hi, i've had baby swordtails for 5 months or more now, and they all never grew their tails and all seem to be female
is this an issue or just luck?
is this an issue or just luck?
ohh i get itFor 4 years all i got was female off springs (or off springs that appeared to be females); but when my male was about to die i got a single male. Vaguely i believe that male off springs will not fully develop while a male is in the tank - allowing them to appear as females; though i suppose this depends on the size of the tank.
Thank you, they are very vibrant and activeSwordtails and platies can mature early, average and late. Even after a year of age. But yes, a total batch of females or males isn't rare. It does happen well. Actually, there's nothing much to say about it. This also happens in other ovoviviparous livebearers but all Xiphophorus species (where swordtails and platies belong to) are known for it that the age of reaching adulthood, can differ a lot per individual specimen.
And if they're all actual females, it will still be the question if they're all XX females or not. For only XX females will remain female when it comes to platies and a serious number of fancy swordtails (if that specific fancy strain were derived from platy x swordtail). When they're pure swordtail, it depends when we're dealing with XX females, wether the allele combination of the autosomal locus are AA or Aa. AA females remain female and Aa females can change sex.
So, when we're dealing with females that can genetically change into male (whatever platy or swordtail), the age when that happens differ per individual specimen. Which means, that they can also change sex after a few years (if your specimen lives that long).
Late males will develop because of different extern triggers. Most known is that there's too much suppression of too dominant males present. But late males also have never shown a gravid spot to start with. And they're always bigger (longer and more ferm build) than an average sized male.