swordtail(F) chases all of our fish...only when the light is on

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gnahc79

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Our female swordtail, Bullet, is the largest fish in our 20gal, about 2.5". She chases ALL of our fish, but only when the tank light is on :confused:. It's pretty bad, so much so that one of our platies isn't doing so hot from all of the stress. Anyone have an idea why? Would changing the light make any difference? We're pretty attached to Bullet, so sending her to a LFS is the last option.
 
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Wow, quick response :). She's the only swordtail in there. We had a red male swordtail several months ago, but the male platy chased it non-stop. We returned the male swordtail to the LFS.
We have a 6gal that we could dedicate to her, but wouldn't it be too small?
 
For just her? I don't think so as long as it was filtered- it might seem a little small, but if she is stressing out your other fish and you have nothing else to do with her it might be something to consider.
 
yeah, we may have to do that. I'm still puzzled as to why she's aggressive ONLY when the light is on. Would a more dim light make a difference?
 
I dont think a dimmer light would be a diffrence, I dont quite have an answer yet, Im puzzled by why Livebearers NEVER hardly get along with eachother.

that is livebearers of diffrent variety,
 
It looks to me from your tank photo that you've got just artificial plants. If that's the case and if your certain that Bullet's unfriendly behavior is ONLY when the light is on, keep the light off. Your fish will do fine with ambient light.
 
I have noticed myself about aggression being directly linked to the light being on. Therefore, if I saw my fish harassing one another I'd just turn off all the lights and if it was during the day- throw a blanket over the tank.
As for swords, I'm raising a whack load of them currently. They all get a long fine. But as soon as I introduced them to a new tank: BAM! They all start pecking at one another! Pretty much it's to establish a fish hierachy. They should stop within a week, but sometimes, if a fish starts doing badly, it means there was something wrong before and that fish could tell. Survival of the fittest, they'll pick on the weaker. So you may want to look into that.
Yes you can keep the female on her own, but they don't do so well. Two females is a lot better. And the ratio with males is 1 to 4 or 5. I currently have 1:5, but that's just how they ended up being sexed. So cute when they sprout their swords!!!!
 
Our female has been 'alone' for several months anyways, she's the only swordtail. We moved her into the 6gal a week ago and she seems to be doing fine.
All of the fish in the 20 are HAPPY...well, they're swimming around freely and not hiding in corners anymore :D.
 
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