Female Swordtail Sex Change?

[wastegate]

When my tank finished cycling i got 3 sword tails kinda as tester fish. I bought 1 male and 2 females on advice from owner of lfs. After a few weeks i added guppys and neon tetras as swordtails where doing relly well. A week later my male died so i bought a replacement male who jumped out of the tank that night :roll:

After this, I didnt bother replacing the male swordtail. The 2 females are still perfect. They are very active and getting to know the feeding routine and will come to the front of the tank as i approach it with their food.

Any way, as i went to turn lights off tonight i watched them as they seemed to be be dancing with each other, and swiming together very playfuly. It was really enjoyable to watch. But i then noticed that one of them looks like its changin sex, as in the bottom of its tail is starting to extend into the shape of a sword just like a males. Its not as long at the moment but its defo taking the same shape!

Has any one had this happen to their fish before? I remember reading somewhere that certian fish can change sex but are sword tails one of them?

 

[vfg10]

HI
that happen to me to
I told the guy from my LFS and told me that is like a camouflage for the fish that is harass, but I don't now if its true.

I hope some one can tell us that is going on there

 

[Mikaila31]

I don't believe in the sex change thing. I feel swordtails seem to develop their sexes much later than other livebeares. Occasionally what you buy is a juvenile that has yet to fully grow and develop.

As far as the dancing, that is normal between females. I think it is for dominance. My female endlers do that too. I use to keep fancy swords and had issues with females being overly dominate. Here is a vid I shot of two of my females fighting. The red one is a lyertail and was defiantly female.