Platty actually a swordtail?

[Samanthabea]

So I got this guy as a platty now I'm pretty sure he's actually a swordtail he's progressively grew a longer tail over time

[lefty o]

thats a swordtail in my book.

[Samanthabea]

That's what I thought I was confused on them selling it as a platty after it had grown a bit I didn't think they had the trait in any species 

[FriendlyLoach]

looks like a sword tail. 

[Colu]

Most swordtails and platy you get in LFS are are platy swordtail crosses

Edited May 26, 2021 by Colu

[gardenman]

Male swordtails can be very, very slow in developing. I've had two year old 'females' suddenly develop a sword and gonopodium. Most livebearers ship to stores while quite young and the visual difference between platies and young swordtails are largely nonexistent if no sword is visible. Odds are your store got a shipment with platies and swordtails and seeing no swords assumed the swordtails were platies. Odds are someone who bought "swordtails" from that store is wondering why their fish look more like platies and never grow swords. It's very easy to confuse the two if all you've got is an invoice and the bags weren't labeled. "Are these the platies or the swordtails?" It can be a guessing game. They guessed wrong.