# Sex-changed swordtail



## Hanalei (Mar 1, 2011)

After our male swordtail died a few months back, we did not get another male, and one of the females has grown a gonopodium and is now growing a sword. We have gotten a bigger tank and want to get more swordtails, but can we get a real male now, or will it fight with the sex-changed male? Should we just get all females and let the sex-changed male be the male? Anyone ever have any experience with this?


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

It could have been young still when you saw it without the sword.


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## Hanalei (Mar 1, 2011)

*Male or female swordtail?*

I kinda doubt it as it is pretty big, even for a female, I would say it is 15 - 20% larger than our other female and they were approximately the same size when we got them about 6 months ago now. Male swordtails are actually smaller than the females, right?


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

I think it's not unheard of for fish to change gender when there aren't any members of the opposite sex.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

there a number of species of fish that will change sex if needed..
marine clownfish(like nemo...lol)if there are 101 fry in a tank....take them out 2 at a time and place them in separate tanks....you will have 50 pairs(male and female) and an extra female....
this is very common in species that have a very high mortality rate..


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