probably such a repeat question but... is my dalmatian molly pregnant?

[jwilson]

I’m very new to this hobby so still learning but we bought two female mollies for our 5 gallon tank a little over 2 weeks ago. the last few days i’ve noticed the darker of the two has gotten a littler fatter. when we got them, they were both almost identical in size (i think the whiter molly is shown in one of the pics i attached in the background if you want a comparison). i’ve been chalking it up to just be it getting tubby after i googled pictures of dalmatian mollies pregnant but yesterday i noticed she was definitely fatter and also realized she has been acting different towards her tank mate. the last few days she has been going after her tank mate almost constantly, especially when i feed them (which is 2 times a day and has always been enough and not a fight between the two until now). when i feed them i’ve had to resort to pinching a portion of the food on opposite sides of the tank so they are somewhat away from eachother when they eat because all the sudden they are swarming the food like how coi fish do in a pond ( to the point where the water is viciously moving at the top where they are swarming ) & the darker molly will leave her flakes just to dart after the other molly almost like she’s trying to get her away from the food all together. tonight i looked at them and i realized her belly is almost kind of more squared off bulgy than yesterday morning and it definitely looks a lot different then what she looked like just a week ago even. if she did get pregnant before we got her i’m guessing it must have been shortly before we brought her home and doubt she is “about to pop” based on what some of the definite pregnant molly’s looked like in the pics i googled but now that she is all the sudden being more aggressive, and not just from what i’ve read molly’s to sometimes be like when they are establishing rank in the tank but almost to a point that i’m worried i might have to separate them for the whiter mollies safety... since this is all happening along with her obvious physical changes i figured i would seek advise because being a newbie at this i would definitely need to educate myself on how to keep her healthy during the pregnancy and how to handle the fry and keep them safe so they don’t get eaten and stay healthy until i can figure out where to bring them because the two that i have already in my small tank are plenty for this mommy of 3 small kiddos! so i know this question has probably been asked in this forum a million and one times by newbies like myself but seriously... is my dalmatian molly pregnant?! thanks in advance (& please be nice, i know i’m not knowledgeable on this hobby yet at all and have a long way to go in learning all of this but i do enjoy keeping fish and really want to learn and continue to get better at it!)

 

[SaraB]

Both mollies look male so no. 5g is a bit too small for mollies and they probably don't have enough room for proper exercise.
Also dalmatian mollies turn black with age.

 

[jwilson]

Both mollies look male so no. 5g is a bit too small for mollies and they probably don't have enough room for proper exercise.
Also dalmatian mollies turn black with age.

really?! the guy at petsmart claimed to have 12 tanks at home and big into fish keeping and asked us about m/f because he said dalmatian mollies breed constantly so we asked for two females & also we had another question later that same trip and as we were talking to a different petsmart employee she pointed out you can tell the sex by the bottom fins being short or significantly longer & pointed out that we had female? like i said i’m very new to this but i do know that a lot of times at these pet stores especially when it comes to fish, the employees aren’t always as knowledgeable about the animals or fish they are selling like they should be & often provide wrong info so i guess that’s another question i have... was i told wrong about my mollies being female? do they definitely look male for sure or is the picture not good enough to tell that?

 

[elizae]

You can tell male/ female by their anal fins. Females have a “fan” shaped fin, and makes will have more of a point. Both of those fish have point shaped anal fins which points to both being male

 

[SaraB]

It's always important to do research on the fish you are buying before you buy it. We've all made the mistake on not doing that so don't feel bad for listening to them. The fish you have are 100% both male. Mollies get pretty big like 4" each so you have 2 options
1. Return the mollies (or sell them) and get another fish more suitable for a 5g tank
2. Buy a bigger tank more suitable for the fish you have

If you have any more questions don't be afraid to ask

 

[jwilson]

It's always important to do research on the fish you are buying before you buy it. We've all made the mistake on not doing that so don't feel bad for listening to them. The fish you have are 100% both male. Mollies get pretty big like 4" each so you have 2 options
1. Return the mollies (or sell them) and get another fish more suitable for a 5g tank
2. Buy a bigger tank more suitable for the fish you have

If you have any more questions don't be afraid to ask

oh wow, yeah i was definitely not told the difference would be the anal fin being either a fan shape or a point so thank you, i really appreciate the non judgmental feedback! i’m realizing now that doing research before hand on everything fish keeping & aquariums & the much more upkeep a smaller tank requires would have been a lot smarter & would have made all of this a lot less stressful. I know the store said they would take dead fish back after 14 days (it’s been longer than 14 days by now) but i don’t think they take returns on them if they are fine and i just don’t want them anymore so i’m going to have to look into figuring out where to sell them. what kind of fish would you recommend for a 5 gallon & for a newbie keeper like myself? also, i just took a look at them to see if i could see the “fan/point” difference in the anal fins & the darker one i can see is definitely male but i thought the whiter one looked more fan shaped to me so i googled it and seen a lot of similar fan shaped fins on some of those pics... but it’s google so i don’t know what to think now. haha. i took a better picture of the whiter one that i’ll include. after seeing this picture are you still 100% that the whiter one is male too? sorry, i’m definitely not questioning your judgment... if anything i’m questioning my picture taking skills or lack there of. haha. thank you again!

 

[SaraB]

It's hard to tell from the picture you have there. If it is a female, she doesn't look pregnant and with livebearers you would need 2 females per 1 male to prevent the male from bugging her to death.

Online places like kijiji or craigslist might work. You can google to see if you have an aquarium club nearby, some local fish stores (non big name brand) will take them in.

You don't have a ton of options for 5 gallons but you can still get something pretty. Bettas are a popular choice (only get one). A single pea puffer would work.
An african dwarf frog (if you want to get away from fish).

 

[Autumnsky]

Or a few African DWARF frogs (not an African Clawed frog).