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[christine]

Okay, so I bought a female plattie about 6 mos ago. There was I old male plattie in the tank, and I read somewhere to have a 2:1 ratio of females to males. So I bought another female. But then, about 2 mos later, It changed into a male. The old plattie died, and I still had one female, so I got another female, and just yesterday I noticed it turned into a male, too. What's with that?

 

[GuppyBoy]

All livebearing fishes tend to look like females for the few few months of their life, before the male starts developing it's modified anal fin. It's possible that the fish you bought may have looked female, but as they've aged, have been males all along! It's just unfortunate that you picked those that grew into males.

It's true about having a ratio of more females than males, (to give some of the females rest from being harrassed by males, so to speak), but it's worth purchasing more than 2 at a time. It'll improve your chances of getting the females you wanted, for one thing.

Hope that helps.

 

[paulthegreat]

If you buy juvenile livebearers they are all female, they don't show their true sex untill they are about 2/3ds grown and even then some times a female can turn male. If they make the switch too late they may be sterile as well.

 

[Germyzero]

I hope that my one new female doesn't change sex. If it does I would be pretty mad because I love fry!