2.13.2010

Sexing Guppy Fry

I believe I've figured out how to sex tiny guppy fry and it doesn't seem to be a super easy task but here's a new method which I believe MIGHT be accurate from my knowledge of guppy breeding (I haven't done any outside research on this topic).

Guppy fry are about a few millimeters in length with possibly no color thus far and it may take a few weeks or perhaps days to actually tell your male and female guppies apart using my method here. It helps to have a bright tank light on and to use your eyes rather then up-close photos to actually them apart.

As tiny guppies you may notice if you look VERY closely that some of the fry actually flex their gonopodium up toward their bodies and back out again, the guppies you see doing this are probably males as adult males are generally doing this during mating rituals with females. It may take some patience to see a guppy flex its gonopodium but if you can at least get a good visual on the transparent fins then it makes it slightly easier. If it doesn't flex its gonopodium after at least 5 minutes of viewing then it's possibly a female.

Another way is to look at the shape and size of their bodies. Female fry I believe are slightly more rounded in the chest/belly area and males tend to be slender/straight thus appearing very slightly smaller then female fry.

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