fish_4_all
Aquarium Advice Addict
I have seen a trend in my tank with swords. Granted this is small tank at only 10 gallons but I think it shows the point I am trying to find out.
I have seen that there is a trend for the dominant, largest bodied and longest sworded male to dominate and literally harass the other males almost into dwarfism. I know it sounds weird but the largest male in my tank, usually 1 of 3 is always chasing off the others they are always slower to grow and always have much more subdued colors.
I also only keep approximately a 1:1 ration adult male:female ratio and there is never a problem. I have kept this ratio for well over a year now and have not lost a single fish, not even the harassed males.
I guess the point or even the question is why do my swords seem to spend more time trying to dominate male to male when there is always the worry that two many males will harass a female to death but I have been able to keep them at 1:1 for so long without a loss?
And I know, 6-8 swords in a 10 gallon is way overstocked, and I appologize to those who are offended by me doing so but the experiment was that, a controlled experiments and the fish are very well kept and like I said, not a single death in well over a year. The water is changed 50% weekly and the tank is moderately planted. Oh and the males that are harrassed, once the dominant male is gone to the LFS, the smaller ones come out, act normal and grow to the normal size I see with most of my swords; at least until one gets to dominate the other.
I have seen that there is a trend for the dominant, largest bodied and longest sworded male to dominate and literally harass the other males almost into dwarfism. I know it sounds weird but the largest male in my tank, usually 1 of 3 is always chasing off the others they are always slower to grow and always have much more subdued colors.
I also only keep approximately a 1:1 ration adult male:female ratio and there is never a problem. I have kept this ratio for well over a year now and have not lost a single fish, not even the harassed males.
I guess the point or even the question is why do my swords seem to spend more time trying to dominate male to male when there is always the worry that two many males will harass a female to death but I have been able to keep them at 1:1 for so long without a loss?
And I know, 6-8 swords in a 10 gallon is way overstocked, and I appologize to those who are offended by me doing so but the experiment was that, a controlled experiments and the fish are very well kept and like I said, not a single death in well over a year. The water is changed 50% weekly and the tank is moderately planted. Oh and the males that are harrassed, once the dominant male is gone to the LFS, the smaller ones come out, act normal and grow to the normal size I see with most of my swords; at least until one gets to dominate the other.
