FintasticB

Hi, I am extremely annoyed at myself as I know that this probably isn't the right place on this site to ask this question? but I don't know how to do it anywhere else!!! SORRY! I have put photo's in the gallery section of fish lore (everyones photo's are amazing!) 2 of my 3 platies. I would like to know what sex they are and if 1 of them is pregnant? I tried to attach them to this post and couldn't do that either?....I am being very thick today. Please help me! oh and if its not to much trouble maybe you could look at my photos? Thank you... this seems like a really friendly site.x.x.x.

aecw

Hi Welcome to fishlore
First thing I would do is a Google image search of a male platy - you can find alot of images to help you know what to look for. this quote is from one of the websites I found -
"The anal fin of the male platy is called a gondopodium and looks more clamped, flat, and elongated. The anal fin of the female platy, on the other hand, is noticeably more fan shaped. "
Also the male platy tends to be smaller than the females when they are full grown

FintasticB

Thank you. I've been having a good look online and have had my face pressed up to my tank for days!!! I am sure I have 2 males and 1 female.... will be getting a couple more females tomorrow or I think the 1 I have will be chased to death? I have also come to the conclusion she isn't pregnant but again I think she will be soon. Thanks for your help!x.

aecw

Good idea on getting more females because the males can be really relentless. You might even want to consider trading in one of the males for a female. they say 1 male per 4-6 females is enough and I agree from experience. Also if you have male and female livebearers in the same tank you're pretty much going to have pregnant fish and baby fish. I personally don't try to save all the fry otherwise you will end up with tons of fish and nowhere to put them other then bringing them to pet store. I like to let nature take its course and kind of a little "survival of the fittest" i can't tell you how exciting it is to finally see the ones that make it (truthfully by the time you do see them - they're big enough to make it without being eaten) Our latest little survivors in one of our tanks we call Big Mac and Whopper they are about a month old (I estimate)

FintasticB

A completely overdue update. Good news platy was pregnant. She had about (all that survived I should say) 9 fry. In the end I kept 2 babies and took the rest to a pet shop. Since then we've had 2 more births and I think shes preggers again! It's truely awesome, I am really enjoying my fish now.x.