Pygmy golden swordtail

[jammedfool]

So I went out and got the 2x Xiphophorus pygmaeus that were left, but they are males

Is anyone a member of any rare livebearer groups on fb or other that they would recommend as I'd love to get a some of females

Also - I had previously read (unsure if myth) about Xiphophorus being able to switch between male & female. Is this true, and if so, would it be reversible. i.e. could a male become female, or could a female that became male return to female?

[black ghost]

They can only change sex once. Swordtails (at least some species, not sure if pygmaeus is one of them) basically come in four types... strong and weak males, and strong and weak females. “Strong” means they have the full range of genetic sexual markers. These are obvious males and females that won’t change. “Weak” means they only have some of the markers.

Weak males can look like females, and develop a sword and gonopodium later in life.
Weak females can start off as fully functional females and develop the male characteristics later on, but these males are rarely “fully functional”.

That’s my take on it anyway. There’s been a humungous amount of study done on sex in quite a few Xiphophorus spp, that I haven’t read.

[Gingerlove05]

From birth they all start female. As black ghost has mentioned they only change once and that is their defined sex from there on, some may develop later than others but once set they dont change. At least none i’ve seen change after

[jammedfool]

Well the shop is offering to order in a couple of girls for £7 each... What do you think?

[black ghost]

Best ratio is one male to at least three females. Equal numbers of each will probably lead to bullied women.

[plankton]

Best ratio is one male to at least three females. Equal numbers of each will probably lead to bullied women.

I concur with BG's observation.

[jammedfool]

Hmmm..may need them to take the one male back.. that could get a bit costly

[black ghost]

Hmmm..may need them to take the one male back.. that could get a bit costly

You’ll have a few hundred soon enough anyway...

[jammedfool]

Hmmm..may need them to take the one male back.. that could get a bit costly

You’ll have a few hundred soon enough anyway...

Are you advocating getting just 2 and waiting for the babies haha? Or justifying getting 6?

The shop is saying 2 boys 3 girls would be ok.. but I trust your comments more
...I suppose I could separate off 1 boy if it gets too much?

[black ghost]

Depends what you want. More females means more fry, but even a big female will only drop about 20 a month. One m and 2 f’s might work...

Edit... I’d probably get 3 and keep one male. Or 2m,6f. I don’t like the idea of isolating fish. so I would stick to that 1:3+ ratio to be safe (I tend to go 1:6ish with livebearers, so none of the f’s are harassed by the m).