Too many male swordtails?

[Vorpal]

Hi everyone,

For various reasons, we've ended up with swordtail sex combinations that don't work very well with our tank combination...

We have four young, but mature swordtails in a 60L tank, two females and two males. One of the males pesters the other, so he hides all the time.

In our 120L tank, we have 7 corydoras and 1 large male swordtail.

I though the best thing would be to have a male and two or three females in the 60L, and two males and several females in the 120L.

The male in the big tank has been agressive with other swordtails before. It's possible that if we had enough females, he'd be okay. But if I put 5 or 6 females and another male in there, with the corys, that's an awful lot of fish in that aquarium.

I've also thought about putting the females in one tank and males in the other, but I think the males would fight.

So, I'm looking for opinions about how to sort the fish out, or suggestions to keep my males from harrassing each other.

 

[Colin_T]

When it comes to livebearers it is best to keep males in one tank and females in another tank. Then the females don't get hassled by males all the time. And the males aren't as agro because there are no females to fight over.

Every month or so you can add a male to the female tank for a week then move him out again.

 

[Vorpal]

Our oldest male has fought with other males, even without females present.

Also, doesn't moving them around stress them out?

 

[Colin_T]

Also, doesn't moving them around stress them out?

yes, but so does having 4 or 5 males trying to rape you repeatedly.

Catching fish out and moving them once a month or so is not going to cause any problems, especially if the male is going in with females. He will be happy to go in their tank

 

[Fin & Feather]

Males can pester females to death. That's why the hiding in the crowd technique is suggested. Buy a male and 2 or 3 females. Or as Colin_T suggested and many fish shops do is keep the sexes in different tanks.
While it is fun and interesting, you can end up with a lot of babies too if you keep them together. Also the females become non stop pregnant, which shortens their life. You could sell or give away the babies and unwanted adults you don't want to keep.
One of our local Pet shops has a donate policy. You can return or donate a fish and they will resell or give away the fish, depending on the situation. The other 2 fish shops have return policies that they will graciously bend and extend beyond guarantee time.