Swordtail fish
Long time didn’t take care of my aquarium. now no nice fish inside. so must do some research then start importing some new nice pretty fish in my aquarium. 
Common name: Swordtail
Origin: Southern Mexico and Guatemala
Maximum size: 4" or about 10cm (including tail)
Minimum Tank Size: Around 10-15 US gallons
Care:
An easy fish for beginners. Needs a temp. of 72-73*F (22-23* C.) Enjoy well-planted aquariums with plenty of room for swimming. They live in loosely grouped schools. Usually Keep 1 male for every 2 females. These fish come in a variety of colors as many other livebearers do. Some varieties include the oringinal wild-type which has olive-green backs, greenish-yellow sides, yellow belly, and a red band. There are also lyretail swords and Hi-fin swordtail varieties. They should be housed with other peaceful community fish such as other livebearers, tetra, plecostomus, among many others.
Feeding:
Takes Tropical flake, frozen, live, and freezedried foods.
Sexing:
Most likely the easiest fish to sex. Male swordtails have the lower caudal fins extended into a "sword," hence the name. Usually as long as the body, but with new varieties, some may be 3-4 times as long! The females are more rounded and do not have a "sword"
Breeding:
These fish give birth to live young. The parents tend to eat their young. At least a day or so birth takes place. (There is usually inteval of little over 30 days between broods,) the adults should be placed in a breeding trap though which the fry can escape. The young can take fine powdered food immediately, and should be fed small amounts about 3 X a day after that. The Females can store sperm for long periods of time so even if you have no males in your tank your females still might continue to give birth every 2 months or so. (These fish seem like they are always pregnant!)
Comments:
Very interesting and easy to breed fish, although they have a short life span as being inbreed over years. This can be avoided by getting a trio or more of wild swordtails and house them in a highly planted tank with medium to hard water, good lighting, varied vegetation and plenty of free swimming space.
January 16th, 2006 at 4:58 pm
my male swordtail died it,s gills seemed to have turned white or a silver color.do you know what would cause this?
January 16th, 2006 at 6:16 pm
I think your water is not clean enough or your swordtail was affected by virus or bacteria.
Try to change the water once a week to keep the water clean and put some medicine yellow powder to prevent bacteria or virus in the water
(I’m not too sure wat it call but it’s yellow color powder and made in japan, it come in a small aluminium packet and it’s quite expensive)
March 31st, 2006 at 2:17 pm
I have a female swordtail and it’s stomach looks kind of big. Is something wrong with it or is it pregnant? and how do u know if it is pregnant.
April 2nd, 2006 at 8:48 pm
i think it’s pregnant. Normally female swordtail stomach always look big if they are pregnant.
how to know if it’s pregnant?
when their stomach grow big till seems like going burst !!!
June 15th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
do the females stomach grow after eating or is that just because they are pregnant?
June 15th, 2006 at 9:19 pm
most of the time the female stomach grow big is because of pregnant. if the male always kiss the female butt then congratulation to u, your female is going to give birth
August 2nd, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Hi
I have a black female swordtail and I think that she is pregnant. I currently have a small aquarium and an orange male swordtail fish. Recently she has been hiding from him, more than usual. Right now she is currently lying on her side at the bottom of the aquarium. I dont think she is dead because i know that dead fish usually float to the top of the water. Do you think she is about to give birth or is she really dead.
August 28th, 2007 at 12:23 am
i think she is dieing i lost my female two weeks ago and she was due any day very upseting
August 28th, 2007 at 12:25 am
they dont always go to the top when dead.i have founds a few of my fish at the bottom. sorry hope this helps
October 27th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Hi, I have some sword tail fish one of my females has given bith. I had no idea that she was pregnant. I dont even know how they give birth . Can someone help me or explain to me about this kind of fish? How do they give birth? How much time are the females pregnant for? How do they breed? How often? Please help me understand more about them.
November 10th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
i brought a pair of swordtails yesturday, she looks pregnant, and it showed as she was very dark at the back of her belly, she gave birth last night , i couldnt believe it, i had no idea how to deal with it, sadley when i got up this morning i cant find any, i sat up till 12.30 watching, the little things actually come out swimming, they were so cute, im very sad 2day, but i am going to plan ahead as she could fall again in a month, thats if i got a good male, i see 7, they can have anything betwqeen 20 and 100,