yh88 Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 I had in my 10 gallon tank, 2 silver dollar (about 6 cm length), a male and a female red sword-tail fish, 2 head and tail- lights, an algae eater, some neon tetras, a cherry barb. I have some live plants and java moss in the tank and also some plastic plants and hiding places for the fish. I would like to know when a fry bred from 2 a male red sword-tail fish and a female fish can be identified as male by its longish tail as in the adult male? The female adult gave birth 4 or more(?) batches in my tank. Of the first batch, only 1 survived of the 2nd 2, of the 3rd 7 or so. Now all these fish appeared to be female - no distinguishing tail yet. The female and the sole survivor of the 1st batch ( which seems to inherit the longish dorsal fin of the by now dead adult parent) started packing at the 2 silver dollar so I put them out into my outdoor above-ground pound in the summer together with the dozen or so of mountain cloud fish. To my surprise, after a few weeks I caught and counted (still counting?) 31 frys. Now the female fish must have been impregnated by the by now dead (which died from some disease??) male sword-tail and carried the eggs with it when I transferred it to the pond outside (about 40-50 gallons i think). Now, what I would like to know is why all these frys (smaller ones about 4-5mm) appear to be female - no evidence of a sword yet. Or are they too small yet to be identified by sex? :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 too young. some male swords can be full grown and still not have their 'sword' thats why alot of people think they 'change sex' but really theyre just late bloomers :lol: not too sure how long it takes them on average to get to a sexable size, i just know they can take a while to grow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 They can change sex actually. Not all males grow a long sword straight away. The males have a gonopodium. This is the long anal fin under the body. It is a long and pointed fin in males and short and rounded in females. Not only can the females change sex but they can store sperm for several months and have several batches of fry with no male present. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 caryl, now i know you know ALOT more than me but ive always been told that they cant... got a link where i can read about it? love to learn more!! forgot about the gonopdium youll be able to tell from that if its a male, looks like a anenomies tube sorta... http://images.google.co.nz/images?svnum ... gonopodium theres a google search i did and it shows you a guppies one, looks the same though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 There is alot of arguing about it but I have spoken with a breeder who had a female who had produced fry then when the male died, she changed sex to male and replaced him. Sisters are doing it for themselves! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yh88 Posted February 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 To me it is inconceivable that a large big bodied female that I have (about 5-6cm) could turn into male. The male red sword tail that I had was thin and smaller in size (maybe 4 cm). It had a black tail and could swim backwards and forwards very fast. It was a very energetic fish before it succumbed to a disease which I hadnt noticed. Before it succumbed, it hid itself somewhere lying still. But then it did that once before and recovered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim&Dan Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 yh88: Sorry to hear about your loss... But congrats to the bubbas! Well done As the others said - it's still a bit too early to sex them I think changed sex This is a little out of left field... but I think the same is happening with our Zebra Danio male. Didn't want to create a whole new topic about it... He gradually has lost all the characteristics of Danio males and now just looks exactly like the female... :roll: :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yh88 Posted February 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 Now I have about 50 red sword tail in my 10 gallon tank after I caught the rest of them from the above-ground pond. But the big surprise is the mother of them all is still giving birth to frys. I think I saw at least 3 of these today. Of course there are definitely more, not to mention those that might have been eaten up by the bigger ones and its mother. But I have yet to identify a male fish that could impregnate this mother of all fish!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.