Is There A Normal Male/female Ratio

[Littlemonkey]

My jap blue featherfin fry are really doing well, but have noticed out of around 50+ fry I have so far had only two males, which I moved to another tank. As I'm new to this is it normal for more female's than males be produced. I would be interested in other peoples experiances.

 

[Paradise3]

Out of 3-4 drops from all my female guppies i only ever got 1 male! This male died 2 days ago...

Alessa x.

 

[Littlemonkey]

Sorry to hear about that. How are the rest doing?

 

[ZoddyZod]

I've read that for certain fish water chemistry can play a part in the sex of the fry, but I've no idea if this applies to guppys.

 

[Littlemonkey]

That's interesting, I suppose also water temperture could play a part aswell.

 

[Curiosity101]

I vaugely remember reading something about guppies sex not being completely determined until they're a few weeks old. Ie. they might actually come out as alot of females, then will switch to males, and then will develop normally as males. But... I can't remember where, so don't take that as fact.

What I do know is that males do look like females until their gonopodium forms. So you may have more males that you think and they're just late developers. Check them daily and remove any that start forming a gonopodium.
How old are the fry at the mo?

 

[Littlemonkey]

Gosh, they are a fair few weeks old. The females stay almost clear, it's the males that have the colour and markings and it's these I can move on. There are still smaller fry, so you never know if these will turn into males at a later stage. I will see if I can get some pics up over the weekend.

 

[Curiosity101]

I wouldn't neccesarily just judge by colour. You definitely want to be focusing on the simple fact of whether there is a gonopodium forming or not. I know they're small and fast which can be a pain, but it's the most accurate way to do it.

 

[Littlemonkey]

Oky Doky, I was hoping Gill or Fishfeet may comment as they have/had the same fish. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Paradise3]

The rest are doing good but they are all females. I only have 1 male and i bought him from the shop. You can judge by colour but mainly focus on judging by whether there is a gonopodium or not. I could only tell what gender mine were when they were about 2 month old. I still only had 1 male from them all. I guess PH could affect them because my PH is 6.4 and i got all girls so maybe if it something like 8 point something you get mostly males.

Alessa x.

P.S. Yess i'm getting rid of the font, bold, italics and sizes everyone hates me for!

 

[kizno1]

From what ive heard the temp affects whether more are male or female. I think the cooler it is more female the hotter more males but it might be the other way around. What temp is the tank?

 

[OldMan47]

C101 is entirely correct. The first few weeks of a livebearer are not devoted to growing the sexually determined characteristics. Instead, those first weeks are devoted to growing and developing healthy fish characteristics.
I have tons of livebearers in my tanks, after all I am a livebearer specialist, and only the juvenile fish that are well over 12 weeks old are readily sexed. The rest are best left to their specialist breeders to determine their sex.

 

[Littlemonkey]

Thanks guy's, had a good look over the weekend and think there could well be another two males, the tank temp has been 22dg as Gill had his around 20dg.