Swordtail young

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wendy fm

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jul 8, 2017
Messages
136
Location
Vermont
I have seven swordtail young. At first I thought they were all female, then I had two turn male, now another one is turning male. That would give me four male Swordtails in a twenty gallon tank. They all seem to get along.
Should I worry. I’ve tried to re home, so far no takers. May donate several to fish store.
Good idea.IMG_0836.jpg
 
I would worry a little. Having more males than females can stress them all out when they start wanting to breed. Males will start getting aggressive.
 
I kept the green spotted swords . They are great parents and squabble very little among themselves.
Most of the time IME more males are trouble but I honestly had no trouble at all with high male count in my tanks with this color variation...
Where did you get them ?
 
At a Pet and aquarium store. I started with a green spotted male and female and a red and white female. The green female gave birth to eight or so young and then died. The red female has never gotten pregnant. I’ve lost one young and the others are nine months old and healthy if puzzling sex identification wise.
 
It's a general misunderstandig that you need to have more females than males with livebearers. Yes, it's true for certain livebearers but really not with all of them. Overhere, I've got several tanks with livebearers in them with ratio 1:1 (m/f) and tanks with way more males than females and no harrassment issues.
 
Hello Wen...

Get some floating plants like Anacharis, Hornwort and Water sprite and just drop some individual stems of any of these into the tank. They don't need to be planted and will grow quickly floating close to the light. These will provide hiding places for the females and eventual fry. A 20 G is really too small for livebearing fish, they breed quickly if you change out a lot of tank water every week. Fish of any kind will become aggressive if they feel crowded.

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