Guppies - Changing Sex?

[seanyt66]

Hi all,

As the title says - can guppies change sex? im asking because recently i split my guppies, males in one tank females in the other. the split was made approx 3weeks ago and now all my males are persuing my largest most colourful male, chasing him as if he was female!

On top of that some new fry seem to have appeared over the lasy couple of days! whats going on?

Regards


Sean

 

[haleystropicalfish]

No guppies cannot change sex. Well, as far as I know at least. I know that for several of my guppies it is difficult to tell male from female, so you could have accidently gotton a female in there, and that's probably where the fry came from. As for the guys chasing the other guy, it could be the guppies are making a mistake, or mabey is some kind of territorial thing. When I first seperated my males from females, the males accidently chased eachother around, and still do it once in a while. Are you sure that you only got males in the tank, and no females? I woulnd't wory about the chasing part unless it gets really aggressive.

 

[modaz]

some females are colourful and colour shouldnt be used to sex guppies alone, if you have fry in there then the one being chased is more than likely the female, so really you should move it, or better still post a pic of it so we can sex it for you. you say that its bigger than the rest of the males, thats agood sign to say its female as females are alot bigger than males

Males do chase eachother around its a natural thing for them to do, its basically playing so dont worry if this happens on a daily basis

 

[Bert]

The only guppy I have left is HUGE very colorful girl. she's my moms favorite fish in my community tank.

 

[seanyt66]

sorry about the pictue quality - the little bugger wont keep still. this the one being chased, could it be female? - ive never seen a female so colourful!

sean

 

[Bert]

This is my guppy girl, if it helps you campare at all.

 

[modaz]

thats a male guppy, one of the others must be a female for you to have fry in there, are there any other fish in the tank with the guppies?

 

[seanyt66]

Thanks everyone ill just have to keep an eye on them and see if i can spot the female!

Cheers


Sean

 

[lilfishie]

try looking for a deeper stomach and look at there anal fins

 

[01edmn]

have you got fry in the females tank or males

 

[lilfishie]

if anything i would of thought male in the female tank because i recently had a male only develope at 3 months

 

[seanyt66]

have you got fry in the females tank or males

the fry are in the male tank

sean

 

[Bert]

Yeah, look at the anal fins. It there's an actual fin there it's a girl.

 

[ArauraDiscus]

Males have a long gonopodium. It looks like what it is, a penis basically...

But in all maturity, the females have rounded anal fins, the males the long skinny one that is normally up against the body to protect it. Males start off looking like females, but when they mature, the two rounded anal fins roll up and turn into a long gonpodium. WHat probably happened to you was you bought an immature male who still had his baby anal fins which look like a females, and he matured while in your tank.