Swordtail Questions

[Riso-chan]

I want to get some swortails soon for my 55gal. Currently have fish; 9 zebra danio, 6 white clouds, 2 otocinclus cats. Non-fish; 30-25 ghost shrimp, two anubias nana and hornwart. My inquiries are as follows:
1. What is the temperature tolerance of a swordtail? My tank reads 72 degrees F at night, 74 degrees F at day.
2. How many should I start off with? M/F ratio?
3. I live in Florida and our climate is starting(slowly) to warm up, would I still need a heater?

 

[CCchaos04]

for how many to get i would suggest at least 2 females for every male

 

[Riso-chan]

On m/f ratios

That sounds about right, but is there any way two have two males in one tank together? If there are enough females, will that make them less aggressive toward eachother? Also, someone please answer my other questions! Thanx

 

[9tails]

Your temperature is fine, Swordtails are one of the most tolerant fish. They are regularly used to start off tanks as they can stand a bit of ammonia for a short time and be unaffected.

As long as you have a few females to keep them occupied, two males are fine together in a tank. I had two males in a 29 gal, they were fine as they had three females to flirt with.

You should always use a water heater. They switch off if your water is warm enough according to what you've set the thermostat at, so there's no point not having one just because you get warmer weather.

 

[happychem]

Agreed, a heater is more about stability than maintaining a minimum temperature. I live in Nova Scoatia and currently our outdoor temp. is about -10oC (about 14oF). But indoors our apartment stays around 23celsius (about 73F) which would be fine. But there's no real stability to it. When the heater comes on I'm sure that the temperature spikes around 76F, but before the room's thermostat tells the heater to kick in it probably drops to the upper 60s, which is usually when my wife starts complaining about how cold it is and why can't we keep the place warmer. Anyway, the point is that yes, Florida is warm, but there are also times when the temperature drops into the 50s and bounces around as well. Ideally your average room temperature would be just a little lower than your average tank temperature so that the heater maintains a fairly stable temperature but doesn't overwork.

As for swordtails, you've got lots of room in your tank and if you really like them and want them to be the main fish in your tank you could easily add a dozen with 3 males and 9 females.

 

[clayt101]

Personally, I would only go with one male. Sure it might work with 2, but do you really want to chance it? It's not much fun to watch one fish get constantly harassed until it dies.