Sexing Platies, Guppies, Mollies and Swordtails [Archive]

Tolley

08-01-2008, 10:36 PM

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

I drew the fish as Platies but it is the same for Guppies, Mollies and Swordtails.

FYI I made the picture, not stolen.

Fishalicious

08-01-2008, 10:44 PM

Says more than a thousand words :19:

Tolley

08-02-2008, 12:00 AM

Thanks Jess. Hopefully it will help some people out.

Pearl Trade

08-02-2008, 12:17 AM

good picture, i think it'll help alot of people

gunk

08-02-2008, 05:35 AM

makes sense. thanks.

Tolley

08-04-2008, 12:18 PM

No problem !

Boertjie

08-04-2008, 12:59 PM

angelcakes

08-04-2008, 02:11 PM

thanks tolley:19: :19:

dgoulston

08-04-2008, 02:17 PM

Tolley, that is the best explanation to help the people, although......some of the guppies we sexed this weekend are surely gay.......you just cant decide if it is a female or male.....:14: The anal fin is as long as the normal one's gonopodium, but it is very wide the same time?

gay?? dont you mean a-sexual?

gay surely even in the fish would would be a male fish fumbling round with another male fish..

and unknown sex fish would be a-sexual.

justyn725

08-04-2008, 02:44 PM

Nice drawing.....wish I was that artistic!

Tolley

08-04-2008, 10:28 PM

Thanks all

Tolley, that is the best explanation to help the people, although......some of the guppies we sexed this weekend are surely gay.......you just cant decide if it is a female or male.....:14: The anal fin is as long as the normal one's gonopodium, but it is very wide the same time?

Could you get a photo of one of these guppies?

ladyoutlaw50

08-04-2008, 11:03 PM

thank you for the drawing -- I am going to print it out when I go to pick up my nieces fish in a few weeks.

Tolley

08-05-2008, 07:41 PM

Cool! Glad to have helped!

Tolley

08-24-2008, 01:39 PM

bump......

Alfcea

08-24-2008, 03:10 PM

Wow! Tolley! When did you draw this? It's very good! There was a guy about a week ago asking for how to sex these fish... I gave him a link to some outside site... had I known about your excellent drawing I would've directed him to it! Congrats!

Tolley

08-24-2008, 04:44 PM

few weeks back. I used to give links outside the site too so i thought i make my own. From the comments it seems to help people so i bumped it as it was buried under a couple pages. and thanks!

angelcakes

08-28-2008, 08:00 PM

please sticky

Sounguru

08-28-2008, 08:02 PM

Second That

KingFisher

08-28-2008, 08:02 PM

please sticky

I agree, should be a sticky!

Tolley

08-28-2008, 10:27 PM

Thanks all. It'll be good if it did as its has seemed helpful.

fishloverforever

08-30-2008, 02:37 PM

It's cool that you know anatomy of fish.

Thanks for explanations!

Tolley

08-30-2008, 06:39 PM

No problems and thanks!

Tolley

10-16-2008, 11:16 PM

Seemed to be a lot more livebearer questions lately so heres a bump.

Sasquatch

10-17-2008, 12:16 AM

Says more than a thousand words :19:

Sticky this and it may save a thousand posts!

Congrat Tolley and good work.

Tolley

10-20-2008, 10:02 PM

Thank You For The Sticky Fin N Fur!!!

korith

11-20-2008, 05:05 AM

Got a tank and molly from someone, the search brought up this thread and the picture, very helpful. Appears that the molly I have is a female, now to get it some company tomorrow.

Northernguy

11-20-2008, 02:40 PM

Well done Tolley! That will help a lot of members with their livebearers.:19:

fairbs

11-20-2008, 02:55 PM

Trolley, that's real good and thank you for the drawings. I know that gourami are not livebearers but can you do something similar for Gourami??

remysmom

03-28-2009, 07:25 PM

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

I drew the fish as Platies but it is the same for Guppies, Mollies and Swordtails.

FYI I made the picture, not stolen.

Illustration is greatly appreciated. I've been staring for weeks at my Platys trying to decide what I had ( I have 3). Since I am so new at this, I didn't realize when I purchased fish I could ask for M/F. Your drawing has told me I have 3 Females .. which means I came home with a pregnant platy (since I now have 15 frys.)

thanks again
Cheers

fishkeeper888

04-15-2009, 03:36 PM

Thanks, I've got new Guppy fry, their too small at the moment but when they grow Ill definitely come back here for info, thanks for the info, nice drawing

HorrorShowRot

06-06-2009, 01:24 AM

Thanks for posting this. It will help me out alot.:22:

Faith_at_Large

06-21-2009, 04:26 PM

I know that with young Hamsters, it is very hard to sex them until they mature enough for the males to really "show" themselves.

Is this also true for Platies? I just replaced my last Platies (Red Wag and Mickey Mouse - passed on) with three new ones. But these guys are so small, and I am having trouble. I figure my previous platies were old geezers when I got them, compared to these cute little ones.

Last night I thought I had two males and one female and was going to go out and get some more females to balance them out, but this morning I looked at them again, and I think I have two females and one male (what I actually wanted).

My previous Platies were simple. I could see at a glance which were male and which were female.

HorrorShowRot

06-21-2009, 04:41 PM

What I usually do is take them out of the water and look at them through a magnifying glass if its a fry. I hope this will help you.

Faith_at_Large

06-21-2009, 04:58 PM

Wow, that sounds terrifying for the fish, but for fry that may be the only way. My fish are not that small, just the smallest I've seen for sale (1/2 inch), but the one that I think is a male has a fin that looks like it could be a gonopodium, but does not seem definitive. The female fins also appeared to be similar, but the longer they are in my tank, the more relaxed they are getting and the easier it is to see the fins unfurled to their full shape and size.

I am fairly certain now that I do have two females and one male. It sounds like the sex is apparent from birth (though may need magnification to see).

Incidently, someone has been very busy with their breeding - my Mickey Mouse Platy is translucent except for his Mickey Mouse "tattoo".

HorrorShowRot

06-21-2009, 05:16 PM

I actually sexed mine about 2 hours after they were born with the magnyfying glass:P But its best to not keep them out long because of stress and what not. But mine have never died from me sexing them.

i<3fishies

07-29-2009, 10:30 PM

With Liverbearers, its really easy.

Male: The Annal Fin is rather pointed

Female: The annal fin is rounded

bythos

09-17-2009, 01:16 AM

how old do guppies have to before you can sex them?

PinkSapphire

12-22-2009, 07:22 AM

I've gotten pretty darned good at sexing almost any livebearer. I've got an 80 gallon tank of Platys and Guppies, and a 40 gallon "Mollywood".

Basically, I look for the, um, gosh, I can't post what I call it... how's the "vaginal" fin? What I look for is the triangular fin just below the fish's anus. If it does not have a triangular fin, it's a boy. If it does have a "vaginal" fin, it's a girl. That simple. I love easy.

sabhain

01-22-2010, 01:41 PM

can the image associated with the OP be re-posted? I'd like to understand this, but there's some sort of photobucket error.

Little Embers

01-22-2010, 10:47 PM

These might help and as the OP said, telling the sex is the same for all Livebearers....it is all in the shape of the anal fin.

Female in left pic...Male on right.

drgallahad

04-01-2010, 10:14 PM

GREAT NOW WE SHOULD KNOW:19: thumbs2: :19:

laku_16

08-06-2010, 03:32 PM

Hi all,

Iam new to the Aquarium community.hell every body.......

superbsite

08-09-2010, 05:25 PM

Thanks Tolley
That helped a lot
Cheers

MoNsEfY

02-06-2011, 06:25 AM

Thanks Jess thumbs2:

male molly kid

02-17-2011, 07:29 PM

I thot this was a famly site ha ha ha:hmm3grin2orange: ha ha ha

Johny

05-31-2011, 04:34 PM

So...I now know that one of my she's is a he, not a she. I have 4 males guppies and 1 female. Competition much?

beettoo92

07-27-2011, 04:07 PM

Very helpful:22:
and +1 to dgoulston at first page :19:

bignellm

07-27-2011, 04:18 PM

So...I now know that one of my she's is a he, not a she. I have 4 males guppies and 1 female. Competition much?

Ouch. Hostility much? I've not seen a hostile guppy, but if anything like Platy, should be quite a show.

Lmwcrazy

10-22-2011, 01:27 AM

i have a guppy that i thought was male as he is real colourful (i say male loosely) hes got really fat n got a black spot thing i thing near his ainal fin. but really unure if male or female i have had 'it' 3 month mabe a bit more ...... 24104

i have posted on new member too but dunno if i put it wrong place or not
i have another guppy a zebra danio an american flag fish (thats what the shop called him but cant find him anywhere) and a gold fish. i also had a loach till this morning......... he sadly died unsure why but taking him down aquatic centre tomorrow to see why. he lived about 6 month and was very happy :(
will my other fish eat the babies? i have fair few plants pots n hiding holes ect in my tank and its somewhere around 20 gallon i think. its 2.5 ft long 32inch hihh n 14 inch deep.