# Gay Platy? No, not a joke, serious question



## rallykid

Ok, this may get this thread deleted but this is a legitimate question and situation. In one of our tanks I have 2 Sunburst Wag Platies (1 male, 1 female) and had 2 female Sunburst Platies. The male has shown absolutely no signs of breeding with any of the females in the tank at all. We lost our pregnant female (she was pregnant when we got her) Sunburst to unknown causes as she was perfectly healthy and literally less than 10 minutes later was dead with no signs of disease. The female that we lost was replaced with a male Sunburst so we could have a Wag breeding pair and a Sunbirst breeding pair if we decided to keep the fry. 

Here is where it gets weird, as soon as the new male Sunburst hit the tank the male Wag was all over him......and I don't mean in a territorial kind of way or an aggressive fighting posture. He was definitely trying to breed with the other male and continued to do so for hours. Hoping it would calm down and get used to having the new guy in the tank we let everyone get aquainted overnight. The next day was the same thing, the male wag consistently and constantly trying to breed with the male Sunburst and showing no interest at all in the females in the tank. The new male is slightly smaller than the wag but barely. I feel bad for him as it looks like my aquarium has turned into some kind of weird prison sexual assault scene. I am wondering if maybe I should separate them for a while and then try re-introducing them. I am fairly new to live bearers but the wife has kept Mollies for a while. We have never encountered anything like this. I tried rearranging the tank as well in case it was a territory thing but it didn't make a difference, he was still after the other male constantly.

Is this a common occurence? And yes, before anyone asks, I am 100% positive that both are males as the new male has tried breeding with both the females in the tank already.


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## Dmaaaaax

That is hilarious!

Here is how to tell for sure....Does he have a limp fin like free willy?!


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## eaglesfan3711

Okay, two possibilities here. 

1. The wag is territorial, and that is his way of pushing the other around.

-or-

2. Which might also be the case. Livebearers all start female and then change male. I have had livebearers give birth and then change male. I am not sure why but they can do both. It is possible that this was a female that had just turned male. It may still be giving off pheremones as breeding females. If you have ever noticed, when you have a female livebearer that has just given birth, and put her back in the tank, the males will be all over her.

I have had guppies act in this way. They actually chased a male red wag platy around.

My recommendation, tank the wag male, as he seems more agressive, and put him in one of those breeding cages, without the breeder. This way he remains in the tank yet he remains seperated from the male. Let him set in there for a few days, then put him back in. If he still chases, you can try it again. If not, he may just be naturally aggressive.


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## rallykid

He seems to be calming down now and not causing so many problems so maybe you were right. I had heard of that with Mollies but not Platies. They are close though so I see where it could happen. At least I don't have to run out and find a rainbow background for the tank now.


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## eaglesfan3711

Good to hear they worked out their differences...have fun with them.

The fish that you know just turned males are the swordtails. When you see a male no matter what size with a short or no spike, then you know it is young. Just some advise for the future. Don't get swordtails with long swords. The longer the spike, the older the fish. This isn't a fish to buy size small, spike small.


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## Fishboydanny1

I've seen males that are huge, but with little to no sword. will these grow swords as big in porportion as most? my swordtail had one of the longest swords in the tank, and now his is huge! i'll post pics.


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## eaglesfan3711

Yep. The thing about swordtails. As soon as they turn into males, they quit growing except for the swords. The swords will continue growing until the fish dies. I have a red-orange wag tail sword. When I got him, he had just a tip. I've had him three months and he hasn't grown anymore, but his sword is about 2 and a half inches long! It is huge!

This is from personal experience. It may be different for some, but I've had about fifteen male swords since I got my tank and this has happened to all of them.


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## Melvis

I know swordtails can change sex but I didn't think platies did.

I had this with two male platies that I kept a few years ago, but I think it was definitely a territorial thing. The "gay" one turned out to be the dominant male in the tank and the father of most of the fry, judging by the colouring of the individuals I managed to raise.

There is definitely something in the idea that hormones play a part. Sometimes male livebearers seem to be paying no interest to the females at all...give it a few months and it's a different story.


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## Fishboydanny1

My teacher had a wild type guppy give birth then change into a male! definetely interesting....


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## eaglesfan3711

We had the same thing happen with a mollie.


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## osomoso

Dmaaaaax said:


> That is hilarious!
> 
> Here is how to tell for sure....Does he have a limp fin like free willy?!


Oh snap!!!!


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## budcarlson

I have a couple of male Mickey Mouse platys and the one is always 'snuggling' up to the other one, schooling around with him. Funny enough, I thought the EXACT same thing, gay Platy, but I never would have posted it, so thanks.

I have 2 blue Platys, both male, in addition to the MMs. I also have a black Platy with a yellow belly that is larger and quite obviously female, to me at least, since it has the triangular anal fin, and not a gondopodium like the littler males. Before I knew how to sex them, I thought one of the blues was pregnant, but he got smaller and I thought 1) had babies & got eaten or 2) piggy fish became the Biggest Loser. Now I don't know, could have been #1 and now he's male.

Can a female become a male and change anal fins in the process? Wierd.


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## kiteboarder123

egals fan is prolly right. Homosexuality is observed in animals. Mostly it is a dominance /territorial thing because there are only a few animals that have sex for fun (humans and dolphins!) I;ve seen a lot of strange "mountings" on the various farms i have worked.


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## aconrad

I had 2 male guppies that would do this to a swordtail. It was probably the funniest thing I've ever seen. =p


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## ILikeAnimals

ik this is old but i actually have 2 gay platys. its quite funny and cute


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## emeraldking

Homosexuality can occur in all animals. It also happens that when only one gender is kept of a species, that they can pair up as well. They remain the same gender but one acts like the male and one acts like the female.


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## emeraldking




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