Are Females More Popular?

[jessie]

I have about 20 baby guppies about 2monthes old so i can see their gravid spot and they are all females. I s that because the males arnt smart enough to hide and survive? Also they all look like their mum who is yellow and their dad is a preety blue. Any reason for this?

 

[dwarfgourami]

What is your ph? We had this thread earlier on on whether sex in livebearers is affected by ph, and everybody who had high ph seemed to get more females.

 

[frazoo]

since they are only 2 months old i think that it is nearly imposibly to tell because males dont got balls yet
fry are not born with and gender that you can tell until about 3 months then you can start to tell males hold their anal fin closer to them as they swim and it evetualy froms to balls. the latest i have seen one become a male is at 5 months

 

[Animation]

Also temprature makes a difference i have nearly all females.
Some really good ones showing colours of illuminous blue and illuminous green!

 

[bleechme]

Also temprature makes a difference i have nearly all females.
Some really good ones showing colours of illuminous blue and illuminous green!

So what is the ratio with temp. can you explain, I want to know. What do you get more if your temp are higher like around 78-82. I want some males. Too many females around. I have like 20 female guppies and 3 males in a 40 gal.

 

[guppymad]

lower temps, 22C is when you get alot of males

 

[dwarfgourami]

since they are only 2 months old i think that it is nearly imposibly to tell because males dont got balls yet
fry are not born with and gender that you can tell until about 3 months then you can start to tell males hold their anal fin closer to them as they swim and it evetualy froms to balls. the latest i have seen one become a male is at 5 months

As Jessie mentioned, it is often possible to sex them earlier than this by their gravid spots (males don't have those).

 

[fish mad]

since they are only 2 months old i think that it is nearly imposibly to tell because males dont got balls yet
fry are not born with and gender that you can tell until about 3 months then you can start to tell males hold their anal fin closer to them as they swim and it evetualy froms to balls. the latest i have seen one become a male is at 5 months

As Jessie mentioned, it is often possible to sex them earlier than this by their gravid spots (males don't have those).

Yes mine have distinct gravid spots at 8wks.

 

[nobody]

Gravid spots usualy are not present in fish unless they are pregnant. However it is highly likely that males will get gravid spots from overeating, thus you should probably sex them some other way. Also, yellow coloration is probably a dominant trait. If you some of those fry that you have together, you will most likely get blue fry. Or they could still be cycleing thier colors. You should wait till they are older to determine their true color.

 

[bleechme]

lower temps, 22C is when you get alot of males

Thanks. so keep it around 22C if you want an even ratio of male/female?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Male to female ratios are largely controlled by genetics, you will naturally get alot more males(usually 60% males, 40%females) in guppys as in the wild they would normally fight each other alot and get quickly picked off by predators due to their brighter/more vibrant coloring than the females, leaving only the fittest and strongest males, and thus the gender ratios are usually restored to normal numbers after all this natural selection.
Unfortunatly in a tank enviroment, all these excess males survive, and the gender ratios will always be unbalanced if you do not buy more females or rehome the excess males- you also have to contend with inbreeding related problems in such a confined enviroment as the aquarium. Male guppys will mate with their sisters/relative guppys without a second thought, in the wild where in the thousands of guppys with the chances of meeting a close relative is no problem, but in a tank enviroment inbreeding can quickly spiral out of control if you don't do somthing to separate the genders.
My best advice to you is to keep the temp at the normal best temp for guppys(23-26degrees) and to not mess with any other things like ph(especially since attempting to change ph often ends up in ph swings/fluctuations which often prove fatal for fish), and to just let the guppys reproduce normallly while keeping an eye on the gender ratios and who is breeding with who, and just rehome the males or females that are closely related to help prevent them from inbreeding with each other. If your guppys are only 2months old though and still all appear female, my guess is that the males simply havn't started to mature yet, as all guppy fry appear female when young. Males usually start to appear between 2 and 3months+ old.

As to the gravid patches/spots though...if there are no males present in the tank then it will be imposible for the females to get pregnant and develop a gravid patch. Some male livebearers depending on their coloring and breeding will naturally have a dark area that resembles a gravid patch despite being obviously male- i have 2 male platies in particular who although are very much two red-blooded male platies, have a dark area at towards the back of their stomaches that resembles a gravid patch. If you can get some pics of your fry i'm sure we will be able to clear this matter up .

 

[nobody]

Oh, also, in most fry this is thier intestine full of food.

 

[blitztidus]

I say it is too soon to tell, give it another month!

 

[jessie]

I say it is too soon to tell, give it another month!

Thanks ,Ill keep you posted.