Guppies are popular pets that make attractive additions to your home aquarium. If you’re curious whether your guppies are male or female, it’s easy to determine their sex once they are at least 1 week old. Just examine your fish’s body shape, fins, and coloring. Keep reading to learn all the different spots to check to tell the difference between male and female guppies.
Male vs Female Guppies
- Check the guppy's body shape. Male guppies are long and slender while female guppies are rounder and larger than males.
- Look at the guppy’s dorsal fin (on top of its body). Males have long dorsal fins that trail in the water; female dorsal fins are very short.
- Check for bright coloring or patterns on the guppy’s body. Males are usually more colorful than females and often have spotted or striped markings.
Steps
Expert Q&A
Video
Tips
- Male guppies tend to chase and swarm female guppies, which can be another way to determine the sex of your fish. [11] X Research sourceThanks
- To properly care for guppies , aquarium specialist Marshall Stephens recommends keeping 2 female fish for every male fish. He says that males sometimes fight each other when they’re left alone together.Thanks
- If you are breeding guppies , remove the male and female fish once the fry are born. Adult guppies sometimes eat their own young.Thanks
Tips from our Readers
- If you see one guppy chasing another, the one that's doing the chasing is almost certainly a male. The male wants to breed with the female, so he will often pursue her in this way.
- In my opinion, if you plan to breed guppies, it's best to put 1 male guppy with 3 female guppies so he alternates who he breeds with the females won't get too exhausted.
References
- ↑ https://www.fws.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Ecological-Risk-Screening-Summary-Guppy.pdf
- ↑ https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0085647
- ↑ https://www.fish.wa.gov.au/Sustainability-and-Environment/Aquatic-Biosecurity/Identifying-Pests-And-Diseases/Pages/Freshwater-Pest-ID.aspx
- ↑ https://www.fws.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Ecological-Risk-Screening-Summary-Guppy.pdf
- ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3697969/
- ↑ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27478292/
- ↑ https://www.fws.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Ecological-Risk-Screening-Summary-Guppy.pdf
- ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4725957/
- ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3697969/
About This Article
If you’re trying to figure out whether guppies are male or female, see if their bodies are long and slender, like most male guppies, or big and round, like most females. Compare their body colors and patterns. Males tend to be more brightly colored and patterned to attract females. You can also look at the undersides of their bodies, near their tails. All females will have a dark spot there, called the gravid spot. For more tips from our Veterinary reviewer on how to identify male and female guppies, including by comparing their fins, scroll down!
Reader Success Stories
- "New hobby here. Just put in 5 male guppies in. Has been 3 weeks, finished cycled 55 gallon tank.1 guppy kept chasing the rest of them and there is a certain one who keeps chasing, so I was wondering if the chaser is a female or vice versa. Your article helped me, thanks." ..." more