Sexual Change!

[Snick]

this may sound funny, but my female seems to be growing a swordtail! What is this, and is this some kind of new mutant specie or is this normal?

 

[willtang3000]

water can actually sometimes change the sex of the fish in those conditions its pretty bad water but has the female got the male sex organ

 

[SunFire]

i think it is normal if there is no males in the tank (imo). i heard of this with some female snakes have babies.

 

[mrplaty]

alot of people are quite suprised that they think their swordtail has turned from a female to a male but this isnt actually that uncommon. As sunfire said it normally happen if there are no male swordies in the tank.

 

[Annastasia]

How old is this fish, do you know? Most likely it's a late developing male. They will look female for a long while, then all of a sudden turn male.

I have never heard of a full blown, female, that's had babies become a male, that can impregnate females..

 

[VENOM]

never heard about this.

 

[sylvia]

This is a complete misconception. Swordtails do not undergo sex changes. The only reason people think this is because certain fish take longer to develop than others. Your fish was always male. It just developed its gonopodium and sword extension late. Also, if it's true that this development is most common in situations where there are no other males, the explanation would be that the fish don't want to be in a position where they'll attract negative attention from a dominant male so, as is the case with many dimorphic cichlid species, the young, subordinate, fish have their male characteristics suppressed to avoid conflict.

 

[Snick]

oh ok..... but there was already a male in there, so... i have had him/her for about 3 months, plus the time it had at the pet store so... its pretty weird.

 

[Dany]

yes this does sometimes happen. some fish ie livebearers. females will sometimes change there sex to replace a male. im not sure if this fish will be able produce sperm and breed with other females.
dan

 

[Animation]

Sounds freekish to me

 

[wwestar2000]

My keyhole changed sex. I had 3 keyholes 2 very apparent males with dorsal fins flowing past there tail fins and one female who stayed slighley smaller and stayed with a rounded dorsal fin untill she grew sick and died and not much later the dorsal fin started to shrink on one of the males and eventaully curved. Now they apperantly paired off so i have a definate example of a sex change.