Male Sword + Female Sword = Fight!?!

[swordtailsrock]

Okay, heres the story I was watching my tank when I saw the male do this little twisting thing. So then I thought he was just showing off, but then the female did it to. so they went around in circles dancing like this, then the male striked (is that a word?) the female and then she did it to him, then they danced again and hit eachother again! Now the female is avoiding him (I guess she lost?) and he still attacks her sometimes, but they don't dance and she doesn't hit him back.

 

[TheSims3Dude]

Aww, sorry to hear that! Hopefully everything works out ok!

 

[swordtailsrock]

yeah, I hope so, or else I got to separate the two. I have a breeding net but it's full of danio fry and i don't want them to get eaten. So, if this does get serious i may end up losing a swordtail, or 6 fry. DAMMIT

 

[dunchp]

yeah, I hope so, or else I got to separate the two. I have a breeding net but it's full of danio fry and i don't want them to get eaten. So, if this does get serious i may end up losing a swordtail, or 6 fry. DAMMIT

The female sword could possibly be an undeveloped male.

You could try adding another couple of female swords (depending on tank size) which would help by sharing the 'love' around.

You could also add a few more hiding spaces.

 

[swordtailsrock]

yeah, I hope so, or else I got to separate the two. I have a breeding net but it's full of danio fry and i don't want them to get eaten. So, if this does get serious i may end up losing a swordtail, or 6 fry. DAMMIT

The female sword could possibly be an undeveloped male.

You could try adding another couple of female swords (depending on tank size) which would help by sharing the 'love' around.

You could also add a few more hiding spaces.

she's pregnant though and I'm expecting fry in maybe a week

P.S.= is this how males fight, with the dancing and striking and stuff?

 

[dunchp]

Well, if you are expecting fry then hopefully it is a fully fledged female, although I have had rare experiences with females that I have thought were gravid only to find them developing a gonopodium; but if the female is about to drop fry, then it is not too uncommon that she would retract into a quiet spot as they would do this in the wild.

Personally, I have never seen two male swordtails fight, I have seen livebearers display to each other and I have seen two livebearers courting, but I have only ever seen fighting between Goodeids or some of the more aggressive Poeciliids.

I would not worry too much about it, although what size is the tank? Really swords need quite large quarters and this could be at the heart of the problem (although I don't know how big the tank is).

 

[swordtailsrock]

they've stopped now, I guess the female was just peeved that the male swordtail was harassing her.
also the male has mated with her before, several times actually. You think he would know if she is female right?

it's a 10 gal, going by the rule of 1 inch of fish per gallon of water, I'm right at the edge to being overstocked