Swordtail Concerns

[armbartim]

I am a fairly new aquarium owner tho i had them as a kid this is my first experience with owning my own. I started with two sword tails two guppies and two albino catfish. now a year later i bought a redtipped shark wich i was told would do well in my tank. A week later i noticed that my male sowrd tail has a gap or split in his tail by his sword. Is this a big problem? Was it the shark? they all get along fine and appear healthy.

 

[KittyKat]

Sharks are aggressive, and become more so with age so watch it carefully. A tear in itself is not a problem, but it may become infected and it may be a sign of aggression, both of which are problems.

I get the feeling that your tank is not big enough for the fish you have in the long term, which may cause problems for the swords, cats and sharks.

 

[armbartim]

Thanks...that confirms my thoughts....i do want a bigger tank but will have to wait till i have more space...and approval from my fiance lol...its 10 gal now and prolly cant handle any more fish untill i can expand. Tho the only one that is not traditionally rate for 10 gal is the shark.

 

[HayzH]

Thanks...that confirms my thoughts....i do want a bigger tank but will have to wait till i have more space...and approval from my fiance lol...its 10 gal now and prolly cant handle any more fish untill i can expand. Tho the only one that is not traditionally rate for 10 gal is the shark.

no...i would def say a 10G is not enough for all those inhabitants!!

 

[Dieses Madchen]

10 gallons is barely big enough for 2 swordtails on their own. Males get to be about 4 inches not including the swords and the females get a little bigger than that

 

[KittyKat]

Thanks...that confirms my thoughts....i do want a bigger tank but will have to wait till i have more space...and approval from my fiance lol...its 10 gal now and prolly cant handle any more fish untill i can expand. Tho the only one that is not traditionally rate for 10 gal is the shark.

Personally, I would either try to get a new tank immediately (second hand, if I couldn't afford a new one) or find the fish a new home. It is not fair to keep some of them in a tank that small and dangerous to keep others.

Swordtail females have the ability to grow to 5 inches long, nose to base of tail, depending on species. Guppies are the only species I would consider in a tank that size out of the ones you have. What are the catfish? Plecos are too large and too territorial for a tank that size, Corys are schooling fish and grow too large. As for the shark, I can see even the relatively friendly juvenile doing a lot of damage to the other fish and already the tank is too small for it to grow properly. As for when that juvenile decides to start making out it's territory, it is very capable of killing every other fish in the aquarium.

 

[Stoty]

a rtbs shark should have at least 55 gallons. They are very aggressive and are not a community fish, though exceptions do exist. I would get rid of him. Actually, you should get rid of everything and get 10 neon tetras and a couple of ottos for the algae as it develops.

When i was a kid i had a 10 gallon tank. In this tank was a black tetra, silver dollar, bala shark, 2 eel type loaches, and 2 neons. I do not know how they survived. I barley did water changes. Kind of sad, but this was before the internet and when you took the guy at the LFS serious.