eagerinsight

I have 10 platies, all female. Will there be any problems with this, bullying, sexual frustration due to celibacy?

TFA101

Dont take what I say seriously, but i thought i read somewhere that platies can become trans-gendered. I think if there is a lack of the other gender, one female could turn into a male by the folding of the anal fin (on females) into a gonopodium (on males)

sirdarksol

I don't think anyone has done any in-depth research into the effects of enforced celibacy in livebearers, so it's possible that this will stress them. However, there are people who keep male-only tanks and don't have problems with it.
Not sure if female platies are bullies or not, but if you haven't seen any problems, you should be okay.

platy ben

I hate to disgree with with you TFA101 but platys do not change sex, ive kept them for a long time and have never encountered this in my female tank and male tank

Dino

It does happen but is EXTREMLY rare.
The biggest problem I would see is that you would have to start with females who were not inseminated, as they would drop male fry and thus ruin the system you had set up.

TFA101

I thought I had read that somewhere. Oh well, never believe everything you read, right?

Bede

We have two females, a mother and her lone surviving female fry. I swear that the baby was born pregnant, it had a fry while it was still teeny-tiny and living in the breeder net. Anyhoo,my point is that Andy is SWEARING she is turning into a HE. I doubt it, she/it looks pregnant. Now I can tell him that rarely happens.

I think the mama and her offspring both still had fry in them (can't they drop them up to 6 months after the deed?) but they are in a big community tank and either the other fish eat them or the filter got them as we've never seen any despite both being very obviously pregnant. So, an all female tank still might just work. We'll just have to wait and see if my girls remain girls...

Rainsong

I have an all female (3 Platies) and all male (2 Platies, 1 Mollie baby) and no one much seems upset. No gender changes, either... going rather well. However, my friend's all-male tank has one overly aggressive male, so it really does depend on the fish themselves in some cases.

LilMollieBreeder

PLATIES CAN CHANGE GENDER??!!?! who knew....