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You are likely seeing breeding activity. No female is as likely to pass on the genetics of a male in her fry as one that has just dropped fry. The whole point to breeding activity is to pass along the genetics of the parent. If you keep that basic principle in mind you will seldom fail to see...

At only a day or two, give it some time. There is no way to reliably sex your fish for at least 2 weeks and I would guess it will be much longer.

No fish ever gave birth to just 1 fry. Not even a goodeid, which has a reputation for small drops ever gave a drop so small. I am going to differ from zain611 on your question. The only reliable way that I have found to judge a female is by shape, never by size. If a squared off female has...

Where did you find actual X variatus Ammar? I have plenty of sources of fish but have never seen one. On the other hand I have seen plenty of pet shop fish that carried that label. Those bas***ds will put a species label on almost anything if they think it will help with sales. A 30 gallon tank...

Test strips are generally less than adequate, regardless of the manufacturer. By my way of thinking, you are in an unmonitored cycle. I know that sounds way harsh but it is how I see it, I never did excel at diplomacy. Please do a huge water change on your tank, by that I mean at least 90% using...

If you have a mature filter, you are way ahead of most folks. A larger tank will still help but won't be quite as urgent as with an uncycled filter.

Welcome to our forum Helen23254. It sounds like you are doing the right maintenance on your tank already. The filter, no matter how big, will not remove all solid wastes. That is up to you and your siphon to take care of. The filter is there to remove organic poisons like ammonia, not solid...

Welcome to TFF Tank_Girl. Let's get right down to business. First, stop worrying about doing water changes, they do not cause significant stress. Instead worry about chemical poisons which will cause damage to your fish. In a situation such as you had at first with all fish becoming lethargic...

A 10 gallon uncycled tank is better than a 5 gallon uncycled tank. Tank size helps dilute the poisons so i makes things easier to maintain. If you have cycled that 5 gallon, move the filter to the 10 gallon and then the added dilution will help. If the 5 gallon is not cycled, moving the filter...

Until your fish have a chance to mature some, they will all look like females. The first hint is usually after they are over 2 months old.

Welcome to our forum Bill F. I am afraid that you have fallen into a trap that many new fish keepers fall into. You have had fish in a tank almost since it was first set up. That means that you have yet to develop any biological filtration to speak of. All fish produce ammonia mainly from their...

HelterSkelter, that is no way to talk about my fish. I really love my wilds. You are right though. Inbreeding is the way that all fancy aquarium fish are developed. In order to avoid damage, selection is made based on not only color patterns and shapes but fish health. If you don't include...

A full drop of fry in a 5 gallon tank started out over populated. Lots of good sized water changes can make that situation tolerable for several weeks.

Well done Fish Lady. I never watch close enough to be there with a camera when the drop gets going. More often I find fry the next day instead.

The cover and well fed adults reduces the predation. You do not want to stop it completely or you will be over-run with fry.

Jets, your molly is many days away in your pictures.

I also have never seen a limit on post count for the sale sections. When you go to either the US or UK section you should find all categories. Since all sales negotiations are done by PM, it will require 10 posts to actually respond.

Welcome to our forum Catqueen101. I am moving your post to the livebearer section where more of us livebearer people hang out. Color change in a gravid spot is not at all unusual. I rely on shape of the fish's belly, not color or size, to determine how things are going. A female getting close to...

Welcome to the forum Sheils. I am sorry to need to tell you this but you want no more fish at all for a while. What you have done is to get yourself into a fish-in cycling situation. Fish create waste that shows up as ammonia in the water. More fish means more ammonia. At around 0.25 ppm...

Very much international here Winky. Let me give you a welcome, from the center of the US. If you see a post from Ludwig, it will be a welcome from South Africa. We come from all over, even the MODs.

Observing your fish is a valid way to decide whether or not your fish have any immediate threat to their health. It does not mean that all is well for the long term. Let me try an example. If you put a person in an environment where there is a high concentration of lead, they will go about...

Salt, even marine salt, is never needed in a freshwater tank, even a molly tank. The fact that mollies can not only survive but thrive in a purely salt water tank, like a reef tank for instance, does not make it necessary in their water. Many fish, but not all by any means, will be harmed by...

Fish will eat well and gain size a day after a drop. It means nothing except that they are eating well. The pictures that you have provided are not of heavy females ready to drop fry. They are pictures of well fed females. You need to begin to ignore mere size and start looking at shape instead...

For a small fry survival rate, just make sure that your fish are well fed and provide some cover, like perhaps a clump of java moss or guppy grass. (Each drop of a typical livebearer will give over 30 fry.) That will give the fry a good hiding place while not encouraging too many to survive and...

Welcome to our forum GinIAm. I am afraid that I do not keep cold water fish like goldfish with tropicals like mollies. It is not too unusual for a female molly that is nearing a drop to try to push away all other fish, so I assume the same applies to cold water fish like you have in a goldfish...

It ordinarily requires a bit closer relationship than swordtail/guppy fishblast but that is essentially correct. Once a male decides that a particular fish is close enough to mate with, he will do what he can to mate with that fish. He may be completely wrong but something about that female has...

If all that you want is to teach them pet care, and its responsibilities, you can use almost any combination of fish. Sooner or later they will see things change, even in a very well cared for tank, and they will need to respond. That is where you come in to help them understand what is needed...

Welcome to our forum dustyone16. Being told that a fish is bloated is like being told she is fat. You already knew that didn't you? Your photobucket image, this one, shows a very heavy female that should drop at any time. I would expect a drop at almost any moment.

Please define your objective Marley. If you merely want to have enough fry survive to replace the present stock, almost anything that you do will be plenty. If you want all fry to survive, maybe so that you can sell them, then extreme measures may be needed. In between, the appropriate measures...

The way to get the added fry from more females is to have tons of cover and make sure that all females are well fed. In this tank, I remove all adults about every 3 months. The population explo0sion never slows very much and I always have lots of adults to sell. It is a tiny 10 gallon tank but...

Hi there Jetswarrior102. The picture that you called Molly4, shows a female that may be starting to be squared off. Have you had a look through my thread that you can reach from My Molly's Progress in my signature area? It shows what I mean by squared off vs simply well fed. The intent was to...

Kuri, just monitor your fry. Once they start to mature, the time will vary quite a bit, you will begin so see things like darker spots on the earliest developing males. Until the fish show their primary sex characteristics, like the gonopodium in a male, you cannot be sure what you have, but...

KrystaK has expressed this possibility many times in the past. It does not make it any more probable as a reason McCool. Sorry but I must intervene whenever I find it appropriate, not necessarily when I would prefer to do it.

Pumpkinnose, I feel your pain. You have fish that you suspect may be carrying fry and nobody can help very much. As simple as it seems, few people are really expert at evaluating fish. It is why I have provided "My Molly's Progress" to help you become your own best expert. I would love to help...

Forget bad luck and similar sentiments. We control what happens in our tanks. When you have a good idea of what female is ready to drop, you know where to place the surplus of java moss or najas grass, whichever you are using, to preserve lots of fry. Make sure that your young adults and...

Glad we could help Cindaaayyy. Each individual fish is her own "rule" when it comes to drop intervals but I suspect you will soon know the value for your own female.

Typical common livebearers will pick at plants and any other surface almost constantly. For a plant person, the action means nothing. The livebearers are after the micro-organisms that normally live on plants and other surfaces. They do not "eat" plants at all but will not hesitate to eat dead...

Don't worry too much about aggression between females. In general, platies do not school/shoal. A 10 gallon is enough for just a few adult platies, not many really. You are correct that after 6 months or so you need not worry about prior male contacts. I am at a loss. What is it that you want...

Pumpkinnose, the male platy is doing what he must. All common livebearers urinate constantly to maintain their water balance. A method adopted by most common livebearer males is to smell, for lack of a better word, the urine produced by other fish to determine whether or not the particular fish...

Keep an eye on that sister. She is getting quite close.