Swordtails harassing eachother!!

[yashinfan]

I just bought a new female swordtail today to keep the old one company in my 5 gallon. It is just temporary until they have both been treated (and cured) for diseases and they will then be moved to my 30. So the first sword I bought on Monday the 6th. And the second was today, the 14th.
The tank is big enough for the two of them since they are both quite small. So the old one who is smaller than the new one, and has started "pecking" at the new one. It is just a little nip but it seems to be stressing the fish out majorly. There is melafix in the water (2.5 mL) because the old fish just got over some fin rot. I hope this will help out the new fish in case she does get hurt. I moved around a plastic plant in the tank and fed her but it does not seem to help at all.

Any suggestions??

[swany]

I don't know about swordtails, but my female guppies will do pecking order things quite a bit no matter how much space there is. No one ever gets hurt though.

[SnakeIce]

ok there is a difference between a tank being big enough to hold the biomass, or the amount of fish and having enough room for each fishes personal space.

from what I know about swordtails I personally wouldn't keep them in anything smaller than a 55 especially if I wanted more than one male(keeping of course 2-4 females for each male)

even in a ten gallon you will find problems with agression

[SnakeIce]

oh goodness did I just post that? man did I sound harsh :rolleyes:

any way I have tried them in a ten gallon and they jumped out so often because of the aggression that I have decided to only have them in a much larger tank

[TwoTankAmin]

I keep 3 strains of montezuma swords. I have them in a 15 and two 20Ls. I have had as many as 20 swords (some breeding) in a 20L and have never had serious agression problems. There is very little written in stone in the world of fishkeeping;)

[kveeti]

I think all they need is some time. Even my baby guppies picked on my corys when the corys were first put in the tank. I think it lasted a couple days and then they completely ignored them. Any new fish draws attention, but usually if they are generally non-aggressive fish, they will become accepting. In the meantime, moving the plant was a good idea, do you have anything else you can put in the tank to break up lines of vision, anything would do really, any kind of plastic thing. Also, do you have lights on that tank? Turning them off might help.

[yashinfan]

Today they don't seem to be pecking eachother but they are "resting" on the bottom of the tank. Not really swimming but only moving their fins to stay in place. They are not breathing heavily and I added another 2.5mL of Melafix. As for the amount of room, as I said before, they are both females, not full grown, in a 5 gallon and will only be there temporarily as it is quarantine.

[tricksterpup]

Hmmm..
5 gallons is still pretty small for young swordtails. They are like mollies and like the room to move around. I am with Snake ice, they will need to be placed in a larger tank, soon. They tend to get aggressive in tight quaters. But there is usually a pecking order amoung most livebearers anyway. I get the same thing with my male hets.


jim

[kveeti]

I just want to add that I'm perplexed (although that's nothing new). I don't understand the problem. The two young fish are in quarantine. Whose quarantine tanks are as big as the fish's final home? Mine isn't.

Edited for a spelling mistake (usually doesn't take me this long to spot them!).

[yashinfan]

Exactly. I don't think space is what is stressing them out here, so I was hoping for some different reasons. C'mon, you guys are creative:p So here's the update, the new fish started to get fin rot so I put in another dose of Fungus Eliminator, and this time it did the trick. The water turned yellow-tinted (the colour of the meds), which means the carbon is finally not ruining all my meds! Hurray! So now the first fish looks quite fine and her fin rot is not apparent any longer. The second fish is recovering v. well, and I am still adding 2.5 mL of Melafix per day (it recommends a 7 day treatment) The problem is the second fish gets super stressed and "rests" on the gravel, however, the first fish does not do this at all! There is only 2 tablespoons of sea salt in the tank, and I am not sure whether adding more will help. I did a partial water change yesterday but that did not seem to help :(

Any ideas:confused:

[tricksterpup]

Yashin,
Glad to hear the fin rot is gone. I personally never had to deal with that nastey ailment. *knock on wood*. The salt will help any other ailments, such as fungus or floating external parasites but that is about it. What most livebearers need is hardness over the salt and very clean water. So the partial water changes is a very good thing, keep it regular and that should help with the health of these guys.
Do you have cover in the tank? Try some hornwort, atleast it should add some comfort for the pecked fish. I realize this is a qt tank, just stating they do not like tight quaters. :) But if you add some cover, this may help. I hope this works, and you are on the right track.

jim

[yashinfan]

There are two fake plants and the newer one has settled in on the gravel between them. Kinda like she's burrowing? Anyway, the older one just gave birth but I only found one fry. I think I may have accidentally thrown out another during a water change in the dark! Please reply with what I should do with the fry!!! Filter: on or off? I moved the one fry to a betta bowl half filled with the regular tank water. IT IS SOOOOOOO TINY!!!

[SnakeIce]

being an expectant mom could be part of why the older sword picked on the new one so much... livebearers tend to try to find a quiet spot and chase off any other fish that might eat their babies, though the moms are not above eating any of their fry that are not quick to find shelter and a hiding spot. if thier babies are not bright enough or healthy enough to hide right away then they might not survive and why should another fish get the morsel of food when the mom put so much into it