Gonopodium or Sword

[paulthegreat]

When male swords develop does to sword or gonopodium come in first? Some of my fry are now ten weeks and the size of a neon. Does anyone know which develops first so I can start to keep an eye on that. I thought that some of them were getting the slightest change in the tails, but no indication of the anal fin closing up.

 

[Angry_Platy]

My male sword was fully grown before his gono started folding up. Around the same time his sword started growing....his sword is now 1/2 inch long and his gono is fully folded

HTH

 

[thrdwatchfan]

What is the difference between the Sword and the Gonopodium?

 

[Katchan]

thrdwatchfan the gonopodium a part of and formed from the anal fin, the "sword" is a part of the tail fin

Katchan

 

[Polardbear]

My home bred boy was 3 months old when he started to show that he was going to be a he. I started wondering because his anal fin was sometimes down and sometimes pulled up and about the same time I could just faintly detect the beginning of a sword. I was already betting that he was going to be a male by looking at his body type compared to the others. It's not always easy to see when they are still juveniles but you'll start to notice that he's not quite as rounded as the ones that are staying female.

 

[thrdwatchfan]

HHmmm.. I will have to watch when my babies get a tad bit bigger
Thank you

 

[Zenn]

In my experience i have had the sword and the gonopodium develop at the same time during development (Points to bubbles as a example) she reverted to a he and got his sword and gonopodium at the same time

 

[thrdwatchfan]

What a shocker that is to think you have a gal and she turns into a fella.... Do frys turn out to be mostly females ? The odds of males would be what?? I have 11 fry and hopefully get some fellas out of the bunch

 

[Angry_Platy]

I have read that the sex of livebearers is dependent on the pH of the water....if you have a neutral (7.0) pH you will have roughly even numbers of male and female fry. If you have either acid or alkaline pH you will hve predominantly male/female fry (though I can't remember which way it goes)....

 

[thrdwatchfan]

Hmm.. that is a good thing to know... I'll have to check the PH in my tank. Thanks

 

[paulthegreat]

Well my pH is about neutral, ranges from 6.5-7.5, so that is probably no help for guessing the eventual outcome. I have not seen anymore progress with their development so maybe I am just wanting it too much.

 

[thrdwatchfan]

I hear ya there Paul I'm the same way

 

[Zenn]

I heard that sex can also be determined by the temperture, 25 C tend to be the level of male swordies and higher is female swordies, and i tested that out when i lowered my temp to 25 C, out of a batch of 5 fry, i got three males, then i raise it to 28 C and i got from another batch of 10, all females

*Shrugs*

 

[thrdwatchfan]

Thanks..I'm going to check my temps too

 

[thrdwatchfan]

I think I have a female that is turning into a male.... How can one tell if that is what is happening??