Xiphophorus helleri –
Red-eye-red |
D. Ford, Edinburgh
( First printed in the SAF Souvenir Catalogue)
 The
adult Red-eyed Swordtail, in common with albinos and other
strains bred through them, suffers from partial blindness
which increases with severity as the fish ages. This, coupled
with extreme nervousness makes the use of a breeding trap
impracticable, it follows that I had to set up a tank for
one female. The inexperienced might consider this extravagance
but anyone who has found themselves with a large batch of
young swordtails in a confined space that it is advisable
to consider the room they need to develop and grow. I used
a 15-gallon tank thickly planted with Sagittaria and Floating
Fern to give the youngsters ample coverage.
Initially I had obtained six fish as a breeding team, five
females and one male, but although he paid due court and
was extremely active towards the females, after several
months I still could see no sign of a gravid spot, eyes
or even swelling of the abdomen. A colleague suggested that
perhaps the male was sterile as is sometimes the case with
hybrids, to test this theory I crossed an ordinary red swordtail
with the most expendable of my females. She produced a batch
of about forty youngsters prematurely, a percentage which
died at birth, these I assumed were the red-eye strain from
the mother’s side as the survivors had no red-eyed
stock among them.
I immediately placed the largest of the red-eyed females
in the breeding tank and kept her on a strict diet of dry
foods, it being my experience that live foods can sometimes
bring on premature births in livebearers. The temperature
was also lowered from 80ºF (27ºC), to 75ºF
(21ºC), so that the metabolic rate of the fish was
slightly slowed down. This course of action was justified
two weeks later with the astonishing birth of between six
and seven dozen perfect red-eyed swordtails. Right up to
the moment of birth it was impossible to detect any signs
of gravidness.
The young swords soon grew on brine shrimp, shredded tubifex
and white worm, and were saleable at fourteen to sixteen
weeks.
|
|
