Help please! Fry swimming around my 'all male' Platy tank!

Vlowman

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Hello,

I've just had a shock - or at least as much of one as three tiny fish babies can produce - when I spotted them in my theoretically all male platy tank.

The context here, however, is that a couple of months ago I got two platies, knowing nothing about sexing them. When I realised that I had a male and female, and that I could end up with an out of control fish population, I returned the obvious female to the pet store exactly one week ago and came back with what I believed to be males based on:

fish gender.jpg

So I now have three moderately sized theoretically male platies... But also three babies.

How could this have happened? Is there any chance that they were left with me a week ago by the now departed female and were just too small to notice for a week (I find this somewhat hard to believe unless they are practically microscopic to begin with - given they still look tiny and semi transparent now)? Or is one of my fish a female with a weird looking anal fin?

Here is a photo of the two with the most convincing gonopodiums:

IMG_0027.jpg

And here are some of the other one (dark orange) that I'm now suspecting may be a secret female based on a smaller-than-the-other-two-thing-that-might-or-might-not-be-a-gonopodium!

IMG_0039.jpg IMG_0035.jpg IMG_0032.jpg

One person I've shown these pictures to thinks all three are males, but I'd be grateful for more views.
 

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I know this is completely off topic, but I would add live plants, or get some fake plants, I just feel like there's not enough in there. We will see if anyone agrees. Btw what I just said won't help with your situation but its still a bit of a problem :^)
 
I know this is completely off topic, but I would add live plants, or get some fake plants, I just feel like there's not enough in there. We will see if anyone agrees. Btw what I just said won't help with your situation but its still a bit of a problem :^)

It’s not my main tank - just where I was quarantining some. I also just took a few things out so these unwanted fry have fewer places to hide.
 
They all look male to me from your photos....you may have yourself a bit of a mystery!
 
They all look male to me from your photos....you may have yourself a bit of a mystery!
Thanks! I'd rather have a mystery than regular breeding issues. Guess my dear departed female just left a couple of babies as a leaving present/revenge for sending her back!
 
Very possible, livebearers are sneaky like that!
 
Wouldn't be surprised at all if those fry were from that departed female. Not always are fry very noticeable in a tank.
 
Wouldn't be surprised at all if those fry were from that departed female. Not always are fry very noticeable in a tank.
You're telling me. I thought I might have been down to 1 out of the 3, but I gave the one remaining ornament a nudge and found all three alive and well. Beginning to think the three adults aren't going to gobble them up, which is a bit of a pain (much as I wish I had infinite room for them).
 

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