Male Guppy With Female Characteristics?

I have 3 adolescent male guppies - they were from a batch of fry birthed by a female I got at a LFS around Christmas. So 3 months old. Two of the males look like males - colorful, big tails and dorsal fins, more streamlined body type than females. But the other one has very little color and a smaller tail and dorsal fin, and has a more female shape with the round stomach. It looks a lot more like it's mother than the other males. It's definitely a male though as it has a gonopodium. The other two seem to try to mate with this one more often than they try to mate with each other, although that's not really an indication of anything I hear.

I was just wondering if anyone had seen this type of thing before. If it weren't for the gonopodium and the lack of a gravid spot, I'd think it was female. Maybe it's just a late bloomer in terms of color and fins?

 

Indeed there are a ton of variables. Especially if he’s not getting his share of food, the other males are harassing him etc. can contribute washed out colors. If you have a qt laying around I’d put him in there and feed him up real good.

 

Indeed there are a ton of variables. Especially if he’s not getting his share of food, the other males are harassing him etc. can contribute washed out colors. If you have a qt laying around I’d put him in there and feed him up real good.

He gets his share of food. He's the biggest male in the tank (another female characteristic!) but he does seem to get pestered a lot by the other two. If he starts looking stressed I'll find a way to separate him.

 

I've heard of some males being much bigger and being sterile. Maybe that's what is going on here?

 

Well yes, also with male guppies there can be late bloomers. But there's another category of males that just grow big and stay pretty pale in coloration. That's not unusual. But when that happens, it will develop a normal gonopodium, he'll be fertile but the fins will stay short and even in the fins hardly till non coloration just like its total body. If it comes to health or reproduction, you really don't have to worry about it...

From time to time such a male shows up overhere as well... no matter the strain.