fish in a home aquarium is very simple. Males are constantly active. The main thing is to plant the female in time to save the fry and they become food.
When a female swordsman becomes very fat and a dark spot appears on her abdomen, it means that the time of childbirth is approaching. It can be left in the general aquarium, but too few fry will survive, as other fish will quickly eat them.

If you want to breed a large number of fry, you need to transplant the female before giving birth and equip this place with a large number of dense plants. She gives birth most easily in thickets, and after giving birth she chases fry, so they will be calmer in shelter.

So, after getting acquainted with the peculiarities of the care, maintenance and breeding of swordtails, even novice aquarists will be able to create suitable conditions for the life of fish.

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