how to tell...

[debomb4u]

hi none of my fish are actually pregnant atleast that i know of. i'm just wondering how you tell if they are. a week ago one of my mollies had babies. i dont know which one, i dont know how to tell them apart. and i have 2 platys and i dont know if they are male or female.
i looked at the how to sex livebearers and it wasnt very clear to me.

 

[Guest]

well the male molly, his anal fin looks like a stick

and a female molly, her anal fin looks like it is fanned out, like the other fins

this rule goes with all the live bearers

except for the ones that are black, then you cannot see the gravid spot and will be unable to know when she is going to give birth

 

[Devilishturtles]

Male livebearers have a gonopodium, which (like rudy said) is an anal rin that is long and sticks straight back.
The female has a normal anal fin, that just fans down.

The gravid spot is mainly seen in guppies, but can be noticed on lighter colored mollies too. It's a dark spot right near the anus, on the belly, that is very dark. These are actually the little fry, and as they get bigger and closer to birth, the spot with get larger and darker.

If you want some success in breeding them, get a ratio of 2-3 females for every male. 8)

 

[debomb4u]

ok my dalmation lyre tail molly has a "fan fin" and the black one has a fan one but isnt the same kind of shape as the dalmation molly. its more flat and paddle shaped. the dalmations is almost "m" shaped, its hard to explain. but when i noticed the fry my black molly was hiding alot and had a white string coming out of her. the platys have more of a "j" or hook shaped fin i dont really know how to explain it. i know when i got my fish the lady said one molly is male and one is female. i have no clue about the platys since i didnt buy them i had someone else do it since i was busy that day.i think one of my platys is pregnant.... she has a blackish color on the bottom of her belly and it looks more swollen. shes been hiding alot too.

 

[Devilishturtles]

http://fish.orbust.net/livebearers.html

check out this link for a pretty good picture. male on the left, female on the right.

 

[debomb4u]

thanks those pics helped especially since my platys are the same kind as those ones. i think they are both males unless one is keeping that fin tucked up. but they both seem big around the belly and one has alittle black on the bottom???

 

[ace1uno_00]

You can tell the male mollie by its long dorsal fin that he will fan out to get the girls attention. and hes the one chasing the others around.