Swordtails

[cahnnarel]

I have 3 male swordtails & 1 female in my tank, two of the males have started having stand offs in the last two days and are really going for each other.. when I bought them, I was after extra females to go with my male, but they've grown their long tail fins in the last month... the female is also pregnant..

my question is should i separate the males permanently? I wonder if I should be returning some of the males to the lfs? They've been in there for a good couple of months now and have only just started to do this...looks like they are trying to establish pecking order ?

Thanks for any advice

 

[donna123]

what size tank have you got them in?
if you cant fit another 5 females they will prob always fight, i would keep one then get another female to go with the one male you already have, all the best Donna

 

[fishkers]

Usually for Swordtails the recommendation is 2 females to one male. So as donna123 stated they will keep fighting until there are more females. If you want you can take them back if you don't have the tank size to add more fish.

Swordtail males are aggressive and can actually kill each other. So be careful, keep an eye on them.

 

[cahnnarel]

Yikes! Well my tank is 3ft, holds 30 gallons / 110 litres... i have two baby bristlenose plecs in there, 5 lemon tetras & 2 neon tetras, 4 male guppies and i think 5 female guppies (some of these guppies are surviving fry)... I'm not sure if I there's enough room to add anymore female swordies into the mix...

I originally just had 1m & 1f - the female died unfortunately, so I went to lfs and requested some more ladies..but have actually ended up with 1 female and 2 extra males...arghhh....

 

[donna123]

some males as you now know take ages to develop their sword ,
and you have to wait or buy bigger adults to secure the right sex, i have 1 male and hes very agressive at times and he has 2 females and is in a 260ltr tank, i wont add any more males because of him, as with all livebearers 2-3 females per male is a must.
its happend to me with platys i wanted 6 female but they were young and 2 were males .
all the best with what you decide to do Donna