Do Swordtails need schools?

[woofwoofgrrl]

Do Swordtails need schools or others of their kind or are they happy as singlets? My daughter fell in love with a black and blue swordtail at our LFS. I told her I'd research it and see if it would fit into the plan. It's quite pretty but it would need to be a specimen fish rather than a school since I have a tetra school and a danio school already. What say ye, fellow fishy people?

 

[siva]

I think a duo is a good idea if you have a large enough tank. Swords get pretty big. IME all livebearers enjoy atleast one companion.

 

[Scalare]

a trio might be better, take some pressure off a single female from a frisky male.

Pete

 

[siva]

I'd go with all males so you don't get babies.

 

[mudraker]

Keeping two or more males without females is very risky in my experience. Males will try to breed with other males if no females are available, this usually causes really bad fights that result in sever wounds and sometimes death.

I quit breeding them over a year ago and all mine now live in community tanks without other swords. The females don't seem lonely at all. The males try to breed with other species in the tank, but no violence.

 

[Aspencer]

I think a duo is a good idea if you have a large enough tank. Swords get pretty big. IME all livebearers enjoy atleast one companion.

I have a 10 gallon, heavily planted because I want babies. I have 3 swordtails, 1 male and 2 females, and 10 yellow cherry shrimp. Is that too small? The swordtails on grow to about 1.5 inches I read.

 

[woofwoofgrrl]

Summing up the combined experience above - keep a male with at least 2 females, a female by itself seems to be fine, males by themselves are still frisky buggers and will try to mate with passing fish, and just males is a bad idea.... did I get that right? If I got a single female, how would I know it's lonely?

 

[Shadowraven]

I have a 10 gallon, heavily planted because I want babies. I have 3 swordtails, 1 male and 2 females, and 10 yellow cherry shrimp. Is that too small? The swordtails on grow to about 1.5 inches I read.

They grow to be more like 4-to-5-in. in length, not including the sword. 1 can be kept by themselves, but is not advised. Like suggested above, a better number is 3 with 1:2 ratio males-to-females.

 

[i3k]

I think swordtails top out at 3.5"...I've never seen one over 3". I'm sure there are rare occasions when one grows to about 4", but most will get to around 3 - 3.5"

 

[Shadowraven]

I think swordtails top out at 3.5"...I've never seen one over 3". I'm sure there are rare occasions when one grows to about 4", but most will get to around 3 - 3.5"

True, but they CAN get larger. I've seen them between 3-4 in. When stocking a tank I don't go by how big the fish IS, but by how big the fish can GET. That's always been the safest rule to use IMO.