Swordtail: Complete Care And Breeding Guide

Swordtails live in the tributaries of rivers and streams, also known as tailwaters. They can be found in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Their habitats include slow-moving rivers with muddy bottoms or still lakes with plenty of plants for cover.

The fish can grow up to 10 inches long! Unfortunately, swordtails are not easily bred in captivity, so they’re not ideal pets for hobbyists or beginners. However, they do make excellent pond fish!

Swordtails are a variety of cichlid fish. They belong to the Cichlidae family, which comprises over 1,650 different species of fish. This family includes both freshwater and saltwater varieties. Most swordtails only grow ten inches long at most, but some can grow as long as sixteen or seventeen inches!

Swordtail Behavior

Swordtails are a type of fish known for their lively and entertaining personalities. They are very active and love to move around in their tanks. Because of this, it’s essential to provide them with plenty of space to swim in. They are also schooling fish, so it’s best to keep at least three or four of them together. Swordtails are omnivorous and will eat various foods, including both meaty and plant-based items. A varied diet of flakes, frozen foods, and live food is recommended for optimum health.

Swordtails are peaceful fish that make great community tank residents. They can be housed with other non-aggressive species, including catfish, rainbow fish, tetras, barbs, gouramis, goldfish, and loaches. It’s even possible to keep them with different swordtail varieties! However, because they are so active and lively, it’s unwise to house them with slower or less active fish.

Swordtail Lifespan

Swordtails have a lifespan of around five years in captivity. In the wild, they can live for up to eight years.

Swordtail Appearance

Swordtails are a type of fish that have an attractive appearance. They have a slim, crescent-shaped body with long dorsal and anal fins. In most varieties, the male is more colorful than the female, but in some, he’s less colorful or lacks any color at all!

Swordtail Habitat And Tank Requirements

Swordtails are very active fish, so they’re best kept in tanks that can accommodate their energetic personalities. They should be housed in at least a 55-gallon tank, and the bigger, the better! Although they enjoy swimming around open areas of the tank, swordtails also like to dart into hiding places to sleep and rest. So make sure your tank has plenty of hiding places for them to use!

Lighting should also be considered when you’re setting up the tank. Swordtails are active during the day, so bright lighting is best at night or when they are less active. Make sure your plants are firmly rooted if you plan on using live plants in the tank, as swordtails are active and like to rearrange the decor!

Unlike many other fish, swordtails can tolerate a wide range of water conditions. Use water with a neutral pH and medium hardness to be on the safe side. Soft water is not advised as it can cause bladder problems in fish. Swordtails originate from soft-water habitats, so they adapt well to less-than-ideal water conditions. However, they will do much better when housed in ideal water parameters.

Swordtails are not fussy eaters and enjoy various foods such as pellets, flakes, frozen foods, and live food items. They also appreciate the occasional treat of fresh vegetables! However, remember that swordtails are omnivorous, so don’t depend on plants for their primary diet.

Swordtails are not very picky about their tank decor, but they will appreciate a little bit of greenery in the form of live plants. Plastic plants and real plants can be used together in the same environment with no problems! Driftwood is also well-appreciated, as swordtails are known to enjoy digging around in it during some of their free time.

Swordtail Tank Requirements

• pH: 6.5-7.5
• Temperature: 70-80°F
• Hardness: 5-19 dH
• Lighting: Bright lighting is needed at night or when the fish are less active.

Many people like to keep plants and plastic plants in their swordtail tanks, but if you do this, you need to make sure the plants are firmly rooted. Swordtails like to rearrange the tank during some of their free time so that they can uproot any floaters or lightweight plants!

Swordtails originate from soft-water habitats, so they do well in water with a pH of 6.5-7.5 and a hardness of 5-19dH. This is not to say that they can’t live in harder or softer water, but the ideal ranges are what’s best for them.

Swordtails are omnivorous fish, so make sure your tank has both plants and some sinking pellets for them to eat. Floating plants are well-appreciated, as swordtails like to sleep under them sometimes! Swordtails enjoy eating live food, but they also like the occasional vegetable treat.

Swordtail Tank Size

Swordtails are active, lively fish. Because of this, they need plenty of space to swim around in! As a minimum requirement for a single swordtail, you’ll want at least a 10-gallon tank for them to have enough space to get some swimming action going on. For best results, it’s recommended that you keep your swordtails in at least a 30-55 gallon tank.

The bigger the tank, the better! Swordtails need to be housed with other peaceful fish, and if they’re kept in a small tank, it can cause stress for them. So to keep your swordtails healthy and happy, make sure they have plenty of room to swim around in!

Best Tank Mates For Swordtails

Swordtails are peaceful fish and enjoy having friends of their own kind to swim around with. Their tank mates can include many similar species such as Platies, Mollies, and Guppies! However, swordtails tend to be a bit more territorial than the others, so it’s recommended that you keep one male Swordtail per tank unless you have a very large tank.

As mentioned before, Swordtails will also get along swimmingly with other peaceful species of similar size and disposition.

Just make sure your tank mates are not fin-nippers! Swordtails have long, flowing fins that can be nipped at by fish (even their own kind) who enjoy eating the ends off of things. Fin-nippers should be avoided at all costs, as this can cause stress and illness for your Swordtails.

Here is a list of compatible tank mates for Swordtails:

• Platies
• Mollies
• Guppies
• Neons
• White Cloud Mountain Minnows
• Danios
• Algae Eaters (such as Plecos)
• Cory Catfish

Here is a list of species that are NOT compatible with Swordtails:

• Bettas
• Gouramis
• Goldfish
• Cichlids

How To Feed Swordtails

Like other livebearers, Swordtails are an omnivorous species that will eat both plant-based food and meaty items. They enjoy a diet consisting of plant matter, vegetables, algae wafers, sinking pellets, and frozen foods such as bloodworms and brine shrimp.

Swordtails also appreciate the occasional treat of fresh vegetables such as cucumber and zucchini (a type of squash).

Swordtails like to eat at night, so it’s recommended that you feed them around their light schedule instead of during the day. Their staple diet should consist of high-quality pellet food with added vegetable matter such as algae wafers and sinking pellets.

Making sure your Swordtails get a balanced diet is not only good for them, but it will also make sure they get all the nutrients they need to stay healthy. So this is always an essential part of fish care!

Swordtail Common Diseases and Illnesses

Swordtails are generally hardy fish that enjoy robust health and seldom become ill. However, just like any other species of fish out there, they can develop issues with their immune system if they’re stressed or kept in bad conditions.

Here are some common Swordtail diseases/illnesses:

Swim Bladder Disease (SBD)

Swim Bladder Disease (SBD) is a bacterial infection affecting any fish species. When your Swordtail has SBD, it’s basically got an air bubble inside its body cavity; this air bubble takes up space in its swim bladder and prevents them from moving around. This makes finding food difficult for the fish and can cause other harmful effects.

Fish in this condition should not be in your tank and should be provided with a separate tank to live in until they recover. This will prevent them from slowly starving to death while you nurse them back to health.

Dropsy (edema)

Dropsy (also known as edema) is another bacterial infection that can affect all fish species out there, not just Swordtails. It’s caused by a bacterial infection in the kidneys, responsible for removing waste from your fish’s body.

Dropsy can be very difficult to see because symptoms may not appear until much later when the disease has already begun to rot your poor fish from within. Symptoms include bulging eyes, a bloated body, and scales with a pinecone-like appearance.

As with SBD, Dropsy is not something you want to see in your fish tank. Have your fish examined by a veterinarian as soon as possible if you suspect it may be suffering from this disease so they can begin treatment ASAP!

Fin Rot

Like most livebearers, Swordtails are susceptible to developing fin rot. Fin Rot is caused by a bacterial infection that eats away at the fins of your fish; bacteria can be introduced into your tank via live plants, filter media, and aquarium decorations.

Bad water quality also contributes to fin rot, so always make sure you do your part in keeping your tank clean. This means not overstocking your tank, adding the recommended amount of de-chlorinator to water changes, and also ensuring you perform regular water tests.

Bloat

Swordtails are prone to developing bloat, an infection that causes their stomach to inflate with gas; this can cause them to float at the top of the tank or even be unable to swim down in the water.

Bloat is again another bacterial infection that can also be caused by diet. Fish that are fed too much or fish food that’s too rich for their system are more prone to developing bloat, which is why they must be fed a balanced diet consisting of both plant matter and meaty foods.

Dropsy, Edema and Bloat Prevention

As mentioned before, water quality is an essential factor in preventing disease in your fish tank. Cleaning your tank regularly (once every two weeks) will make sure ammonia levels don’t rise too high; increased levels of ammonia can cause severe damage to your Swordtails’ gills.

Feeding your fish a balanced diet will also ensure they have all the nutrients they need to build a strong immune system and ward off disease. You should feed them both meaty and plant-based foods and flake food that contains plenty of vitamins and minerals.

Stress Relief

Its important Swordtails are not stressed, so give them a nice big aquarium with plenty of places to hide. The more space they have to swim around in and explore, the happier and healthier they will be.

Swordtails are shoaling fish that should always be kept in groups of at least five individuals; this makes it easier for them to establish their own territory within your tank. If you’re housing more than one male in your tank, make sure there are plenty of places they can hide while the female is on heat to prevent them from fighting with each other.

How To Breed Swordtails

Swordtails are livebearers, and like most other live-bearing fish (such as guppies and platys), they’re very easy to breed; in fact, Swordtails will reproduce independently if you provide them with the right conditions.

You’ll need to introduce a male and female into your tank to start this process off. The female should start getting plumper in the belly partway through her pregnancy, at which point you can separate them into their own tank.

The gestation period of a Swordfish is around eleven weeks, after which time you may notice tiny growths similar to black spots on your female fish’s tummy. This is when she should be separated; some females give birth as early as one week after noticing these growths, while some may take up to three weeks.

It’s not unheard of for Swordtails to give birth more than once in one day; don’t be surprised if you find your female has given birth twice over the course of 24 hours!

Having a breeding net will make catching your fry a lot easier, making siphoning the adults out of the tank a lot more manageable. Remember that Swordtails can be cannibalistic, so if you’re going to leave them in the tank, then provide them with plenty of live plants and hiding places for the fry to avoid being eaten.

After a couple of days, you’ll notice the fry have their own distinct coloration and are capable of swimming on their own. If you want to increase your chances of successfully raising them, feed them with either brine shrimp or microworms after every few hours that they’re awake until they get older.

Are Swordtails A Good Idea For Your Fish Tank?

Swordtails make for great fish tank mates; they’re peaceful, easy to care for, and look stunning in an aquarium.

They can also help maintain water quality; Swordtails produce less waste than other live-bearing fish such as guppies and platys, which means their biological load will be much lower on your tank.

Providing them with a balanced diet and maintaining good water conditions will ensure they’re as healthy as can be!