are they fighting or playing?

[karen]

hi all, i have just bought 2 female swordtails last week mon. and "blackie" seems to be attacking "red"? are they playing tag or is blackie having an issue?

 

[William]

Do you have any males in there?

They are probably just frolicking about as swordtails are not particularily aggressive especially females do you have any other fish in there?

 

[karen]

it is a small 10g and we have 4 neons as well. there are no male swordtails but red seems to be avoiding blackie as much as possible today.

 

[William]

Aggression tends to vary from fish to fish, I've only had males bullying females, so either your fish are lesbians or more likely they are just fooling around. They can't do any real harm to each other, keep an eye on them and they should establish a pecking order and the fighting will stop in its own time - say a week. If they are still fighting then and its violent then post a reply and someone will try a more indepth explaination

 

[karen]

sounds good. i was talking to a friend of mine and he said what about getting a male one? i think i might in another week or 2 but i know i need to be carefull 'cause it's only a 10g and u r right. they aren't hurting each other
so we'll see. do u like my avatar?

 

[William]

Yes your avatar is very cool

A male could be a good addition I reckon you could manage it in a 10gallon - 3 swords and 4 neons is slightly overstocked but you should be fine, if you've got test kits test for ammonia and nitrite and how long has the tank been set up because you may have a cycle in the tank- still to come.

 

[karen]

we bought the tank on jan 23. but did not get the neons untill the next friday. we bought the swordtails a week later on the 4th and my husband tests it every friday. when we got the tank, it talked about cycling although we have not seen a significant increase in amonia or nitrate what happens with a cycle? what should i look for and does this cycle continue to repeat itself every so often? also my husband was thinking about getting an algae eater. what would be better a male sordtail or an algae eater?
(I told u i was new at this.) Thanks for all your help. B)