Swordtail Question

[booginish]

hi i have a 55g tank with 3 adfs, 3 balloon mollies,6 zebra danios, 5 black skirt tetras,1 honey dew gourami, 2 albino corys, and 3 swordtail platys. i had to recently youthanize 1 of my 2 swordtail platys because of prolonged illness. i noticed the other day that the one that was left looked lonely, so i decided to go out and buy a few more, so went out to my lfs, and they told me they were sold out of the swordtails i got last time, so i asked what would be as good, they sold me 2 velvet red swordtails, they look very similar, the velvets look a bit bigger. I got home put them in the tank(the skirt tetras messed with them for a while until they were bored of them), but i noticed that the other swordtail( he's orange on the tail, a bit of black and white on the belly and silver on back, i dont know exact name of specie) was scared to go near them, for now at least. i wanna know if they count as the same specie, are they gonna keep eachother company, relieve stress on the one that recently lost his friend?

 

[booginish]

just an addition to my question/comment, the 2 velvet red swordtails i bought are staying together and kind of hiding behind a few plants and for some reason the skirted black tetras are harrassing them, but they dont even go near the other swordtail, just the 2 new ones. They(the velvet red swordtails, the older swordtail is eating) arent really eating, i cant blame them the stupid black skirt tetras wont lay off. this happens to every new fish i get but it only last a few hours usually, this has bin goin on all day, is it because they are a bit bigger, they see them as more of a threat?

 

[darkmule27]

First off, is the original a platy or a swordtail? They are distinct species...we have 2 female platies and 2 female swordtails and our male platy totally ignores the swordtails. Swordtails have a much longer body than platies...ours are easily twice as long, but all the fins are about the same size.

As for the tetra problem, do you have a large plastic container or a collander? If you have a clear plastic container, fill and float it in the tank and put the tetras in there for a while...for the collander, separate them by placing it against the wall with them inside.

 

[booginish]

im sorry there all swordtails, i thought they were called swordtail platys, i thought they sort of had a bit of resemblance,so i thought maybe the lfs missed a word. i have 2 velvet red swordtails, and 1 swordtail(which use to be 2, but i had to youthanise it), im sorry about that. so basically there ignoring eachother, the 2 velvet red swordtails and the 1 swordtail(orange, grey, whitebelly, black orange tail). so im not sure if they are even cheering him up, last time i checked the black skirt tetras were leaving them alone mostly, but the velvet reds were hiding out behind some plants, and the other swordtails was doin just fine, the black skirts dont even see him, its like he s invisible to them! So i dont know if there just adapting.

 

[Zagz]

If they are all swords give them some time and they will most likely start hanging out together. That is by no means a guarantee but the new fish are still new, so time is the best bet.

 

[missileman]

Any idea of sex?
If your old one is male he may enjoy the company of a couple of females over a couple of males.