The Group
Xiphophorus Working Group
We are the younger sister of the Goodeid Working Group. The idea to start a similar group for Xiphos came from aquarists who met within the GWG, often even without keeping goodeid themselves. But we liked the spirit of the meetings, goodeid breeders are our friends, many of them actually keep livebearers from both groups – and most importantly, the GWG idea works.
We believe that through the Xiphophorus Working Group, aquarists will become more connected and collaborative; we will see our fish not as mere inhabitants of aquariums, but as amazing animals with a natural history and a story to tell; we will share information and fish with each other; we will be better at their aquarium husbandry; and one day we will hopefully contribute to their protection or return to the natural environment.
Our mission
We want to promote the keeping of wild strains of Xiphophorus (platies and swordtails) and build a network of breeders to support the conservation of these amazing fish.
The core team
Species coordinators
During the founding meeting of the XWG at the Ostrava Zoo on October 1-3, 2021, we agreed that the entire work cannot rest on one person, but we need a team that will coordinate and actually carry out our activities. A group of coordinators of individual species. So we listed all 26 species of the genus Xiphophorus on the board and assigned the names of the volunteers who signed up to them. The only absent candidate was Erwin Radax, but he was one of the initiators of XWG and a great breeder that we simply wanted to count on.
This is a commemorative document of XWG’s founding and initial enthusiasm:
Libor Balnar, Kees de Jong, Torsten Friedrich, Bill Galbally, Nigel Hunter, Márk Liziczai, Erwin Radax, Markéta Rejlková, Dávid Urbányi, Henrik van Bennekom (we didn’t need a coordinator for X. hellerii, X. maculatus and X. variatus for now)
Unfortunately, plans and reality differ and mainly due to health, capacity or other serious reasons, Libor Balnar and Nigel Hunter had to resign. And the rest of us need help, there is quite a bit of work. The distribution of species is not final and we expect further changes. The current and active composition of our group of coordinators will be announced here in the first months of 2024.
We are looking for species coordinators!
If a species or group is particularly close to your heart, we would love for you to help us connect individual breeders and oversee that species and its strains prosper.
We need your time, ability and willingness to communicate, and passion for Xiphos 🙂
Xiphophorus Working Group
Work with us
Whether you want to “just” keep swordtails and platies, or you would like to join our active team of coordinators and other advisors, we will be happy to get in touch with you.