Platies Changing Gender

[CrazyJ68]

Has anyone heard of platies changing gender? I had a female palty change to a male platy. I thought I was seeing things at fisrt but it was true. Help.

 

[Bloo]

I've never heard of it and it simply cannot be possible. Out of interest, what makes you say that ?

 

[sinistral]

I have heard of it. I did some research. It looks like it is most likely that livebearers actually do not change gender. Instead, the phenomenon that is observed is a result of late developing males, which apparently first resemble females (fan shaped anal fins) and then later develop a gonopodium.

Some marine fish do in fact change gender once at certain times in their lifespan (I think some species of wrasse).

I'm open to correction about this, as there's a lot of confusing information about this topic.

 

[b.c.f.c]

ive heard of sword tails changeing gender but not platies.maybe they are young swordtails not platies.im not an expert so im probly wrong.

 

[Destany]

Actually, there are some documented cases, and I have heard on other forums of platys changing sex. So it does happen and it is entirely possible. Females do this if there are no males present to mate with. They are very effecient at reproducing, as most of us here know! I will say, that while it does happen, it is somewhat rare, and other's who've seen it often wonder if these females weren't males to begin with that took longer than usual to sex out.

Can I ask how old these females/males were?

 

[leroy]

I've read that its is brought about by the slight hormonal upsets that accompany advanced age. but the gonopodium is the only thing they gain from the male caracteristics. All there internal sexual organs stay the same. So therefore there developed gonopodium is of little function. I had a couple fish change sex a couple of years ago but they never got the females pregnant, they tryed!.

 

[CrazyJ68]

Destany

I'm not sure how old the platy is I purchase him/her from Petsmart. I know it was female because it was pregnant at one point. Thanks for everyones coments.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

When platys are half grown, you do get late developing males which only develop their defining features once they are fully grown- most lfs's sell young fish so this may be why your fish appeared to have a sex change.
When you say the fish was pregnant, did you get any fry and were you positive that they belonged to the fish in question?

 

[Crab Paste]

I had a pair of adult Swordtails a few years ago that produced amongst others, a female that in turn had fry.....then changed sex....it was under 1 year old.

I've heard that this can happen if there is an inbalance of males to females. Also it can happen as they hit a kind of fish menopause and no longer produce eggs because the female hormone is no longer present, the male hormone takes over. Whether they are fertile as males after this change I don't know as I had one other (true) male Swordtail at the time.

 

[Crab Paste]

BTW, forgot to mention what brought me to this thread. I currently have an adult (in size anyway) Platy that was female 2 months ago when I bought her....and you've guessed it.....she's now fully equipped to be a guest on Jerry Springer!

 

[Discus man]

there is no way a platy can change its sex there is some fish that can but they are TM (tropical marine)
You may not have took no nitice but the fish would have been male all the time.

 

[patti_n_jojo]

hiya, i asked a similar question yesterday because my neighbours SINGLE female platy was always havin fry, i was told that they dont change genger but that they r able 2 retain sperm 4 an incredibly long period and r capable of aproximately 7-10 broods. isnt that amazing? i know it doesnt answer ur question but i think its cool info.

 

[Crab Paste]

You may not have took no nitice but the fish would have been male all the time.

You may be right as I always purchase fish with my eyes tightly closed

I purchased 3 females and one male....I know a gonopodium from a mere anal fin. This one fish looks quite different from the other three and from past experiences with Swordtails I'd bet the loose change in my pocket that it's more Swordy than Platy.

Are Swordtails marine fish?

 

[Iron Man]

This happens with the marine fish called clownfish. You know Nemo. Yes Nemo may in fact be a girl!

 

[pica_nuttalli]

Nemo may in fact be a girl!

for now.