Wouldn’t it be wonderful if your swordtail fish had a family, like a father fish with a mother fish and their cute baby fish living happily ever after? Do you think that happens in aquatic life? I’d be amazed if it does. So do swordtail fish live like a family? Do swordtail fish pair for life? Let’s explore!
Although it would be wonderful, I hate to break it to you that swordtail fish do not pair for life. Swordtail fish are prolific breeders with vast mating drives. Hence, they can breed with multiple partners.
Swordtail fish are livebearers. And, most livebearers, especially livebearer males, are focused on breeding as much as possible with as many females as possible. So, therefore, they wouldn’t settle with one female.
This article will discuss more on the issue along with other queries regarding swordtail fish mating behavior. So, stay focused!
Swordtail Fish Mating Behavior
Swordtail fish are prolific breeders. If you have two different sexes together in a tank, mating and spawning take no time. The mating process starts with certain rituals that the male swordtail fish conduct to impress the swordtail female.
The ritual includes flaring the sword and the fins, along with chasing the female around the tank. The swordtail males will perform the ritual all day long to convince swordtail females into breeding.
How Do Swordtails Breed?
Male swordtail has gonopodium and is found at the anus. This is used to transfer the sperm into the female.
Swordtails breed or mate very quickly. If you aren’t watching them properly, you might even miss it. The swordtail male approaches the female from the side, then swims close to her and touches her underside, near the anal fin with his gonopodium.
The male then transfers the sperm, and your swordtail female gets pregnant. The pregnancy usually lasts for 28 days, and 50-100 live fry are born at a single birth.
Also, Read Breeding Swordtail Fish: All you need to know.
Do Swordtail Fish Mate For Life?
As mentioned earlier, it would be wonderful to have a swordtail family roaming around your tank, but it doesn’t happen. Swordtail fish do not pair for life and have multiple breeding partners throughout their life.
In fact, most aquarists recommend putting a single male swordtail with three to four female swordtails so that the male cannot harass one female and have multiple choices to mate with. So, the 1:3 ratio makes it pretty clear that swordtail fish do not pair for life.
Moreover, you never know how a female swordtail got pregnant. Female swordtails can hold sperm in their pouch and can use it to fertilize their eggs whenever they want. So, even you have a male and a female swordtail together in a tank; your female may have been pregnant before even mating with the male that is together in the tank.
For these reasons, swordtail fish do not mate for life.
Can A Swordtail Male And Swordtail Female Live Together?
A swordtail male and female can live together; however, a lot of problems follow. Your swordtail male can harass or attack your female swordtail, causing your swordtail female to lash out or develop stress or other fatal diseases.
Swordtail males can be very aggressive when it comes to mating. This is because they have a high sex drive and want to mate often. At such time, if you have only one female in the tank, your male will chase her around the tank like a psycho, causing stress to your swordtail female.
Thus, I would personally not advise you to keep a single male and female together in the same tank. However, if you have no other option, make sure you have plenty of hiding spots for your female to catch a breath.
Why Should You Not Keep Only One Female With The Male?
Swordtail fish do not pair for life, and swordtail males should be kept with multiple females in the tank. Here are some reasons why we do not recommend putting only one female swordtail with a male swordtail:
Chasing
Swordtail male will tiredly chase your female swordtail around the tank. Chasing can be a mating ritual, but sometimes your swordtail male will chase the female around for another go. The chasing looks very close to sexual harassment, so keeping multiple female swordtails in the tank is better.
Aggression
Male swordtail fish are aggressive when it comes to mating. Besides aggressively chasing the female around, they will also attack the female swordtails by biting and nipping their fins. The aggression of the male is a little too much for a single female swordtail fish to handle.
Stress
The nagging will stress your female swordtail fish. As a result, they may want to hide from the aggressive male. Similarly, multiple mating can also be stressful for your fish. Hence, keeping one swordtail female with the male can be detrimental to your female swordtail fish’s physical and mental health.
How Many Swordtail Female Should Be Kept With A Swordtail Male?
We have discussed earlier that one female with one male can be dangerous. So, how many swordtail fish should be kept together?
It is recommended that you keep multiple female swordtails with a single male. The recommended number is 3 females to 1 male swordtail. This would protect the female’s health and keep the male swordtails calm in the tank.
When you have multiple females in the tank, they will protect each other from the male swordtail when it tries to harass. Similarly, the aggression in the male swordtail would drastically decrease.
We all know that swordtail males are efficient breeders, so if you have only one female in the tank, she will get pregnant and not be up for mating again. Also, there are chances that your male swordtail will chase the pregnant female around, which would stress her out.
Therefore, you should have multiple females in the tank (3 female swordtails for every male swordtail) so that you can keep your female swordtail stress-free.
FAQs
Here are the most burning questions about swordtail fish mating.
Can You Breed Swordtail Fish At Home?
YES! Breeding swordtail fish is fairly easy once you have selected the right fish, maintained a separate breeding tank with appropriate tank setups and water parameters.
Swordtail fish spawn without any external initiation, which makes your job 10 times easier.
Are My Swordtail Fish Fighting Or Mating?
We know that the mating behavior of swordtail fish can turn aggressive, with the chasing, fin nipping, and whatnot. This can lash the female swordtail out of stress, and she can attack the male swordtail too.
Although it might look like they are fighting, your female and male swordtail are just trying to mate in peace with each other.
Conclusion
Swordtail fish aren’t loyal. They have multiple breeding partners throughout their breeding age. So, it’s just heartbreak to expect a happy swordtail fish family.
However, you will want to keep all your swordtail fish happy and healthy. So, avoid keeping only one male and female together. 1:3 is the perfect ratio of male and female to have an active, happy, and successfully breeding swordtail fish.
