Swordtail koi

A lively and colorful freshwater fish that adds movement and life to any aquarium is the swordtail koi. These fish are well-liked by both novice and expert aquarists due to their characteristic sword-like tail and vivid patterns. They are perfect for people who are new to keeping fish because they are relatively easy to care for.

These vibrant fish belong to the swordtail family, which is renowned for its striking looks and lively mannerisms. Particularly Swordtail Koi are prized for their striking color combinations that mimic koi carp patterns. They are therefore an excellent option for anyone wishing to give their tank a pop of color.

Swordtail Koi are renowned for their tranquility in addition to their beauty. They are a wonderful addition to community aquariums because they get along well with a wide range of other fish species. For fish lovers, their playful interactions and energetic swimming patterns offer a never-ending source of entertainment.

Swordtail Koi are a great option if you want to add some visual appeal to your aquarium or just like to watch these adorable fish and their lively antics. They can flourish and brighten your aquatic world for many years to come with a little TLC and the correct conditions.

Swordtail koi

Picture of Swordtail Koi

The colorful morph known as swordtail koi is produced when Swordtail Geller hybridizes with pecilia. The mountain swordtail is essentially the only pure species of swordtail found in aquariums in Russia and Ukraine. The remaining swordtails are all hybrids. Everything: koi, green, black, white, tiger, flag, gray-brown-raspberry, etc.d.&p. These are all the crossbreeds between three-color and spotted ozilium and Geller’s swordsman.

Swordtail koi is the collective name for a class of morphs with colors resembling those of koi carp.

The guidelines for maintaining koi swordtails are the same for all species.

Class: Fish with ray fins.

Toothy carp is in order.

Peciliidae is the family.

Conditions for aquarium maintenance:

The water is between 22 and 26 °C.

(allows for a brief drop in temperature to 15 °C)

PH of "Acidity": 7.0–7.5.

Hardness dH: 6–20 °

10% of the population is non-aggressive.

Maintaining: not difficult at all.

Swordtails are native to Central America, specifically to southern Mexico and Guatemala. They reside in reservoirs that are heavily covered in a variety of aquatic plants and have stagnant, slowly moving water.

Swordtail fish, or Xiphophorus helleri, are members of the pecilia fish family. Translating Xiphophorus helleri from Greek means "sword" (xiphos) and "to carry" (phoros). Swordtails are known by the prefix "Helleri" after the German naturalist Karl Bartholomeus Heller, who was the first to catch the fish in Mexican lakes and bring them back to Europe safely.

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Swordtail compatibility

Swordtails don’t bite people. They work well with nearly all small, calm fish. Tetras, minors, ternetias, danios, and all poeciliid fish are some of the best neighbors. Nearly all bottom fish, including ancistrus, corydoras, acanthophthalmus, and platidoras, are compatible with them. For example, they get along well with angelfish and "peaceful" cichlids.

Picture of Swordtail Koi

Aggressive and large fish, such as cichlids (acaras, astronotus, diamond cichlazomas, etc.), are incompatible with swordtails. Furthermore, it’s not a good idea to place them with "veil" fish because swordtails can "pinch" them by fluttering their fins, and the latter are slow.

Male swordtails can be aggressive and intolerant of one another. There have been incidents where men have fought to the point of hurting one another. Consequently, swordtails should be housed in aquariums in haremas with two to three females for every male. Fish are noticeably less aggressive within their own species in this instance. Check out the article on aquarium fish compatibility.

Life expectancy of swordtails

By aquarium standards, swordtails have a medium-long lifespan. In ideal circumstances, their lifespan may reach five years. This link will tell you how long other fish live!

Minimum aquarium volume for swordtails

Small aquariums are home to many inexperienced aquarists’ swordtails. This isn’t totally accurate, though. Swordtails are actually pretty big fish. Additionally, a harem family’s minimum aquarium size should be 50 liters because swordtails should be kept in a ratio of one male to three or more females. Swordtail aquariums should be large; a hundred liter tank is preferable.

See HERE for details on how many fish can be kept in an X-liter aquarium (links to aquariums of various sizes are located at the bottom of the article).

Popular freshwater fish called swordtail koi are distinguished by their vivid colors and unusual sword-like tails. They are a terrific addition to any home aquarium and are very simple to maintain, especially for novices. Swordtail Koi are compatible with a variety of other fish and add beauty and vibrancy to your tank with their striking appearance and tranquil nature. To help you maintain a happy and healthy aquarium, this article will go over everything you need to know about keeping Swordtail Koi, including the right diet, breeding practices, and tank setup.

Care requirements and conditions for keeping swordtails

Swordtails don’t require any unique circumstances. In actuality, the secret to their wellbeing is keeping aquarium water at ideal parameters. Nevertheless, remember this:

1. Swordtails definitely need aeration and filtration, weekly replacement of up to 1/4 of the volume of aquarium water. It is worth noting that these fish do not need a lot of oxygen, and too frequent changes (replacement) of aquarium water are not as useful for them as for other types of aquarium fish. Therefore, if you change the water less often, for example, once every 14 days, and not every 7, nothing terrible will happen. This rule is appropriate with a stable biobalance and zero nitrogen: NH4, NO2, NO3. As for any other fish, a high concentration of poisons is unacceptable: ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Every conscientious aquarist should always have a set of drop tests on hand, at least for nitrate and phosphate. Fortunately, they have now become inexpensive, there are no problems with their assortment and acquisition. In the stores of your city – offline, you can find inexpensive Vladox tests. Watch out, friends, for nitrogen compounds, keep them in check and everything will be fine for you and your pets.

Using preparations that neutralize harmful substances during deep water changes with a clean water supply won’t be unnecessary. For example, Tetra AquaSafe eliminates heavy metals and chlorine compounds while also including B vitamins, iodine, and other beneficial ingredients for aquariums.

Picture of Swordtail Koi

The reputable FF online retailer Aqua Logo Shop is where you can buy the medications, gear, and other helpful items for an aquarist that were mentioned above. We advise against it!

2. The fish are nimble and can jump out of the aquarium and perish, so it needs to be covered with a lid.

3. Swordtails, like many other fish, are at ease in the presence of greenery. It is advised to use riccia, vallisneria, echinodorus, cryptocoryne, duckweed, and other plants as aquarium plants for them. Plant thickets are an imitation of a fish’s natural habitat.

4. You must set up an area that is open to swimming when decorating an aquarium. Swordtails have superb swimming abilities. Shelters are not necessary for swordtails.

Feeding and diet of swordtails

Swordtails are omnivores with an easy way with food, and they tend to overeat. They enjoy eating chips, granules, and flakes that have been dried or freeze-dried. Tetramin works well as a basic feed. plus feeds that also contain carotenoids.

Allow me to make a small note. Color series feeds – enhance the natural color of fish (red, yellow colors), since they are enriched with pigments such as canthaxanthin, astaxanthin. In fact, carotenoids are natural "coloring" substances. It is astaxanthin that gives plants a red-orange color, carrots are a striking example of this. Or, for example, have you ever wondered why flamingos are pink? Yes, that"s exactly why. Eating plant and animal food rich in carotenoids, flamingo plumage, which is initially white, gradually turns pink. The more the birds receive this substance with food, the richer and redder the plumage becomes. If you look even deeper, flamingos eat the well-known brine shrimp – pink, saltwater crustaceans and also turn pink.

In actuality, if the meal includes carotenoids, the same thing occurs with fish. It should be mentioned that astaxanthin is an antioxidant in addition to its other advantageous qualities. Generally speaking, carotenoids benefit all aquatic life, including aquarium plants, in addition to fish. The only requirement is that everything be balanced and in moderation. You must realize that the conditions of the fish’s life—such as stress or spawning—as well as the environment and lighting in the aquarium all affect the fish’s color.

In conclusion, while the Color series feeds are beneficial, they shouldn’t serve as the main course. Imagine what would happen if someone consumed nothing but beets for the entire week. The idea is unsettling. Fish is the same way. I apologize; they start to poop adorable pink poop.

It is crucial in this case, incidentally, to avoid overfeeding the fish in order to prevent digestive tract issues. Once a day, feed the swords; observe fasting days. One of the keys to their maintenance success will be this. It should be mentioned that when purchasing any dry food, you should be mindful of the manufacture and expiration dates, avoid purchasing food in large quantities, and store it in a closed environment to prevent the growth of harmful flora.

Reproduction and breeding of swordtails koi

Swordtail breeding is not at all a difficult undertaking. It is comparable to how guppies and other livebearers reproduce. It can also be said that it genuinely occurs on its own.

Swordtails mature sexually between the ages of five and six months. Maintaining a male to female ratio is advised for breeding purposes as well as the fishes’ own comfort. The male does shuttle movements back and forth, resembling a mating dance, while courting the female.

Mature eggs are fertilized inside the female. This might take a few days to complete. One noteworthy characteristic of swordtails is their ability to procreate multiple times after fertilization, even in the event of a male’s absence.

The woman is expecting a child in four to six weeks. The conditions of the aquarium’s water, temperature, lighting, and feeding affect this time frame.

A "black pregnancy spot" appears under the tail, and the abdomen is full in a pregnant female. It is thought that the female’s abdomen becomes "square" and she starts to move more vigorously, "rushing" up and down the aquarium glass a few hours before "giving birth."

The female can spawn anywhere from fifteen to one hundred fry at a time. Typically, spawning takes place in the morning.

Monthly births are possible if the water is between 26 and 27 °C and there is ample feeding.


Making sure the young survive is arguably the most crucial guideline when it comes to swordtail breeding. Sadly, producers consume their own young, and since swordtail fry are big and vividly colored, this process quickly devolves into extinction. In the wild, swordtails never get to see their young since the current whisks the fry away as soon as they are born. The parents in an aquarium use the fry as food.

The aquarium is heavily planted with aquarium plants in order to preserve the progeny. In the aquarium, plants are arranged densely on the surface, in the water column, and on the bottom. As a result, the fry receive protection "from evil parents" and the majority of them make it out alive.

Additionally, you can use specialized spawning tanks, which are made like funnels with the female remaining inside and the spawned fry falling out into the spawning aquarium, to preserve the offspring. As a result, at first, there is no communication between the fry and the producer.

After spawning, separating the producers is the third way to preserve the progeny. This is an easy option, but it does require the aquarist to be punctual and focused.

Photo of a pregnant female swordtail, here is a giving birth

A swordtail woman who is heavily pregnant =)

The female is taken out and fed copiously after she spawns.

Young swordtails are fed live dust (nauplii, brine shrimp, cyclops, microworm, rotifers, and cut tubifex) as their first meal.

A week later, the young swordtails start to be sorted; the strong and "pedigree" ones are kept, while the weak and flawed ones are destroyed.

The juveniles grow quickly; the males’ anal fins start to change after two months, and by the third month, the "sword" starts to grow.

Independent crossing happens when keeping swordtails from different species, and this can occasionally produce stunning offspring.

One fascinating observation about the life of these fish is that the female swordsman can eventually change her sex and become a male. This occurs when there is a "shortage" of males, which makes sense given the species’ struggle to survive. Nearly 90% of the progeny produced by a pair of females and one former female are female.

Diseases and treatment of swordtails

Swordtails are incredibly hardy fish that can tolerate challenging maintenance situations. But like all living things, this kind of great health doesn’t last forever. The key to successfully maintaining fish in an aquarium is to create ideal conditions for the water.

Swordtails require the same care for all common aquarium fish illnesses, with no special considerations.

The disease must be identified in order to treat swordtails correctly, and then the required measures must be taken. This will support you. Diseases and treatments for aquarium fish as well as website sections: MEDICAL DISEASES OF FISH, AQUA.

These and a variety of other fish are always available at the physical supermarkets Aqua Logo and the internet retailer Aqua-Shop. Live goods delivery is offered in Moscow and the surrounding areas.

Characteristic Description
Appearance Colorful mix of red, orange, and white, resembling a koi fish.
Size Typically grows up to 4-5 inches.
Temperament Peaceful and social; best kept in groups.
Diet Omnivorous; enjoys flakes, pellets, and live foods.
Tank Requirements Minimum 15-gallon tank with plants and hiding spots.
Water Conditions Prefers temperatures between 72-82°F and pH 7-8.
Breeding Livebearer; easy to breed with proper conditions.

Swordtail Koi are an excellent option for novice and expert aquarium hobbyists alike. They are a lovely complement to any tank because of their eye-catching hues and distinctive designs. They are ideal for novices because they are also reasonably simple to maintain. These fish can flourish and liven up your aquarium with a little care and attention to their requirements.

These fish are renowned for being gregarious and lively. They are excellent in community tanks because they get along well with other calm fish. To guarantee that they remain healthy and lively, it’s crucial to give them a balanced diet and to keep their water clean. Swordtail Koi are easy to maintain with a little work.

Swordtail Koi can infuse your aquarium with a splash of color and vitality. It can be soothing and entertaining to watch them swim around, especially when you get to see their individual personalities come through. You can spend many years in their company if you take good care of them. Therefore, swordtail koi are definitely something to think about if you want to add some beauty and excitement to your tank.

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Olga Vishnevskaya

Biologist by education, aquarist by vocation. Specialization — breeding and care of freshwater aquarium plants. Since childhood I have been fond of aquariums, constantly experimenting with creating biotopes and selecting flora for various types of aquariums. I am sure that green aquariums can transform any interior and improve the quality of life.

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