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hey i've been keeping fish for about 5 years. i've had two marigold swordtails for about 4 months. i started with one male and 2 females, but one of the females bailed out and died on my floor. i decided to just leave those 2 in there together.
they are in a 10 gal gravel aquarium with 2 ghost shrimp. i have a 30 gal filter and plenty of anacharis plants and even a flower pot. i test the water once every 1-2 weeks and everything is completely normal. temperature is around 78 F. i do a 20% water change at least once a week. i feed them tropical flakes with a treat of bloodworms every day or 2.
the male will chase the famale around and "flirt" with her but still no fry! i don't even think that she's been prgnent yet. maybe i'm missing it or something but i just have no idea whats goin on. are there any ways to identify a pregnant swordtail? or maybe im just missing the fry being born and by the time that i look they have all been eaten?
i dunno. i think that i would have noticed SOMETHING by now.

Whats going on?!?!?!?!?

What is the PH? I doubt it would really stop them from breeding, but Livebearers do best in slightly alkaline (7.1-7.5) water. They might just be eating all the fry before you see them. Just be patient, I'm sure that in a few more months you'll have a tank overrun with Swordtails and you'll be able to look back at this and laugh about how worried you were that they weren't breeding!

They'll breed as soon as they're comfortable enough to do so. Let 'em settle in for a few more months

You'd probably notice if she was pregnant. Their belly gets bigger (obviously), and I believe they get what's called a 'gravid spot' (I know guppies do, not positive on swordies). A gravid spot is a dark spot near the anal fin, it's fairly easy to tell when you've got a pregnant one and a not pregnant one side-by-side.

You've got plenty of plants and hiding places... fry would most likely survive if they were actually born. Most livebearers don't eat ALL of their children as soon as they have them (unless you have a psycho one or something, which I have had). Look closely in the tank for fry... if you don't see any, they probably haven't had any.

I hate to tell someone to do less waterchanges, but you don't really need to do a weekly 20% change on a well-filtered and planted 10 gal with 3 fish and 2 shrimp. As long as your parameters are still decent (keep nitrates below 50ppm if you can... optimally about 20-30ppm), you can probably cut back on waterchanges. Fish, especially when preparing to breed, need STABLE water conditions. Even if they aren't perfect (as long as they're reasonable), stable is better than changing every week.

Good luck