Sex changing guppies

Hi Guys/Gals,

I have noticed that my 1 female guppy is looking a bit different these days.

I noticed that her anal fin is starting to look more like the female part and that her dorsal fin is also looking at bit different. There is also more orange color appearing in her tail.

So I did some reading and it seems that only female guppies can in fact change sex.

I know that she was not male as the only male I had died about a week ago and that when I bought them at the LFS that they were separated in male and female tanks.

Below is a picture of what the guppy looks like now.

I hope the picture is clear enough as it was a mission to take a photo as they keep swimming around.

Can anyone tell me from the photo is she is indeed changing sex?



Regards,
Ernst

 

Guppies don't change sex but this phenomenon is seen in mollies and sword tails. If she changes . . .let us know

 

No Tankmaster,

Guppies can change their sex from females to males, it is not common, but it does happen so this does not only apply to mollies and sword tails.

Your pic is not large enough to be able to see this, ernstb. The first signs of this happening are that the anal fin starts changing into a gonopodium, the male sex organ.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Hi Prof,

Thanks for the reply.

I will try to get a better picture of her. Perhaps I should try the "I only want to take a picture of the background plants"

Could it perhaps be that she is actually a he and is just a late bloomer regarding physical sexual development?

 

erm... Swordtails don't change sex either. Some males just develop their swords a little later.

 

This explains how when I gave my brother inlaw two female guppies the one ended ip preggies...

What causes this?
He now have a very active make guppy and foes not know how to deal with the female always being preggies.

 

From what I heard female guppies store the swimmers of the male for a while so they can reproduce with out male

 

As Johan said, female guppies can store sperm for up to 4 cycles. (I've heard 6).

 

S/HE Fe/Male Guppy

..WOuld be a complete sexchange if the fish eventually turns out to be a FUNCTIONAL MALE.
ie. Whether it would successfully impregnate, a female and sire progeny.

Much of this has been induced by hormonal testing of fish , for academic and otherwise commercial ornamental reasons.
Colour is enhanced in broods when deliberately hormoned..then females AND Males command better prices, and sales are increeased.
this same reason renders many fish sterile so a breeder can monopolise the market for as long as possible!

There are quite a few academic research papers detailing how it is induced in Guppies (and other species0, WHILE the gestating female is a few weeks from parturition("birth")

Her fry are more likely to be masculinised ..when methyltestosterone* is applied to water or food.
This includes fish born as females then become functional males.

*Synthetic Male Hormone

 

Would be pretty awesome to have a guppy that breeds without a mate! Now that would definitely monopolize the industry!

 

Quick question. Excuse my ignorance. In another thread Proff says gene for tail form is carried in male guppy. Therefore if a female can turn into a male she therefore carries this gene also or do they develop extra gene when they become male??????

 

Interesting topic! I would love to see how this turns out. I have a similar case, but thought it was only bad judgment on my part when I suddenly noticed one male in my female only tank (could have sworn there was a gravid spot and no gonapodium a week ago). Mine are all second generation though, so no added hormones. Is this possible?

 

@Dirk Bellstedt (good point posted by @fibreoptic!)

 

This is not so simple at all guys.

In humans for example, you have chromosomes deciding sex, the X and Y chromosomes. Males are XY and females are XX. These are short chromosomes that do not carry many genes as a matter of fact the Y chromosome in humans carries only a handful of genes (by that I mean these chromosomes only contain the DNA that encodes for very few genes).

Well in guppies this is much more complicated. Both the X and the Y genes are much larger and it is only the tip of the Y chromosome which carries the information for sex determination whilst the rest of the chromosome still carries many genes for coloration and fin shape for example. This also means that color in guppies is linked to sex and fin shape also often is.

Now, just to confuse things, male guppies are normally XY and females XX but you can also get XY females, which are more common in certain strains. What this means is that sex changes are not so abnormal in that such a female may have XY genes but can actually become a male without too much of a problem as she carries the male determining Y chromosome. You do not need any addition of steroid hormones these sex changes can occur in these strains of guppies and this is perhaps what we are seeing here. We would not know because we do not know the parentage of this strain.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Yes, and to add to the above...
When I said "Much of ....".
I didn't make it so clear that there are other , less frequent, causes for the gender reversal.
I focused on the the easier, plausible or most likely way females could end up as males.

Zoomed in on that pic, and I must say VERY interesting colour , especially the orange patch , lighter fins, and darker body.

If you took a picture clearly showing the anal fin or full side-on profile we could guess with more confidence.

As pointed out by Dirk, the parentage) would need to be known to derive a better picture of this fish..
Not a complete picture, but a clearer one..

Keep us informed!

 

I saw a documentary once of some seaworthy fish They live in a group of males with a single female.
Like most things the female look way different then the males. If however the female should get eaten or something
one of the males would go through a dramatic change and become a female. Just out of interest sake.

 

Just an update on this.

The guppy is changing in my opinion.

I will try to catch him/her (pending on the change :bigsmile and put the guppy in a breeding cage to take a better photo.

Then hopefully it will show better what is going on.


Regards,
Ernst

 

Thanks for the input Altum and Proff. The more we learn the smarter we get, the smarter we get the more we learn. Cant wait for pics @ernst

 

Wow! Interesting thread.

If I may be so bold, I'd like to pose a question.

Is it possible that males can turn into females? Or, maybe that a guppy that LOOKS like a male, could be a female?

The reason that I'm asking is that I recently found 6 fry in my all male guppy tank.

There's only about 10 males in there, and I'm sure there are NO females. I've had the same setup for quite a few months, and nothing like it has happened before.

In an attempt to interest "She who must be obeyed" in fish-keeping, I showed her the fry, telling her how puzzled I am.

"Hah! Only to be expected!" she said, "isolate a bunch of guys, and they're sure to figure out a way to smuggle a female in!"

There must be a logical explanation, but somehow, I don't think that's it.

 

Personally never heard of males turning into females. Except in humans and @Vis