Confusion, is my swordtail a swordtail and is it male or female?

Hi All,
I’m new to this so go easy on me!
Last week I bought 3 female swordtails to go with my current male swordtail. Unfortunately 2 died and this is the last one however I am super confused.
It has a gonopodium, suggesting it is a male however it doesn’t have a long sword. It’s rather large therefore my assumption is it isn’t very young so there shouldn’t be a reason for it to not have formed a sword yet. And I also felt it was a female as her belly is rounded like she is pregnant.
Someone suggested to me it might not even be a swordtail. So I though I’d get some advice from some people who knew what they were talking about!
So does anyone have any thoughts? Is it a male or female? Is it a swordtail?
Thank you all in advance!

That's a male, a young one I suppose (lack of sword). It seems to me like he's got a body of a platy but I could be wrong, but if he would be a hybrid, as most of swordtails bought in stores are often platy-swordtail hybrids, he still would have a sword on his tail, but he would be much smaller than a regular swordtail. He is a swordtail, but a late male I suppose. How big is he?

Hello and welcome to the forum!

He doesn't look like a Platy to me, his body shape is wrong.

It looks like a female sword tale, or a really young male. (Due to the lack of the sword) How long have you had him/her for?

PheonixKingZ said:

It looks like a female sword tale

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I disagree, the fish has a gonopodium like a male livebearer does therefore the fish is male, but the lack of sword on his tail shows that he is a late developing male.
Shape of his body does look like he's not a platy hybrid, but I have two platy-swordtail hybrids and they have a body shape of a swordtail so I can tell.

young male swordtail that hasn't developed the entension on the tail, or a hybrid between a platy and sword.

Salty&Onion said:

I disagree, the fish has a gonopodium like a male livebearer does therefore the fish is male, but the lack of sword on his tail shows that he is a late developing male.
Shape of his body does look like he's not a platy hybrid, but I have two platy-swordtail hybrids and they have a body shape of a swordtail so I can tell.

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My bad. Does look like a young male.

Salty&Onion said:

That's a male, a young one I suppose (lack of sword). It seems to me like he's got a body of a platy but I could be wrong, but if he would be a hybrid, as most of swordtails bought in stores are often platy-swordtail hybrids, he still would have a sword on his tail, but he would be much smaller than a regular swordtail. He is a swordtail, but a late male I suppose. How big is he?

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Thank you for the response!
The issue is, is that he/she is massive. 2inches at least. I have a Male swordtail with a sword and he is smaller than this one

PheonixKingZ said:

My bad. Does look like a young male.

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I’ve only had him/her a week but he/she is rather large. At least 2 inches. There were males in his/her tank at the aquarium store that had the swords and they were the same size. Also, I have a Male swordtail that is smaller than this one who has a sword

As we said, it may be a hybrid. @emeraldking, what do you think?

Colin_T said:

young male swordtail that hasn't developed the entension on the tail, or a hybrid between a platy and sword.

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I agree, but more possible is a late developing male. I believe that male hybrids between a swordtail and a platy would still have a sword, maybe it depends if he came out of a platy that hybridised with a swordtail male or he came out of a swordtail female that hybridised with a platy male.

Cassiez said:

Thank you for the response!
The issue is, is that he/she is massive. 2inches at least. I have a Male swordtail with a sword and he is smaller than this one

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Then he is a swordtail male, just late developing.
Your second male swordtail could have developed at a normal rate, has a sword on his tale and a gonopodium so he will just focus now on growth.
Swordtails are a fish that has a slow growth rate, so it would take long time before they reach their normal size (between 4-5" in aquaria, might reach 6", not very often though) and they can live up to 5 years or more with proper care.

PheonixKingZ said:

As we said, it may be a hybrid. @emeraldking, what do you think?

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Yes, looking at his body and given his size (although he might grow bigger) can be possibly a hybrid.
I have a normal male and female (2x) swordtails and two female platies crossbred with a swordtail, here are the differences;

Platy-swordtail hybrid:



Regular platy (the red one):



Regular swordtail male:

Salty&Onion said:

I agree, but more possible is a late developing male. I believe that male hybrids between a swordtail and a platy would still have a sword, maybe it depends if he came out of a platy that hybridised with a swordtail male or he came out of a swordtail female that hybridised with a platy male.

Then he is a swordtail male, just late developing.
Your second male swordtail could have developed at a normal rate, has a sword on his tale and a gonopodium so he will just focus now on growth.
Swordtails are a fish that has a slow growth rate, so it would take long time before they reach their normal size (between 4-5" in aquaria, might reach 6", not very often though) and they can live up to 5 years or more with proper care.

Yes, looking at his body and given his size (although he might grow bigger) can be possibly a hybrid.
I have a normal male and female (2x) swordtails and two female platies crossbred with a swordtail, here are the differences;

Platy-swordtail hybrid:

View attachment 106233

Regular platy (the red one):

View attachment 106234

Regular swordtail male:

View attachment 106235

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That’s great, thank you for taking the time to have a think! I think he’s probably a hybrid because his shape is more round than most other male swordtails I’ve seen. I even thought he was pregnant haha.
Will just have to wait a see if he gets a sword!
Thank you

No biggie, although it'll take some time for him to grow a sword, but its always exciting to watch your beloved pet grow!

Its male, and it looks like a varitatus. Or a platy sword tail hybrid.

TheTenthDoctor said:

Or a platy sword tail hybrid.

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Yep, that's what I said.

Cassiez said:

View attachment 106226
Hi All,
I’m new to this so go easy on me!
Last week I bought 3 female swordtails to go with my current male swordtail. Unfortunately 2 died and this is the last one however I am super confused.
It has a gonopodium, suggesting it is a male however it doesn’t have a long sword. It’s rather large therefore my assumption is it isn’t very young so there shouldn’t be a reason for it to not have formed a sword yet. And I also felt it was a female as her belly is rounded like she is pregnant.
Someone suggested to me it might not even be a swordtail. So I though I’d get some advice from some people who knew what they were talking about!
So does anyone have any thoughts? Is it a male or female? Is it a swordtail?
Thank you all in advance!

Click to expand...

PheonixKingZ said:

As we said, it may be a hybrid. @emeraldking, what do you think?

Click to expand...

It's a late swordtail male. Late swordtail males are large for their male characteristics will show up pretty late. And this concerns a koi swordtail. Koi swordtails are namend after koi carps. Most common varieties with koi swordtails are kohaku (bi-color), sanke (tri-coolor and more white than black markings) and showas (tri-color with more black markings).
If a late swordtail male is ready to show the male characteristics, it starts with the anal fin and after that the sword will develop. That's the normal sequence. So, this is not a cross between swordtail x platy. Not even one of the ancestors is a platy. For red swordtails come from wild swordtails that belong to the green swordtails. But in certain xiphophorus helleri wild species, red markings do occur. Sometimes a total reddish wild swordtail can occur but it started of as a green one with later on red markings that became more (but mostly those are dominant males in the wild). I've got three of them at the moment overhere. The red gene of the swordtails has been used to develop total red based specimens. Also the white comes form the X.helleri itself. But yes, there are also a lot of fancy swordtails that have platy ancestors.