Have I Got A Female Guppy?

[Becca .x]

Hey!
I had 4 guppys in my tank, and two of them were both always chasing after the yellow one, non-stop. Also when they got the chance they would show of their fins and kind of pose to the yellow one. After a while they left it alone a bit and moved onto the blue one, doing the same thing. The yellow one has now died for some reason, and they are chasing after the blue one now, all the time. I'm not sure, is the blue one a female? Or was the yellow one female? . what do you think?

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Rebbecca,

The female guppies are generally much larger and more plainly colored. The males are much smaller and have more colorful fins. Probably a member will come along with pictures or a link to help you with that.

The most likely reason the guppy has died is what we were talking about in your other thread. Unfortunately, the fish shops don't mind recommending and selling fish to beginners before their filter is really cycled, as this just gives them a chance to sell replacement fish once the first ones have died from the poisons. Now, its also possible the guppy was just weak, as they have become more inbred in recent years, but without knowing the water measurements, we'd have to suspect that there is ammonia and/or nitrite(NO2) that's permanently damaging their gills and nerves or killing them.

I know that we probably sound like crazy people to you, but believe it or not there really are a lot of experienced fish people here who know what is happening to you. We get newcomers with all these same things many times each month.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Becca .x]

Hi Rebbecca,

The female guppies are generally much larger and more plainly colored. The males are much smaller and have more colorful fins. Probably a member will come along with pictures or a link to help you with that.

The most likely reason the guppy has died is what we were talking about in your other thread. Unfortunately, the fish shops don't mind recommending and selling fish to beginners before their filter is really cycled, as this just gives them a chance to sell replacement fish once the first ones have died from the poisons. Now, its also possible the guppy was just weak, as they have become more inbred in recent years, but without knowing the water measurements, we'd have to suspect that there is ammonia and/or nitrite(NO2) that's permanently damaging their gills and nerves or killing them.

I know that we probably sound like crazy people to you, but believe it or not there really are a lot of experienced fish people here who know what is happening to you. We get newcomers with all these same things many times each month.

~~waterdrop~~

I see what you mean
Thanks

 

[Becca .x]

I havent

 

[OldMan47]

So that you can tell them apart, I have sex pictures of another livebearer that is built very much like a guppy.

This is a male of that species. You can see the elongated lower fin just behind where he eliminates his waste. It is thin and long and is called a gonopodium. This particular species does not get the long fins and bright colors of a guppy but the sex organ is much the same.

This is a female of the same species. In her you can see that the anal fin is not thin but is more triangular in shape. In this particular species, the spot on the anal fin is also a characteristic but is not what makes her look like a female to those of us that are familiar with livebearers.

Both pictures are a bit grainy because the fish you are looking at are both smaller than 1 inch in length. They are Heterandria formosa and the males seldom reach 1 inch when full grown. The females get to about 1 inch total length. You can probably imagine how much I have blown up the pictures.