swordtail

[newfie]

i have an orange swordtail who stabs other fish with his tail.he has already killed a small pleco,he is now doing the same with my molly and platy.has anyone heard of this.

 

[balloon molly]

it might be a territoriality,never seen it but that is what is sounds like just seperate the male and every thing should be okay,keep us posted

 

[Sasha]

My female swordtails used to hit each other with their tail. I think they were trying to show each other who's more dominate.

 

[newfie]

thanks guys for your help in trying to understand this.

 

[canarsie11]

Try to record that i would love to see that!

 

[GuppyDude]

lol didnt happen, i dunno about u pleco but the males sword is like the rest if his tail, just a flimsy peice of fin. he can kill stuff with his sword..lol

 

[silent_one]

My swordtail does that too, just to one of my giant danios though, they both always try to be the leader of the tank

 

[GuppyDude]

lol i dont dought that its happening but i mean wen he asked the question it sounded like the male was stabbing other fish, maybe its a territorial thing. i dont beleive that it killed a pleco thogh.

 

[fishboy04]

if it is a territorial thing try moveing you tank around alittle keep us posted

 

[tstenback]

The stabbing of the tail by a male sword is usually a mating dance if courting a female or a show of dominance when confronting another male. The sword itself cant hurt anything but a male sword can cause a fair amount of damage as they are quite powerful fish. But it would be odd for the sword to go on a killing rampage. Perhaps it is something else that is killing the fish. keep us posted

 

[Zenn]

This sounds very strange, because as Guppydude said, the tail is flimsy, and as tstenback the only time they would only do something like that, when trying to mate, and normally the female, would make rapid movements and raise her fins to their full extent and possibly even slap him with her tail to show rejection, though that dont stop them

But i never heard of them stabbing, if they were to show domination over other fish, when they come near, the male would do as the female, raise their fins to their full extent and make rapid movement, and if the fish dont give in, it would start attacking the fish to force it to be dominated, even if it means killing the fish

 

[GuppyDude]

i think zenn's got it

 

[newfie]

well maybe he is aggressive and trying to mate but why with the pleco.he is now going after my dalmation molly.i deffinately think he is the culprit who done in my pleco since he was the only one attacking.are they always this aggrressive.

 

[Xavier]

maybe he was trying to vanquish the evil in the land of the tropical aquarium.

 

[GuppyDude]

lol...purhaps