how to tell what sex my platies and teras are

[Biggles]

can someone please tell me how to tell the sexes apart in the following fish,platies,neon tetras,head and tail light tetras,opaline blue gourami,black moors and other goldfish such as fantails,pictures would be a great help.Also in general are goldfish happier in mating pairs or groups? 8O

 

[Jchillin]

Most livebearer's (mollies, platys, guppies) have a modified anal fin (gonopodium). Male goldfish may show some bumps in on the pectoral fin. Tetras are almost impossible to sex (females tend to be larger). I don't know about gourami's. As far as pictures, they are very rare. Unless the owner of the pic identifies the sex, you probably wouldn't be able to tell just by viewing.

Goldfish primarily will mate in pairs, groups, communities....you get the idea.

 

[Biggles]

thanks heaps ! Do you know how to tell if a platy is pregnant?and any idea how big goldfish have to be before they are sexually mature?Also if I have a pond with comets ,fantails,blackmoors etc are they likely to interbreed?

 

[Jchillin]

A pregnant platy will have a very swollen abdomen, sorta looking constipated. Goldfish usually mature in a matter of a few months, a year old goldie is probably more than ready.

I've not heard of inter-breeding between the various species. Though I have no information handy to say it's impossible.

 

[Biggles]

That is good I was worried about mixing a whole heap of different goldfish incase they started mixing ,wasn't sure if they were all the same species and just different breeds like dogs or not.

 

[dskidmore]

Goldfish are all the same species, they will even interbreed with wild carp, thier origional ancestors. Unless you're doing something to save the babies though, the adults will typically eat the babies.

 

[OceanMaiden]

I FIGURED IT OUT!! The boy platies have a long thin fin inbetween their two little triangle ones that are on their bellies midsection. The girls dont, they just have the two little triangle fins. On that note I have two boy platies so no baby platies coming then lol

 

[rich311k]

As far as the blue gouramis go. Females have a small rounded dorsal fin. The males have a longer more pointed one.

 

[trotty]

I've found female gouramis have little or no colour compared to the males. if not they are brown and very dull.

 

[DepotFish]

Here's a picture of how to tell the goldfish genders. Works for most individuals of all goldfish species.

The comets and single tailed species become sexually mature at around 3-5 years. I'm not sure about fancy goldfish. They will interbreed. They do not form mating pairs. The females will lay eggs and whatever males are present will fertilize. They will eat almost all the eggs they lay, but I'm sure you have many more females than males so there will be a lot of eggs when they get of age. Fancy goldfish don't do as well in pond settings as do single tailed species and moors.