How to Mix Swordtail Fry Colors

Swordtails are one of the easier-to-keep tropical freshwater fish, making them suitable for beginners to "get their feet wet" in the aquarium-keeping hobby. Interestingly, swords are live-bearing fish, meaning they hold the eggs within their bodies until the eggs hatch, then release them into the surrounding water. If you're lucky, you may get to witness the birth of some of the swordtail fry. This birthing method makes selective breeding of the swords much easier than with many other fishes --- another instance of the swordtail's suitability for beginning aquarists. Learn the proper steps for breeding to blend the colors of these fish.

Things You'll Need

  • Aquarium
  • Tank heater
  • Fish food
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Instructions

    • 1

      Install plenty of hiding places in the aquarium for the female swords and, eventually, the fry once they are born. Thick plantings of either real or plastic plants make ideal hiding places.

    • 2

      Acclimate a male of one color and three to four female swordtails of different colors to your aquarium. (The male is the fish with what looks like a long lower tail fin. This appendage is not actually a fin at all; it's a gonopodium.) The optimum conditions for swords require you to keep your tank at a pH range of 6.8 to 7.8. Use specialty additives available at your local pet store to adjust the pH to the correct level. Using four to five different color fish will result in fry that exhibit traits of both parents, meaning they will have a blend of the mother's and father's colors.

    • 3

      Raise the temperature of the tank water to between 77 and 79 degrees with a tank heater. Slightly warmer water encourages the swords to spawn. Use an aquarium thermometer to monitor the water temperature carefully.

    • 4

      Feed the fry with a mixture of spirulina algae and baby brine shrimp as soon as they are born. You may find it helpful to separate the fry from the adult fish quickly to prevent the larger fish from eating them.