Totally Different Sizes ?

Hi all,

Bought 3 Platies approx 4 months ago. Lost one in first few days.

Other 2 seemed great. But recently i have noticed one is atleast 2 times bigger than the other. They were both the same size when put in the tank.

i was wondering if either,

One was male and one female or

One gets to the food first and the other gets the dregs.

oh yes and another thing. "sorry this is really hard to explain"

one looks solid, one looks seethrough with a black shadow in there "bellie" area.

Sorry about the question guys. i'm fairly new to this.

hi if you look under them the males have a line which is there doda thingi and the female has a proper triangle fin .the pics ive given is the big orange one is a male if you look under the belly you can see the penis and the small balloon molly is a female with the triangle fin underneth all livebeareres will have either one hope this helps

great for you as a begginner...

you really takes look at them...

great job...

ChrisandMarie, you are right that a platy will be easily sexed the same way as a molly, sword or guppy but it is not true of all livebearers. It is a good start for the common livebearers you are likely to see at the local fish store. The group called goodeids are distinguished differently but it also involves the shape of the anal fin.

female platy (notice the fan shaped bottom left fin and fuller body shape.)



male platy (notice the tube like shaped bottom left fin)