male swordtail

[Rodders]

When I purchased my first pair (male/female) the male died in a couple of days. He kinda got freaked out or something and his breathing never calmed down, then he died.
So I got a second and he was fine for months, till the other day.
i cleaned my tank out as normal, cleaning the gravel etc... doing nothing different. But he seemed to breathe really fast and wouldnt calm down and hid.
Then he went to the surface and just stayed there. No other fish did.
He wouldnt eat and died over night.
Are male swordtails fragile fish or anything, it couldnt have been a PH shock or temperature when I changed the water cause I would have thought the cardianals would have suffered more.
Very odd.

 

[Angry_Platy]

I find my swordies more skittish than my other fish, the male especially.

They won't eat when I am watching, they won't come to the tank whe I want to watch them and if the tank is not Houdini-proof, they will jump randomly for no reason

 

[Polardbear]

Sorry for your loss. I don't have an answer for you, but IME swordies usually handle water changes quite well. Unless the temperature was way different I doubt that would have bothered him. I've done 50% w/c with 5 degree different water temperature and if anything the swordies loved it. I don't think swordies are as hardy of a fish as they were many years ago, but usually if they make it past the first month or two they are pretty sturdy. I have had a few just up and die on me without any symptoms but generally when mine have gotten sick they give me plenty of warning signs and enough time to figure out what's going on.

I just don't know about Angry_Platys swordies, mine are the friendliest bunch of fish you could ask for. They remind me of a litter of puppies at times they are so friendly and always happy to see me. Angry_Platy I think you'll see a totally different personality with the fry you have when they grow up a bit.

 

[Iron Man]

I put 6 swordies in my 55 gallon a few weeks ago and all of them have randomly hid all the day long....nowhere to be seen....not even come out to eat. Never all of them at the same time just different ones at different times.

Sometimes they won't eat when I'm around either....I have to walk away from the tank.

I checked my ph to see if the water was too soft as I had a big piece of driftwood in there. Turns out the ph was 5.8 or so. WAY too soft for a livebearer, so I've read. I got some crushed coral to put in the tank....put just a sprinkle in there and it raised the ph up to 7.0 over the course of a couple days. Problem solved. They're much more active and less skiddish now.

Next thing I read is they like to be in good numbers of their own kind, so I got some mollies, guppies, and plan to get some more swordies maybe tomorrow. I also got some bloodworms to feed them and cheer them up a bit.

All of this has worked out great and some of them have not hid at all today......very good sign. They even have come to the glass to greet me when I walk over to the tank now.

In my experience these fish really are more skiddish than other fish...they are even more so than the african cichlid mbunas I had. That's pretty bad. But I also found with a little encouragement they can definately come around. I think they need to feel as though they can trust you when you enter their environment.

 

[Angry_Platy]

I just don't know about Angry_Platys swordies,

Yeah. I am starting to notice that the swordies in smaller tanks are more skittish than those in the larger tank. Example.....my two new neon girls are now in the 10 gal (after they gave birth in the 5 gal), they are far less skittish and now cruise happily around the tank. Next, my orange twinbar swordy girl was in the 6gal being chased by my marigold wag male, she was EXTREMELY skittish. I was worried she had brain damage the speed at whcih she'd hit the side of the tank at times. I moved her to the 30gal a while ago and apart from the usual nervousness, she is now calm like the platies. My marigold wag female which has always been in the 30gal has never been skittish.

Which kinda tells me I should move the swordies into the larger tank and split some of the platies among the 5gal and 6gal tanks....either that or get a larger tank devoted to the swordies....I WISH!!!! I could soooo easily stock a HUGE tank with all the swordies I love.....

OH....and the babies, they are kinda acting skittish allready But thats more due to the guppy fry driving them nuts

 

[Polardbear]

Listen to the swordtail voices Angry_Platy - they want their own tank, 125 gallons would be just about right. They'd be willing to share it with the Platys and maybe even a few of the guppys.

 

[Angry_Platy]

Unfortunately the voice of my BF is a lot louder than the voices of my swordies all put together and magnified 100 times He will not let me have another tank....not even a small tank, let alone a large tank.

Though I am wondering if I could have a tank in the garage We don't keep our cars in there.....it serves as the dogs pooping room

 

[Iron Man]

Click here to find out how this girl handled her situation.

Oh wait....I don't think the fellas are gonna like that one.....I did think it was funny though that someone would do that.....he was probably in on the joke too.