Guppy Fry.

So if anyone remembers this, my female guppy/guppies gave birth around Dec/Jan. They are now the size of an endler live bearer, they are actually a bit bigger and most of them are coloring up a good bit, so now I am wondering when I will be able to tell the males from the females 100%? I really need to get rid of them because they are getting pretty big, but I am wanting to keep a group of 7 males from this group. How can I tell for sure? Are the bright ones males?

 

Males have a gonopodium. Once you get the hang of it, sexing guppies is quite easy. Look up some pictures of male vs female analfins. I’ve never raised guppies myself before, so maybe they’re still too small to tell, but I thought I would help anyway.

 

Guppy fry will all look like females it takes awhile before the males to develop the gonopodium it will probably be another few months till you can tell them apart

 

It varies by strain, but generally you can start to sex guppies at about a month old. It looks really easy when you look at pictures, because the pictures are adults. The problem is to recognize sexes before they're capable of reproducing, which can be as early as two months. It's easy to say, "Males have a gonopodium, and females have a gravid spot," but when you're looking at little guppies 1/4 inch long that are darting around, it's anything but easy. And if you guess wrong, you end up with a fertile male in the henhouse, and your plans to separate the sexes so you can control breeding goes out the window.

Personally, I can recognize females earlier than males because of the gravid spot. At about a month old, I start separating fish I'm sure are females. I keep separating for about another month. Then everything that's left goes into the male tank. Then I have a tank of fry I'm sure are females, and a tank where most of the rest are males. Females that show up in the male tank are put into a community tank, and the separated males and females are used for selective breeding.

I still have to keep a close eye on my female tank, because occasionally what looks like a female gravid spot ends up being a dark spot on a male. If you don't get that guy outta there pretty soon, he's going to have a field day.

My point is it's not as easy as it might seem because you have to identify them when they're so young. If you go past a couple months you might as well forget about trying to separate the sexes.

 

Here's a pic, they are more the size of a small neon tetra compared to the endler I mentioned earlier, Do they look old enough?

 

You might get lucky with a few of them, but I'd say they're still too small

 

Spend a good bit of time with your nose on the glass. Really look at the body shape of your known males and females. You’ll be able to tell after some practice and experience. I can separate them at about the 3/4 inch mark. There are always gonna be the sneakers .

 

It doesn't matter of they're "old enough." What matters is if you can detect a gravid spot for females, or a gonopodium for males. It doesn't matter if they're one week old or five weeks old.

Some lines are evident right away, sometimes it takes weeks.

I can identify females before males. I know people who can identify males before females. I don't know why, it just is.

There's no easy answer. You can take all the advice and read all the articles you want. You just have to work on it before you'll be any good at it.

This is a classic situation of 'Easier Said Than Done'.

 

It doesn't matter of they're "old enough." What matters is if you can detect a gravid spot for females, or a gonopodium for males. It doesn't matter if they're one week old or five weeks old.

Some lines are evident right away, sometimes it takes weeks.

I can identify females before males. I know people who can identify males before females. I don't know why, it just is.

There's no easy answer. You can take all the advice and read all the articles you want. You just have to work on it before you'll be any good at it.

This is a classic situation of 'Easier Said Than Done'.

Thanks for the info! I am definitely seeing the gravid spot on a few, looks like it's almost time to sell! Lol