Can someone help me identify the sex of my fish please??

Dathmo · Mar 17, 2018

Hi,

I'm very new to the tropical fish hobby and at the moment I have a Gourami, Balloon Molly, Swordtail and Molly, they've all been together for about 1 week.

Yesterday we noticed lots of fry in the tank, but we completely missed the birthing process and realised we have no idea of the gender of our fish (and which one gave birth!) I'm not sure if it's easy to do from pictures but can anyone figure out the sex of the pictures ive attached? Thank you!

If you need better pictures let me know.

Daniel

TekFish · Mar 17, 2018

If there are a lot of fry all of a sudden, it won't be the Gourami. It's one of the Livebearers. Willing to bet it's probably the two mollies, as for what gender, I would say maybe the Balloon Molly is the female, because if it's swollen anyway, you might not have noticed when she was pregnant, whereas you would have, had it been the other.

fluttermoth · Mar 17, 2018

Welcome to the forum

I can't really tell from those pictures, but I don't need better ones; livebearers are very, very easy to sex, so you'l be able to do it yourself

You need to look at the anal fin; that's the one on the fish's belly, just in front of the fish's 'bottom'.

Females will have a normal, fan-shaped fin, whereas males have their anal fin modified into a rod-like structure called a gonopodium.

On a side note; your fish don't look very happy, as they have a rather tucked up appearance, with their dorsal fins down. Is this a new tank as well? Is your tank cycled, and have you been testing the water at all?

Colin_T · Mar 17, 2018

silver molly is male.
black balloon molly is female.
swordtail is male.
dwarf gourami is male.

Dathmo · Mar 17, 2018

Thank you all for your replies!

fluttermoth - I've had the tank set up for about 4 weeks now, and the fish have been together for 1 week ish. I'm sad to hear that they seem unhappy, I had no idea.

I have been testing the water, the latest results are:
Gh - 120
Kh - 120
PH - either 7 or 7.5
no2 - 0.5
no3 - 0

I also have an ammonia tester in there which says 'SAFE - 0.02ppm' and the temp is 26 ish.

Is any of that a concern? The only thing I haven't tested is oxygen, and I am worried that the filter i have isn't particularly good so that could potentially be a problem.

Daniel

fluttermoth · Mar 17, 2018

Tbf, mate, they could just be looking unhappy because you're pointing a camera at them; most fish dislike being 'stared' at!

It could also be because there's not much cover in your tank. Fish like to have lots of hiding places nearby and, paradoxically, it makes them less likely to hide away because they know the cover is there if needed. You and I know there are no predators in your tank, but your fish don't

If you could add some more live plants, that would probably be best, as they help a little with water quality and are softer for the fish, but artificial would do, from the fish's point of view

A backing of some kind on your tank would help too; in the wild most fish hug the banks, rather than swim out in the open water.

As long as you make sure you don't let the ammonia or nitrite get above 0.25 ppm (do plenty of large water changes, with warmed, dechlorinated water, if you see either of them going up) you should be fine

Colin_T · Mar 17, 2018

your water chemistry is fine and nothing to worry about.

if you angle the filter outlet towards the surface, it will increase surface turbulence and that will help to increase oxygen levels in the water and prevent a film developing on the surface. Alternatively, get an air pump and have an airstone bubbling away in the tank.

NickAu · Mar 17, 2018

Isnt no2 nitrite?

Colin_T · Mar 18, 2018

ammonia is NH4
nitrite NO2
nitrate NO3

Whilst there is a low level nitrite reading, test kits can vary and low levels should not cause a big issue in the short term. The tank has been going for 4 weeks and there is no ammonia but some nitrite so the first group of beneficial filter bacteria are there. The second group of filter bacteria that convert nitrite to nitrate should also be there after 4 weeks.

The low level nitrite reading might be from feeding before the test was done, or something else.

If in doubt, do a 50-75% water change and complete gravel clean.

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Can someone help me identify the sex of my fish please??

Dathmo

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