Xiphophorus guntheri, a Wild Form of Swordtail

Text and image by Robbie Kirkup, Proprietor,  Aquatic Fanatic

Xiphophorus guntheri Jordan & Evermann, 1896; (valid as) Xiphophorus hellerii guntheri Rosen & Bailey, 1963; now a synonym
(Now accepted as a wild colour form of X. hellerii. guntheri incorrectly spelled in original description (1896) and should be guentheri. Ed)

Origin:
Guatemala & Honduras

To keep the strain pure they should not be mixed with other Xiphophorus species. Otherwise all fry should be discarded or treat as cultivated 'hellerii/maculates/variatus!

The males get to a size of 75mm, females to 100mm, and produce large amounts of fry.








The male develops an extended caudal, a 'swordtail', A green body in both sexes splattered with orange, red & black, as photo shows.
The benefit of livebearers from the 'wild' is that there are not as fussy about there living conditions as cultivated fish.
The wild and offspring can be bred and raised in a natural freshwater environment and have good immunity to common diseases. This is in contrast to the mass produced imported ones found in most fish shops that have been raised in highly medicated water with antibiotics and much salt in the water to reduce the disease. Although this does reduce the disease at the breeders farms in this water, when they are taken to the fish shops and sold they come into contact with every day parasites and bacteria (Found in all aquariums) of which they have built very little or no Immune system to cope and so they go down hill very quickly. Certainly not the hardy beginner fish we are led to believe!

General Care
X. guntheri are hardy medium sized fish and can be treated as cultivated swordtails, but do need a mature aquarium. They are very peaceful and will mix with most other species of small to medium community fish. Avoid species such as Angelfish, Tiger Barbs, Cichlids and other large species.
I keep them at a temperature of 76F, in hard water around pH 7.5 but they will tolerate a wide variety of water conditions as long as they are acclimatized slowly and properly.
The general care of them is very similar to swords & platies as they are closely related, the same genus & will cross breed. This is how we have all the various colours in the cultivated platy & swordtail strains. But I recommend that you do this in a separate tank keeping your guntheri swords pure. I recommend that you keep them in a planted tank as swords love to browse on algae and vegetation, and this will also give your new babies somewhere to hide.

Breeding
X. guntheri give birth to live young, as soon as the fish have reached adulthood this may take 12 months. Before you know it you'll have lots of baby fish swimming around as long as you keep the babies away from other fish as they will make a meal of them! The adult fish will predate on the small fry, some will survive in a well 'cluttered' tank (survival of the fittest), if you need more a breeding net should be used I use a 20 litre one with large holes for the fry to swim through, or a small aquarium, sponge filter and java moss large gravel, the gravid female is added about a week before she is due and removed 24 hours after birth. The females will give birth every 4-5 weeks to anywhere from 12 babies and often many more, growth rate however is slow.

Feeding
My fish are bred and raised on artemia, micro/walter worms, then onto a artemia granule food 'high protein' until around 10 mm, then a staple diet of Flake, with additional feeds of growth granules frozen bloodworms & brine shrimp and spirulina. A main diet of good quality flake with plenty of greenery in their diet will be fine though.