Well, I dont think it is my monitor as its a brand new plasma. The original photo does not show a tank with "cloudy' water, the sword in the photo might have some fungus on its TAIL, but I see no evidence of any fungus covering its body, and I really do not believe that this is RED----copy and paste the photo into your photo or art program and compare the colors in it to the fish-it IS brown. As I stated before;it MIGHT be considered a "RED" as it might have come from a red line of swords, and if this fish is RED, then what is BROWN? BTW- this photo came from a site under a sub category from the yearly tropical fish show of this US state>>>whats the chance that someone would enter a fungus covered aged common red lyre sword in an annual show? All the above posted photos of swords are common red velvet albino swords (some with light backgrounds and some with dark-and they are OBVIOUS reds)-still not even close in coloration to the photo I posted.

I don't buy it...........the photographs you posted are all very easily recognized as obvious reds no matter the use of flash or amt of original light in the photos. These photos don't come anywhere close to the brown coloration of the original photo I posted. I am still convinced that this is a "chocolate" albino, that the color is true to life, and am prone to believe that this brown coloration might be considered "red" from the notion that it was derived from red parentage. I still look forward to reading something here from anyone who can clear this up for me!

Also, you write "Through proper breeding and rearing,"-what exactly is it that could be influential on the coloration of this fish through the "rearing" of the fish? I am most interested in the genetics required to produce this color variation if possible. I'm wondering if it might be from a platy X Helleri? Are there any members who know what parents were used to create the first Chocolate Mollys? Also, I have noticed that there is now a Red Eye Chocolate Balloon Platy on the market, perhaps this is a piece of the puzzle? I dont particularly care for the Balloon forms, and wondering if these breed true or perhaps there is a % born with "normal" shaped body?

Thank you for all the posts.....The "white" on its tail holds no interest to me, be it infection or fungus or what have you. It is the unusual color that interests me. In 30+ years of keeping tropical fish I have never seen this color displayed by any swordtail (or Platy) before!......Platymef....If I am to understand you correctly, you consider this swordtail to be a red swordtail? In other words, coming from a "red" strain? The color isn't red by any stretch of the imagination, it appears to be albino(red eyed),and light chocolate brown with some recessive yellow. Very similar to the coloration of the Chocolate molly, almost identical in fact as far as the comparison of coloration. Or, have I mis-understood that the fish is this color due to age or illness, or some other outside environmental factor, and then "turned" this brown color from its original normal red color? IF this "brown" (red) is the natural color of the fish and not due to age,illness,etc., what do you suppose that its lineage might be? I would be very interested in trying to produce some swords identical to this fish! I have never seen any swordtails this color before and think that this red eyed "Chocolate" is exceptional. Thank you in advance for any suggestions and/or information!

Took this photo from an online post...........I do not believe that the color has been photo shopped or otherwise enhanced and it is true to life. How would you describe this fish?

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1% of resulting fry are colored like this.

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99% of the fry appear like this-no fry resulted like the mother (Marigold) and none like the father (Sanshoku)

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Sanshoku lyretails are now available via Thailand. Here's a photo from my sword tank. I tried to develop a similar looking sword using a Sanshoku male and a Marigold Lyre female, the resulting coloration in fry are 99% 2nd photo and 1% 3rd photo-all are F1 with 25% lyretails.

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