need advice please help

[Tomlintm]

yesterday i bought my self another mail swordtail to hang with my other male swordtail and i noticed they were nipping at each other and then i found the new swordtail dead outside the tank i though swordtails were a community fish and friendy and whats weird it gets along with my 3corys and baby bn placo and now im afraid to add anymore fish now what should do

Sent from my VS930 4G using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[NYgiantsRP]

Was it the same color?

 

[Tomlintm]

no the one in there was orange the new one was red

Sent from my VS930 4G using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Old Scales]

You said dead "outside" the tank. Note that swords are notorious jumpers and need a covered tank. If you have males only and there are no females to keep them occupied then aggression with each other becomes an issue. Note that livebearers especially are hardwired to reproduce. OS.

 

[Tomlintm]

oh ok so what fish is compatable with swordtails so that there is no aggressivness between them

Sent from my VS930 4G using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Old Scales]

Female swordtails.

 

[severum mama]

What size is the tank?

 

[Tomlintm]

20g high tank

Sent from my VS930 4G using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Tomlintm]

and i really dont want fry in my tank thats why i wantes to stick with males

Sent from my VS930 4G using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[severum mama]

Males can be fairly aggressive toward one another. You may want to consider egg laying fish rather than livebearers, or keep just a single male swordtail.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk

 

[Luananeko]

You can keep all male livebearers together, but you must keep several so the aggression is diffused across the group. I keep all male guppies and any time the school drops down below 6 or so they tend to get stressed out. Swordtails are even more territorial towards other males than guppies are, so I would imagine it would be more difficult and require a larger group.

If you decide to keep the single male, there are a variety of community fish they are compatible with. Most bottom dwellers, small tetras, rasboras, and honey gourami are all good options. Avoid nippy/aggressive species or fish that need soft/acidic water.

 

[flitabout]

Well I wouldn't keep them in a 20g high in the first place. Because they are really fast swimmers and the prefer at least a 36in long tank. Depending on how many decorations you have, Babies won't be an issue as they will all most likely get eaten by the adults and other fish.

 

[Tomlintm]

luananeka is there any others fish that are compatible that have pretty colors to them

trying to have a colorful tank

Sent from my VS930 4G using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Luananeko]

Cardinal tetras are very colorful, as are honey or dwarf gourami. For bottom dwellers I don't know of any colorful ones compatible (without being prolific breeders) other than maybe Red Spot or Zebra Nerite snails... You can check out aqadvisor.com for a rough guess on stocking numbers to make sure things fit. It does agree hat 20g high is a little small for a Sword, but guides online seem to conflict on whether 20g or 30g is the minimum... I'd recommend swapping the sword for a platy since they have the same colors but are less active swimmers and don't need as much space.

 

[severum mama]

They stay smaller too. Good choice for a 20 gallon.

 

[Tomlintm]

i dont need bottom.dwellers i got 3 corys and a placo so im.set with that just need fish that u can actully see now with out straning ur eyes so find a fish lol but i will look in to the fish u are talking about thanks luananeko u were a big help

Sent from my VS930 4G using Aquarium Advice mobile app