Green swordtails fighting

[Paul]

I have two male green swordtails and one female in a 30 gallong tank. The larger male chases the smaller male around the tank almost constantly. Doesn't do the smaller one any physical harm, but it must be stressful. My question is, should I leave them together in the same tank, or move the smaller one to my 10-gallon tank? A 10-gallon tank is probably too small for a swordtail (this one is about 2 inches in the body and 2 more in the tail) but he might be better off there than being harrassed constantly.

Any ideas?

 

[sumoschro]

my swordtails dont fight when they are together, but i can safely say that the problem is either the bigger one has a territory established or there is one female in the tank. If this is true then if you get 2 or more female swordtails it might clear up the problem. depending on how many fish you have in your yen gallon already it might be too overcrowded but if there is only one or two other fish in there of similar or smaller size it doesnt seem to overcrowded.

 

[clayt101]

You need to get more females or remove one of the males. I had the same problem a long time ago, and the smaller male ended up dying.

 

[Paul]

I think it's territorial - plus I don't have room to add more fish. So I guess I'll have to move one of the males.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[tricksterpup]

Paul,
Partly it is territorial, but its because of the female in the tank. Remember when dealing with livebearers, you should always deal with the 2 (or 3) to 1 rule. that is 2 females for every 1 male in the tank. But some times, you can get some fish that just do not like each other. I have a 55 gallon tank with mollies, I have one dominant sailfin male that chases one male away all the time (but since the tank is so big, he has plenty of room to get out of his way) but the big male will leave a couple of black males alone in the same tank and they mate with all the females.
But all my Poeciliidae the males chase each other for dominance. Be it from Heterandria formosa to the larger mollies to sword tails, all of the males would chase each other.

jim