female swordtails keep dying

[Misheru]

Hello everyone,

I would appreciate if it someone could tell me why our female swordtails keep dying. We've had six die already, in total. The males, who were bought first, are fine.

The females will stay on the bottom of the tank and breath heavily. They won't move even when another fish comes close to them, or when the net comes close to them. There seems to be no marks on them of any kind. They exhibit this behavior for about a day, then die. Could they be dying in childbirth? Or something... I just don't get it, there appears to be no reason for them to die. Everyone else is fine.

The ammonia is zero and the PH is normal. It's a 20 gal tank with corys, a platy and swords.

Thank you for your time.

[frshwaterfinatc]

How long has the tank been setup? How many corys, platys, and swords total?

[HN1]

What ratio of males to females were in there?

[Misheru]

I think it's been set up about 3 months. There are 2 peppered corys, 1 platy, 2 male swords, 3 ghost catfish (forgot about them, LOL), and 0-3 female swords, depending on if any have died after we get them.

The ratio of males to females are 2:3, optimally. after a female dies, we try to get another as soon as possible. the males are always chasing them and such.

[Fromthelbc]

i think you've reached the bioload in the tank... but im no expert...

[DizzCat]

Are you buying them from the same store each time? It could be that they have a bad batch and that is why they keep dying on you. Try getting them from a different source.

[Misheru]

Yeah, they were from the same store. We picked up some more, and so far no deaths

[hacket]

Since no other fish seems to be dying it's probably not a water problem. I'd say due to the fact that the males chase the females, combined with the load of fish in tank, your females are having psychotic breakdowns and dying. Get rid of some of the males and possibly some of the other fish as well.