1 male or two???

[hooterhead]

I've got 2 female H. reidi in my hex now along with 2 alligator (dragon) pipes. I'm ready to make my next addition(s) which will be companion(s) for my ladies. Is it better to have 1 male for the two females or a male for each??? I'm not all that interested in breeding but don't want them fighting over one male. What will make them happiest? Does it even matter?

 

[Swanwillow]

I have a trio of horses in my tank: one male... two females.

the male actually fights over which female he 'plays' with every morning... they haven't sucessfully transferred, but he goes back and forth between the two.

 

[luvabunny]

If you're not interested in breeding, I would stick with more females. As companions they would do just as well.

IME, the females don't fight over males, but males will snick at each other if there are more males than females - however - if you get one male and it pairs up with only one female, the other female will be the odd man out and will get less companionship - however again - getting 2 males to go with your 2 females does not guarantee they will pair off. I have seen it many times that every male in the tank likes the same female, and completely ignores the other 5 females.
About the only way to guarantee pairing is to have a tank with only 1 male and 1 female in it.

 

[DebsSisterFlo]

I've got two males together and they along fine, other than one hitching around the others head once in a while. I've got one female that they will join this weekend.

 

[hooterhead]

I'll probably go with one male at first and see how things go. If one female ends up as the odd one out, i'll order another male to see if I can get her a friend. thanks for the input guys!

 

[whatnot45]

I have a simialr situation... I had 2 females, and two males, but one of the females got sick and died =( i am left with 2 males and one female should I get another female? i would like them to breed at some point... will they fight over the female?

 

[JennyL]

The female is the one who makes the choice of whom she mates with, you may want to consider more males than females.

Many will pair bond and only mate with one mate but not all species do this.

Some females will even choose to simply dump her eggs to the bottom of the tank if she doesn't wish to mate with any available males in the tank. I have observed this behaviour and it's quite interesting.

 

[Swanwillow]

BUT, the other problem is that males will get aggressive at eachother (can-not will, sorry) and cause little wars...

if ya don't want to breed, find someone with the same species of horse as you, and trade some stock... maybe they need a female, and have an extra male...