X. helleri
(black) is one of the more difficult livebearers to keep.
 Breeding
– they spawn in the same manner as other livebearers
but being black is the big difference. Black can be lethal
to fishes, so you must cross breed with care. The method
I use is, first cross green to black. The fry born will
be approximately 50-50. I only keep about six of the green
fry for future use. Second, cross black-to-black, which
may throw more blacks. The next cross is back to green-to-black.
I use green because I like the lovely green sheen on the
black, obtained with this cross. You can use other colours
to black obtaining the same result strength.
Because of the black colouration I have to rely on body
shape to tell when the females are gravid. I transfer the
female to a smaller shallow tank, with plenty of cover plants.
I select the fry, which have no black on the finnage, to
rear for my own stock. I have found that the fins rot or
the fish die before becoming adult when the black colouration
is heavy on the finnage. They are much slower in sexing
than other swords.
I feed all my livebearer fry in the same manner - which
is dust-fine, dry feeding with micro worms from the first
day, increasing the size of the food as the fry grow.
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