Baby Platies / Gender

[emufish]

I have 11 baby platies, well I say baby, about 4 of them are fully grown now, and are around a year old. The others are between 6 - 9 months old.

I was convinced that by some fluke, all the babies I saved were female, they all had a triangular caudal (?) fin. However, when I looked today, 2 are clearly male (one is not yet fully grown) and one looks as though he might be male.

Were these babies all female and so some have turned male? Or, do all baby platies look like females from birth and then their fin becomes elongated later for those that are male?

Anyone who could shed some light on this please!! This also means more babies.....

 

[Carla G]

I noticed the same thing with platies born in my tank. I think that they all have the triangular fin shape when they are very young.

 

[huffmagx]

I don't keep Platy but Guppy but I think all livebearers are similar in that when the babies are born it takes a while before you can distinguish the sex of the babies. Sometimes when my gups are young they will all look like females then after a while you will start to notice male characteristics appearing like elongated caudal fins and with guppies fin coloration.

Hope this helps you.

 

[pezzy]

its hard to tell when they are babies. I think mine were at least 6 months before i could tell

 

[jm1212]

sometimes it takes longer than you think to be able to distinguish them.

i have one platy that i bought at the store as a female while it was still relatively small, and now its beginning to look more and more like a male.

 

[jlink17]

Platy all look like female up until they are about 3 - 4 mths although some males take longer to mature.

 

[emufish]

My post was very timely, this morning I spotted a new born platy in the tank, must be about a week old, judging by its size. As my tank is what you might call 'tame', this one will probably survive in the tank (I find they grow quicker this way than by netting them). Of the 11 I have, 6 of them were in-tank (different tank) survivors and the others were netted early on. It's really nice to have a big shoal of the same species of fish, I hope this one is a second generation, as two of the original mums are in the tank, and the rest are fully grown babies. One mum is very prolific, even though she has a missing side fin!

 

[spacefish34]

hi there.it can take anywhwere from 3 weeks or more to sex young platies.its true what the other post said that they will all have the triangular anal fin which is usually the tell-tale sign of a female livebearer.however,dont be surprised if almost over night some of your girls suddenly are boys.the gonopodium forms faster on some males than others.usually dependent on genenome and conditions.good luck...

 

[vampie]

Don't females develop gravid spots much earlier than males develop gonopodiums?