# Gender of my Platy



## TheFishDragon (May 20, 2009)

Yes, yes, I know, a very ridiculous question. That are easy to tell apart when it comes to gender. And yet, I'm still stumped^^;

So this past Sunday I dropped by the small, local pet store in town because they have specials on fish every Sunday and Tuesday. I've always been fascinated with genetics and had once tried to play around a little with different colored mollies to see what I could get, but that plan was an utter failure for many reasons I'm afraid^^; So I wanted to try again with different color combos in livebearers(seeing as they are the easiest to bred)but with something smaller and less aggressive. I'd thought aobut guppies of course, but I already had a few that were breeding like....well guppies  and my experiment had to work with more selective breeding. So i'd somehow got it in my head that I wanted Platys and spent quite a bit of time picking a coupe out, very delighted to find that they weren't kept with any males. 

So where to get the males now? Well, a trip to the dentist a few towns over takes us past a Petco(I know, not the best place, but I've got limited resources here^^;; )so I thought I might pick up a male or two there along with some tank supplies. I asked for a male Painted and a male Sunset Platy, but on closer inspection of the Sunset I noticed that the Anal fin was more so pointed then a females, but didn't quite look like a males 'parts'. Of course I pointed this out, but the man helping me insisted that it was a male and launched into the whole explanation, so I decided it wasn't worth the hassle and just took what I got 

So question, do I really have myself a female or was this guy really not as clueless as I made him out to be? It is very shy, But the tank is by my comp so I was lucky enough to catch it at the right moment and get a couple good shots. Anyone care to share their opinion on the matter/tell me how ridiculous and silly I am? XD


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## TheFishDragon (May 20, 2009)

Hmm....well i suppose it doesn't much matter now, poor little guy has passed on to the great pond in the sky :/ To be expected I suppose, Petco fish and a bit of a rough ride home aren't a wonderful combo ^^;

Still curious though, incase anyone had an input =3 So I don't make a mistake if I ever go out to obtain another male.


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## Guest (May 28, 2009)

Thats why they get none of my business. the only thing I could ever keep alive( let alone couldnt kill) was snails from a piece of anacharis, not even a big piece just a few inches for the frog. musta had eggs.

Id take it back. use the waranty and get a refund, mail order fish have a higher survival rate then deathco fish.


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## TheFishDragon (May 20, 2009)

Haha, Deathco xD Unfortunately can't take it back, I only go by there every 6 weeks or so and by then I'm pretty sure the warranty would have expired not to mention keeping the dead fish that long wouldn't work out 
I'm really paranoid about ordering fish because we live WAY out in the country and the last time fish were shipped to me the box was thrown over the fence and left there AND was leaking :/ I only three fish survived that one, lost a nice breeding Blue-eyed Cichlid pair too ;o


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## Fishboydanny1 (Jun 13, 2008)

that's just a young male... his 'parts' would have developed soon... i've had better luck with swordtails anyway.


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## TheFishDragon (May 20, 2009)

Really? When do platy usually develop them? He was about the same size of the other male I purchased who had his...'parts' xD, I'd say just barley under two inches.....just a late developer? xD
I LOVE Swards, had been thinking about getting some but was worried about size and aggression....


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## eaglesfan3711 (Nov 16, 2008)

You've got a prime example of the gender change in livebearers. All livebearers start out as females. As time goes on, the males anal fin rounds over. This platy is starting to round over. It may be a few more days until he has completely rounded over.


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## TheFishDragon (May 20, 2009)

xD I'd heard about that before! The gender changes and livebearers that is. How fascinating =3 I've never seen it before, I wish he would have lived long enough for me to find out if that was it or if he was just a reeeeeeally late developer x3


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## Oldman (May 25, 2009)

All livebearers that a person will usually run into has a gender determined at birth by its genes. The only thing that changes over time is the gender being expressed in the fish. In a swordtail, it is not unusual to find a male that does not show its true gender until almost a year old. In an endler, it is a bit unusual to find one over 2 months old that is not easily distinguished from its sisters. Each of the Poecliids that make up most of the livebearers we run into, begin to show male characteristics at a different age, but the fact remains that their gender is as genetically determined as it is in people. Little girls do not become little boys but they all look much alike to a casual observer until they are well beyond 10 years old. Before that you can only tell by the way their mothers dress them and cut their hair. We are no more perceptive about the gender of a typical livebearer than an alien observer would be of fully dressed people. They would think that everyone who wears pants is male and would talk about males becoming females as they mature.


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## eaglesfan3711 (Nov 16, 2008)

See that is exactly what I thought too. I'm sure that has a lot to do with it, but I had a mollie that had several sets of fry, then turned male. I'm not sure if this is a special case but it has happenned to me before.


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## Fishboydanny1 (Jun 13, 2008)

with swordtails, it is usually male-male and female-female aggression, with the exception of some extra aggressive individuals. I think that lyretail swords can cause some problems though: I had a female lyretail with a regular male, but the male kept trying to kill her because he thought that she was male! now I have two lyretail males (cant breed, anal fins too long), a lyretail female, and a highfin male, and the males could care less about each other, as if the lyretails know they cant breed, and the hifin knows the lyretails are harmless to his females..... for the most part, if it doesnt look like a male swordtail (the sword extention is what gives it away to other males), they leave the other fish alone, including platies...

good luck!


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