Something Odd Is Going On Here...

[FishBlast]

My two female swordies, Bee and Eris, are really stirring up the sand with their weird bickering today...
Eris the lyretail is acting as if she's trying to mate with Bee the red swordie. Bee darts away, then Eris starts chasing her and pecking her. Eris also chases my swordtail male away whenever he tries to defend Bee.
Tha heck is going on here?!
All I did was change the water an hour ago...

 

[FishBlast]

Great... now my 3 oldest fry are fighting too...

 

[crazyforcordoras]

They are both females? Seems strange. Is Bee pregnant? If so, Eris might be trying to eat her fry as soon as they come out.

 

[FishBlast]

They are both females? Seems strange. Is Bee pregnant? If so, Eris might be trying to eat her fry as soon as they come out.

Both females, both have had fry so it's not time for either of them to have fry till the end of this month.
Eris is acting as if she's trying to mate with Bee (sticks next to her and tries to get under Bee, just like the male does, but she has nothing to use LOL!). And then Bee runs away, Eris chases her, pecks her under the belly all the time. -.-
The fry are chasing each other too, cue "Bad to the bone" song here, all they need is a bunch of chairs to hit each other with.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

As for the fry, they may be copying behaviors. I see this with my guppies from time to time. Not sure what is happening with the ladies though.

 

[FishBlast]

As for the fry, they may be copying behaviors. I see this with my guppies from time to time. Not sure what is happening with the ladies though.

Well, they've stopped arguing now. They're back to pecking the sand for food. Although they are well-fed anyway.
I know that fry copy behaviors they see. Like one night I saw my big swordies doing this:
Bee flicked against the sand, then Cracker did the same in the same spot on the sand and finally Eris did the same action. The fry found themselves another spot and all 3 did the exact same thing on that spot they chose. Pretty odd, borders social behavior I think.

 

[FishBlast]

Great... now my female lyretail's trying to mate (the wrong way) with my male swordie... I think the heat got to her... 104F / 45C... LOL.

 

[crazyforcordoras]

The heat messed with her head

 

[fluttermoth]

I think it's a dominance thing. A lot of animals use mating-like behaviour to show dominance over other individuals in the pack/shoal.

They're probably just feeling full of beans after their water change

 

[FishBlast]

I think it's a dominance thing. A lot of animals use mating-like behaviour to show dominance over other individuals in the pack/shoal.

They're probably just feeling full of beans after their water change

Well today I only did a small w/c.
But yeah, Eris is dominating Bee. Before, Bee used to dominate Eris and shred her tail every time they got close to each other.
Though... why is she trying to dominate the male? That poor guy got so fed up with these two bossy ladies that he no longer tries to mate with any of them and just wanders aimlessly through the tank daily (although this might have something to do with that fry Pinky's death. He used to court that fry a lot lol... Now he sleeps under the Java Fern where Pinky used to sleep. That's also when his weird behavior started, after her death.)

 

[FishBlast]

Eh, the male doesn't want her. She's beating the stuffing out of him. -.- And he's asking for it by raising his dorsal fin high at her...
I think I should get another female. Maybe then Eris will be kept busy.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Ok... weird. Just came back as I now have a 3 month old female doing similar behavior (and its not temperature as its cool here so tank temperature has been consistent). Though, my 3 month old has been a bit mean as well and bit off half a poor little fry's tail in the process. She's even been belly/tail nipping my full grown females (who are gentle giants).

 

[FishBlast]

Ok... weird. Just came back as I now have a 3 month old female doing similar behavior (and its not temperature as its cool here so tank temperature has been consistent). Though, my 3 month old has been a bit mean as well and bit off half a poor little fry's tail in the process. She's even been belly/tail nipping my full grown females (who are gentle giants).

She's not only biting under the belly, but doing the actual mating behavior like a male, only that she has no gonopodium to use lol.
Eris has managed to chase both the other female and the male away, now they're scared of her and whenever they meet her, they lower their dorsals. (I think that's a sign of submission when they do that in front of other fish). If they raise their dorsals high, fighting breaks out.

I have moved 3 more fry to the tank yesterday. They seem to be doing ok, but I've noticed another odd behavior with them: 2 fry will start swimming backwards and hi-five their tails repeatedly and then swim backwards with each other forming a circle. Pretty fun to watch.

 

[OldMan47]

If you have water at 45C it is surprising that you have any swordies left alive. Cool that darned water down. A massive water change will work if you have no other method to drop the temperature. Some ice cubes would be another way to do it.
Have you ever noticed how strange someone with a high fever acts? Fish are not immune to that effect.

 

[FishBlast]

If you have water at 45C it is surprising that you have any swordies left alive. Cool that darned water down. A massive water change will work if you have no other method to drop the temperature. Some ice cubes would be another way to do it.
Have you ever noticed how strange someone with a high fever acts? Fish are not immune to that effect.

45C is the surroundings temp, I'll measure the tank temp but it would most likely be around that. I don't have any ice cubes at this time or methods of making ice cubes.

Edit: tank temp is 33C.
Surroundings temp is 35C at this time.

I've had bigger swords go through the heat long ago, still survived the heat and even the chills of the winter. They're the second toughest fish I've had, aside from hoplos.
But I'll add some cool water if needed. Just that I hope it won't shock them... Do you think 11L would work? (aka one bottle)