How Can I Have Fry If I Have 2 Males! Fry Are Orange?

[lilfishie]

again definately 2 males you got there, as for the fry, they all look female to start with so its impossible to tell

 

[ATK!!!]

Look at my signature pic, thats of a Swordtail/platy cross breed!

Soory if I edited it a bit to much to see properly

 

[CrazyAirborne]

well thanks for the replies guys, im really confused about where these fry came from. i know i need to up my platty numbers, because they seem to constantly hide all the time, in my heavy planted areas. the silver swordtail is the only one who usually shows himself, and i thought plattys are always out and about.


ok so the last questions are probably tricky.
1. would my silver sword always have his fin in a tube if there wasnt a female around? I remember around the 2nd day, noticing his "tube" and it hasnt gone away since then, almost 2 months.

also, looking back at my journal, we only had the tiny little orange platty for 2 days before she passed, but the very next day was when i saw my first fry.

2. Does the color of the fry directly correlate to the mother/parents? and if so, how soon do they show their colors? all three fry are exactly the same color, just that plain orange.

im really curious about this. i want to know whats going on. or i guess i could just live with it, raise my 3 fry and be happy. its just so weird!

 

[lilfishie]

sounds like it was the 3rd one that gave birth, the stress of moving and giving brith probably finished her off,

 

[Althamon]

[quote name='crazyairborne' date='14 April 2011]
2. Does the color of the fry directly correlate to the mother/parents? and if so, how soon do they show their colors? all three fry are exactly the same color, just that plain orange.
[/quote]

I think the colour of the fry does mirror that of the mother as my mainly White Molly had 7 White fry and had a black father and the darker female had black fry (same father). So taking a guess I would assume it was the one which passed away, but at least she left you a fry to remember her by.

[quote name='MBOU' date='13 April 2011 - 11:53 PM' timestamp='1302738839' post='2981809']

Oh and your little baby is a girl... congratulations
[/quote]

Out of curiosity how can you tell it's female? Only asking as I thought it wasnt possible to 100% sex them til they are a minimum of a couple of months + due to the gonopodium needing to form. Only asking as it contradicts the research I have done.

 

[CrazyAirborne]

Out of curiosity how can you tell it's female? Only asking as I thought it wasnt possible to 100% sex them til they are a minimum of a couple of months + due to the gonopodium needing to form. Only asking as it contradicts the research I have done.

the other guy said they all look female for the first couple months, so u are probably right, and as i look at my 3 fry, they all appear female... so yeah.

 

[OldMan47]

Airborne, it is easy as can be to sex mature swordtails, platies, mollies, guppies and similar poeciliids. We have a pinned thread at the top of this section that has clear pictures to make you an expert too. I used the fish I have in my tanks, which are not readily available at pet shops, but you sex them exactly the same way. As far as age goes, some fish need to be at least 6 months old to be relatively sure you have sexed them right while others can be sexed as early as about 8 weeks. Guppies and endlers show their gender quite early while platies and mollies take a few months and I have had wild type swordtails that did not show their true sex for as much as 2 years.

 

[helterskelter]

Colour of the fry is not determined by the mother, but by genetics. So you cant rely on that to tell you the parentage.
For example I'm working on 2 lines of gray base coloured guppies (pin tail cross moscow) these are genetically gray fish, but the fry i got last week produces a blond (which is the cream coloured guppies).

All fry may look female, but genetically their still male or female. It's only when the fish matures the anal fin develops into a gonopodium, once this happens it cant revert it back.