Platy Sex

[Dan-25]

After looking on the pinned topics refering to breeding and rearing live bearers i noticed that the pictures identified the different sexes between platys.

fan shaped tail - female platy

long narrower tail - mail platy

i was told the way to determine sex was to look behind the back fins ( technical term ) and there should be a long implement tucked up - this would make it a male .

well all the fish that have a long thing in between there fins have big fan tails

and the platys that have nothing, have small narrow tails

please help me out as i am very confused

thanks in advance

 

[wendywc]

After reading that, I'm confused.

Anyway to ID platies (or mollies, for that matter), you just need to look at the anal fin (the bottom fin towards the tail). The anal fin has to be down and not folded up onto the body for you to tell.

This is a female since it has a fan-like anal fin.

This is a male since it has a pointed anal fin. (It's a male molly, but it's the same as IDing a male platy.)

 

[theotheragentm]

The male's fin would look much more tube-like. When the fins are down it's hard to tell, but just keep an eye out and you can tell eventually. Also, males may not develop right away if they are young, so it may look female, but turn out to be male.