60 litres: Single male swordtail with or without guppies

[Raf93]

Hello Everyone

I have 60 litres (13.2 gallon) tank with a group of Endler guppies in. They are doing great but of course, there is a problem of the rapidly growing population I would like to control. I bought 4 of them and now I have around 15 adults and lots of youngsters/fry.

I always liked keeping swordtails in the past, it is my favorite fish. Now, I know they grow bigger and thrive in tanks which are normally twice the size of my tank up. I used to keep them in 420 litres and they were putting on some nice size.

However, I was thinking about getting a single fancy breed specimen of male swordtail for this smaller tank. It is because fancy swordtails tend to grow smaller from what I observed and also I know swordtails like to eat fry.

Would such a setup work? Would a single male swordtail do well living with a group of guppies? And would keeping him in 60 litres do any harm to him?


The other option I was considering was to give away all my guppies to the shop and get something a small set of fish like this instead:

- 1x male swordtail mentioned above
- 2x male black molly (I think unlike swordtails, male mollies do not tend to fight right?)
- some dwarf pleco


Apologies for quite a complicated question , I am just weighting the options.

Thank you in advance!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Please don't add mollies, they're strong swimmers and grow large when given the chance, they will be way too cramped in a 60L.

I personally wouldn't add a swordtail or pleco to that size tank either (even a bristlenose plec really needs 20 gallons I think), however I've never kept a swordtail, so you'd have more knowledge of them than I would.

With the fish you want to keep, why not upgrade to a 20-30 US gallon tank? A 30 gallon would comfortably house your stocking wish list

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I have 60 litres (13.2 gallon) tank

Also just a note, when we talk about tank size in gallons, in fishkeeping, we use US gallons, not imperial It's those US folks not switching to a sensible metric system, confusing us all! So your 60L tank is a 15.5 gallon, when we're talking to our US friends

 

[emeraldking]

Well, a single male swordtail would do just fine in a 60 litres tank. But don't get a too big male in there. But maybe dwarf swordtails (Xiphophorus pygmaeus or Xiphophorus continens) would be an option if you like to keep more in there...

 

[fish48]

two black mollies and a single swordtail would be suitable for 60l tank as emeralking mentioned Xiphophorus pygmaeus or Xiphophorus continens both are stunning species and well worth keeping

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Seriously Fish recommends a minimum tank length of 90cm for black mollies (90 by 30 by 30). My 60 litre tanks are only 60cm long

Poecilia sphenops – Short-finned Molly/Black Molly — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

I wouldn't keep mollies in less than a 20 gallon, because they can reach 4-5 inches given enough time and space, and being such strong and active swimmers too, keeping them in a nano tank is cruel, to my mind.

I had these guys for more than five years in a 57 gallon tank and they grew huge. Black molly cross sailfin, easily four inches.
Large active fish, if they'd been in one of my 60 litre tanks, they'd have been really cramped, or wouldn't have attained that size and age.

Compare the sizes here. The black/silver molly is further away from the camera, and those are adult yellow mollies, but absolutely dwarfed compared to this black/silver molly. The blue platy, santa platy and and bronze cory are also adult sized here, but look tiny compared to the molly.

Again, compare their size against the adult male guppy above;

Given the space and a decent diet/water quality, these fish can get to a really good size and live for a long time. They deserve enough room to be active and swim properly.

 

[Raf93]

Thank you for all your answers! Considering the smaller species of swordtail may be the solution I did not know mollies require that much space thank you for the information and pictures, that was not a good idea then.

I am almost certain finding a new home for my guppies is the best solution because the smaller species suggested of swordtail may not eat the fry (?)

Having a pair or 1+2 of Xiphophorus continens alone in the tank seems nice, but I suppose their population may get out of hand without a bit larger fish as well.

So there still needs to be a fish taking care of that role, I was considering female betta.

Thank you again

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Thank you for all your answers! Considering the smaller species of swordtail may be the solution I did not know mollies require that much space thank you for the information and pictures, that was not a good idea then.

I am almost certain finding a new home for my guppies is the best solution because the smaller species suggested of swordtail may not eat the fry (?)

Having a pair or 1+2 of Xiphophorus continens alone in the tank seems nice, but I suppose their population may get out of hand without a bit larger fish as well.

So there still needs to be a fish taking care of that role, I was considering female betta.

Thank you again

If you like the endlers, but don't want to be dealing with fry anymore, you could always rehome the females and fry, and just keep a male only Endler tank You can keep a male only tank so long as there is plenty of cover and you keep an eye out for bullies

 

[Raf93]

If you like the endlers, but don't want to be dealing with fry anymore, you could always rehome the females and fry, and just keep a male only Endler tank You can keep a male only tank so long as there is plenty of cover and you keep an eye out for bullies

I was considering giving back the females to the shop, but they said they don't want females. I could try calling more places, or maybe figure out if there is any fish sanctary which accepts all fish in London.

No idea to be honest I am kind of stressed, because I don't want the population to keep growing, this morning I can see there is like 20-30 of newborn fry again