Male Or Female Platy?
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Definitely a female? She really is very colourful in person! I also want to get some more platys as it seems lonely having just the one, does it matter wether I get more females or males? Is it like guppies where you should have a ratio of more females to males?LyraGuppi said:Looks to be a female. Males have a straight, "stick"-like fin, and females have a fan.
Most females can have the same extravagant coloring as the males nowadays.
LyraGuppi
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Liv15 said:
Definitely a female? She really is very colourful in person!Looks to be a female. Males have a straight, "stick"-like fin, and females have a fan.
Most females can have the same extravagant coloring as the males nowadays.
I believe so!An in-focus pic would help, though.
Another thing is that maybe she could be a young male, how long have you had her/him?
I also want to get some more platys as it seems lonely having just the one, does it matter wether I get more females or males? Is it like guppies where you should have a ratio of more females to males?
I would stick with one gender, since your tank is probably not large enough to withstand alot of fry.
The ratio is usually 1 male to 2 or 3 females.
Definitely female. In a 48 liter tank though, you're already under the minimum size so I would not get any others. However, if you got some male endlers, the platy would look lovely in the tank with these other active, appropriately sized individuals for this size tank.
I took another pic but it's still not great. At the moment I only have 2 old danios that I started with (I'm kind of waiting for them to get to the end of their lives! They're 3 yrs old and surely won't live much longer ? 
) and this platy. I did have a couple of bamboo shrimp but they died because I didn't look after them properly but surely a platy or two more would be fine?
) and this platy. I did have a couple of bamboo shrimp but they died because I didn't look after them properly but surely a platy or two more would be fine?Attachments
Platy really need around twenty gallons. They are active and fairly messy. They also can get kind of chunky (especially females). They aren't schooling fish, though they do enjoy the company of others in their own species, but they can live singly with other species or individually. Honestly, I would wait until the danios are either rehomed or until they meet the end of their lifespans before getting any other fish.
Absolutely female. Unlike guppies, female platies, mollies and swordtails are just as colorful as the males.
So I've bought a 125L tank, I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing my platy grow. She will be so much happier in the new tank and she can have some platy friends (I better make sure they're female though !) ah can't wait to set it up!
Beware, a female bought from a store is likely to be 'pregnant' when you get her, so fry is still possible.
I totally understand that. I cut my teeth in fishkeeping with livebearers... lovely fish. The proper ratio for them is 2-3f/1m. I currently only ever keep males... just to completely avoid the possibility of fry.
One other danger to watch out for: some males take longer to develop a gonopodium, and so appear female in the store, only to become male (obviously) later on. Its not a matter of changing gender... but a case of 'misidentification' due to maturity. All platies appear female early on...
There are other cases (with swordtails) where unawares aquarists saw a fish without a 'sword' and assumed it was female, only to bring it home and have it grow a swordtail and impregnating females... In these cases, often (although I can't say with 100% certainty) the issues are that with swordtails, the swords are usually grown longer (and sometimes only ever grown at all) by the dominant males. The dominant males suppress the development of the other males by their presence and this leads to issues. I don't know for a fact that this is true as well with platies, but its possible. So, beware. Keep a close eye on your fish, even after you buy them and bring them home. What 'appears' female in the store may in fact be a male when you bring it home... and that will become evident after some time.
One other danger to watch out for: some males take longer to develop a gonopodium, and so appear female in the store, only to become male (obviously) later on. Its not a matter of changing gender... but a case of 'misidentification' due to maturity. All platies appear female early on...
There are other cases (with swordtails) where unawares aquarists saw a fish without a 'sword' and assumed it was female, only to bring it home and have it grow a swordtail and impregnating females... In these cases, often (although I can't say with 100% certainty) the issues are that with swordtails, the swords are usually grown longer (and sometimes only ever grown at all) by the dominant males. The dominant males suppress the development of the other males by their presence and this leads to issues. I don't know for a fact that this is true as well with platies, but its possible. So, beware. Keep a close eye on your fish, even after you buy them and bring them home. What 'appears' female in the store may in fact be a male when you bring it home... and that will become evident after some time.
Someone's giving me a couple of platys in a few days and I've seen them and they're both maleseaglesaquarium said:
they're also 2 or 3 times bigger than my little female, do you think she'll be alright until I can get some more females? Hopefully it will only be a few days until I canSimilar threads
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