There are many species and types of fish out there with their various unique behaviors and natures. What if I tell you that some fish could change gender? well, it’s true. When I say change of gender, I mean the male turning into a female and the female turning into a male. If you are here reading this article, it could only mean that you are looking for information about the possibility of a Platyfish changing gender. In this article, you will learn if it’s possible and why.
Can Platy fish change gender? Platy fish could change gender if they live in certain conditions because they could be easily influenced by the environment.
If you are hearing this for the first time, it could be shocking and unbelievable on how a fish could change its gender.
Well, it’s true and it happens in some cases.
Platies are tropical fish that loves to be in groups with their kind, and also other fish sometimes.
They are classified among the peaceful fish, and so, they could live with so many tank mates, although they could sometimes get aggressive.
They are livebearers, meaning they do bear their fry and do not lay eggs.
Although many livebearers are known to have the special ability to change or control their genders, platyfish is one of them.
Right from their fry level, they all have their different genders, but it is almost impossible to be able to identify their genders when they are still fry, but once they start growing, their genders will be known.
The easiest way you can tell the gender of your platyfish is by looking at its Stomach.
The female’s stomach protrudes vertically, while the male’s stomach protrudes horizontally.
Another way to discover their gender is, that the Males are generally smaller than females, with more colors on their belly and a long tail with a fan shape.
Females are larger, have white bellies, and have shorter tails than don’t fan out as males do.
Another way to discover the male is the presence of gonopodium, which it uses to mate with the females.
Now that you know that these fish could change their various genders, the answer you will be willing to know is why they may do that.
Reasons why a Platy fish could change its gender
Feeding: When they are very comfortable in their environment and with enough food, it’s not hard for some of the females to start developing gonopodium, thereby becoming male.
This is also in the case of the males too. You might see your supposed male Platy trying to build a nest etc.
Environment: The immediate environment could contribute a lot to this in a way too.
When I say the environment, what I mean is, a male Platy could develop female traits if he is around much female Platies and the same thing could be applicable to the females too.
Although this happens, but, it’s not what you see every day.
Stress: Another factor that could cause a Platyfish to change its gender is stress.
Stress could come in many forms or factors such as sexual harassment and getting wounded etc.
When it comes to sexual harassment, female platyfish are always the victims of this.
When a female is being constantly harassed by the males, she may change her gender to male.
Again this takes up back to the issue of environment because when she is surrounded by males, she could change too.
These are the common reasons why this might happen.
Although it could sometimes happen naturally without any reasonable or identifiable causes, so it’s all normal, and you as the keeper don’t have anything to worry about, as it’s their normal behavior.
So, Platies could change gender if they want.
Can I Keep Just Female Platys?
Platies are fun to keep because they are lively and social fish. Although they could sometimes get aggressive, especially the males. So you might be wondering if you could keep only the female platies.
Female Platies could be kept without the presence of a male, but, for them to reproduce, they need a male to mate with, and fertilize their eggs.
If you are asking if they could be kept according to their genders, the answer is, yes.
Although they could live according to their genders and still be ok, keeping only males in a fish tank might lead to some level of aggression, as the male are semi-aggressive.
So, female Platies could live together and all alone, but they need to be very comfortable in a wide tank with all they need, then they will still be happy.
Conclusion
Platies could control their genders by transforming into the opposite sex and it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you.
