Swordtail

Current setup for my cauliflower sabretail females. Livebearers are not my usual cup of tea, but these were to beautiful for me to pass up!

are they swordtails or platies coz they look too short to be swordtails.

Do you make your own tanks? I love the shallow set ups.

GaryE said:

Do you make your own tanks? I love the shallow set ups.

Click to expand...

Yes , that shallow water level looks nice . Mimics a creek or river well . Seems to suit your Swordtails .

Colin_T said:

are they swordtails or platies coz they look too short to be swordtails.

Click to expand...

Swordtails. My fish lady didn't have any extra males available.

GaryE said:

Do you make your own tanks? I love the shallow set ups.

Click to expand...

These are UNS 60s 10g tanks. Basically a chopped down 20g

@emeraldking what do you reckon these are?

I seem to remember reading somewhere , once upon a time , that Swordtails are a river type fish that like shallow moving water . If that’s the case then a six foot aquarium , open topped and filled about ten inches deep with a power head to move the water would be ideal . They could jump and frolic and cavort to their Swordtail‘s delight . Yeah , that would be something to see , an aquarium that encouraged jumpers to act naturally .

Colin_T said:

@emeraldking what do you reckon these are?

Click to expand...

Well Colin, these are actual swordtails. I had them as well. But by the phenotype of these females, I can't tell whether they're saber or normal cauliflower swords. Females of both cauliflower swords look the same. I use to keep the normal cauliflower swords. The saber cauliflower males have a saberlike shaped sword (so, broad at the tip and a normal cauliflower male has got a pointy sword tip).

Above: A normal cauliflower swordtail couple.
Below: A saber cauliflower swordtail male.

Back in the fold said:

I seem to remember reading somewhere , once upon a time , that Swordtails are a river type fish that like shallow moving water . If that’s the case then a six foot aquarium , open topped and filled about ten inches deep with a power head to move the water would be ideal . They could jump and frolic and cavort to their Swordtail‘s delight . Yeah , that would be something to see , an aquarium that encouraged jumpers to act naturally .

Click to expand...

Yes, most wild swordtail species occur in shallow waters...

Colin_T said:

are they swordtails or platies coz they look too short to be swordtails.

Click to expand...

Colin, in the wild there are also wild swordtail species than don't have a more stretched body. Most people refer to the stretched bodyshape of the Xiphophorus hellerii.
But I also have to say that this breeding form was bred as a short bodied swordtail, just like the socalled short bodied platies and guppies. But fortunately, it's not a balloon shaped body. So, the organs are not cramped. They also carry the Hi-fin gene. The shape of the dorsal is the same as in rose fin guppies.

Most offered cauliflower swords are red like these but nowadays also other color morphs are available. Cauliflower swordtails do exist already for a number of years.

The males my local breeder has have the sabertails like the ones in your pic. She didn't have any extra males. This is just a temporary tank until the females pop.

Keep us informed on what happens with them because they are interesting.

@Colin, overhere some snapshot photos of cauliflower swords which I took when I was at a Dutch wholesaler.

emeraldking said:

@Colin, overhere some snapshot photos of cauliflower swords which I took when I was at a Dutch wholesaler.

View attachment 334791View attachment 334792View attachment 334793

Click to expand...

Those are beautiful! These are the first livebearers I've tried to keep. I mainly deal with predator sp.

Overhere a short video of some...