Swordtails
SWORDTAILS
Swordtails and platys are very similar. The biggest difference is the "sword" extending from the bottom of the males' tail which is 1/4 to 1/3 the total length of the fish. Swordtails are from Central America. Like the platys, they have been interbred to produce all kinds of interesting colors and different types of finnage. Keep in a well planted tank with lots of room to swim around.Swords come in all kinds of colors and mixtures of colors. There is also a lyre tail and a high-fin varieties. Some of the more common swordtails are: Red, Red Wag, Red Tux, Painted, Neon Green, Marigold (and wag), Pineapple, Black, Red Twin bar, Sunset, and Gold Tuxedo swordtails. Since they are ominvorous these fish will generally eat all kinds of live fresh and flake foods. To keep a good balance give them a high quality flake food everyday. Feed brine shrimp (either live or frozen) or blood worms as a treat. The females get up to 4.5 inches, males are somewhat smaller at 4.0 inches. They are a good community fish although they will sometimes eat their own (and other fishes) fry. Only the male has the "sword" extension on the bottom of the tail. The male also has a gonopodium. The female is rounder of body and will have a spawning patch at breeding time. Swordtails like water temperatures of 64-82 degrees and ph of 7.0-8.3