Every few years a new strain takes the market by storm. The most popular innovation at the moment is a red and black swordtail strain developed in Germany named Alpha. These swordtails are not new, they were shown in the early '80s. They were only brought into the US recently, and are currently very popular commanding high prices on Aquabid.
At first glance, there's nothing special about this fish. It's just a red and black swordtail. However at a closer look, one notices it's only red and black. There's no sign of blue/green iridescence (such as that found on Hamburg or Berlin swordtails)!
At first glance, there's nothing special about this fish. It's just a red and black swordtail. However at a closer look, one notices it's only red and black. There's no sign of blue/green iridescence (such as that found on Hamburg or Berlin swordtails)!
The color itself is also very intense. The red is very red and the black is very black. It reminds me of when RREAs (Real Red Eye Albino swordtails) started coming out in the United States. Red Alphas were recently brought over in 2013 by Robert Ellerman, but as of 2015 are not readily available.
Alpha swordtails were developed from so called "Hamburg" swordtails. The late developer, Günther Schramm, describes their creation: "The early 80's, I noticed there were always some animals that looked different from the Hamburg pattern. These fish had little to no guanophores which color the fish blue on the sides of the body. I liked these fish and they were placed in a separate tank."
Part of the problem is breeding these swordtails is not easy. According to several breeders, the strain does not breed true and throws both solid red and blue speckled offspring. This makes for a challenging strain, which I hope takes a foothold here in the US. Debatable, there aren't many challenging domestic Xiphophorus strains to work with outside of good fancy finnage. I'm glad to see a challenging color like this come over, and I hope it becomes available to breeders for a reasonable price, although given the breeding challenge I think it will be a few years.
For more information, check out these links (many of which also served as sources):
Platys.net - The Alpha Swordtail (German)
Platys.net - High Breeding Swordtails (German)
Günther Schramm - The Alpha Swordtail (German)
$261 Aquabid Auction
International Xiphophorus Breeder Facebook Group
Alpha swordtails were developed from so called "Hamburg" swordtails. The late developer, Günther Schramm, describes their creation: "The early 80's, I noticed there were always some animals that looked different from the Hamburg pattern. These fish had little to no guanophores which color the fish blue on the sides of the body. I liked these fish and they were placed in a separate tank."
Part of the problem is breeding these swordtails is not easy. According to several breeders, the strain does not breed true and throws both solid red and blue speckled offspring. This makes for a challenging strain, which I hope takes a foothold here in the US. Debatable, there aren't many challenging domestic Xiphophorus strains to work with outside of good fancy finnage. I'm glad to see a challenging color like this come over, and I hope it becomes available to breeders for a reasonable price, although given the breeding challenge I think it will be a few years.
For more information, check out these links (many of which also served as sources):
Platys.net - The Alpha Swordtail (German)
Platys.net - High Breeding Swordtails (German)
Günther Schramm - The Alpha Swordtail (German)
$261 Aquabid Auction
International Xiphophorus Breeder Facebook Group