The Best Algae Eaters in Tropical Tanks: Green Swordtail

The Best Algae Eaters in Tropical Tanks: Green Swordtail – The Swordtail Xiphophorus hellerii is extremely popular. It is among the most pretty aquariam fish and quite sturdy. In the wild, it's an olive green body with at times colorful and yellow along the sides and red speckles on its fins. With this coloration, it is most often called the Red Swordtail or the Green Swordtail. Nevertheless, in captivity, it has been bred to the fantastic colors making it so highly prized today.

Photo copyright from tropicalifish.com

The Best Algae Eaters in Tropical Tanks: Green Swordtail

The Swordtail is an incredibly hardy fish that can conform to a wide array of water conditions. They are livebearers which implies that the baby fish come out free swimming. Like their livebearer counterpart, the guppy, the swordtail is a prolific breeder along with a female will give birth about once every 28 days. Please check out the breeding livebearers page to find out more if you are thinking about breeding them.

It has a bulkier body than either of those two, however, and also has a "sword" extending in the underside of the male's tail fin. This anal fin that is specialized develops as the male fish grows. The middle rays of the anal fin are changed into a narrow copulatory organ.

Feeding

In the wild, swordtails feed on a variety of invertebrates, insects, plant matter and alga, and are omnivores. This diet should be copied as closely as possible in the home aquarium and could be attained through feeding a number of foods. The principal percentage of their diet should consist of a higher quality flake food, also it will be supplements with blanched vegetables and frozen or live foods.

Habitat: Distribution

Heckel described the Green Swordtail Xiphophorus hellerii in 1848. They are seen in North and Central America, where they range in the Atlantic slopes of southern Mexico (Rio Nantla, Veracruz) to northwestern Honduras. They have been introduced to, and become established in, a number of countries in southern Africa and along the eastern coast of Australia.

Swordtail Disposition / Behaviour

The swordtail is a tough litte fish. When there are bigger fish in the tank, they are able to take care of themselves. The males could become aggressive.

Sexing

The male is also more slender and has a "sword" formed anal fin called a gonopodium. The female is rounder of body, has a fan shaped anal fin, and may have a spawning patch at breeding time.

There's an occasional tendency for a female Swordtail to alter sex and develop a "sword" on her tail, particularly when old or impacted by parasites. Though many the time they're infertile she could even try courtship with another female.

Care

Choice of décor is just not particularly critical though it will look best in a heavily-put set-up with a substrate that is dark. Wild sorts must also suit an aquarium arranged to resemble a flowing stream with water-worn rocks and little boulders.

The addition of some floating plants and driftwood roots or branches to diffuse the light going into the tank also appears to be appreciated and adds a more natural feel. Filtration will not have to be especially powerful though it does seem to value a degree of water movement.

Reproduction

Swordtails will normally breed with no intervention from their owners on their own. There is a familiar joke that to get swordtails to breed, just add water – and this isn’t far in the reality.

Behaviour and Compatibility

In confined spaces groups of males have a tendency to form dominance hierarchies and might invest a significant percentage of time keeping their various positions.