Balloon Molly sexes and mating

[Fallenstar2716]

Hey. I'm rather new to the whole fish thing, but I got three balloon mollies yesterday. One black and two white/silver. I think one white one might be male and the other two female but i'm not sure how to tell. The one I think might be male has a stick-like fin on the bottom (I don't know if this means it's a male or if it got in a killer battle and ripped its fin off )

Also, the two white mollies are constantly together. The one I think might be male is always "nuzzling" the other white mollie on the belly and staying very close to "her".

I apologize if these are stupid questions, but I really know nothing about fish but I'm trying to learn. My tank is tiny, not made for many fish (I don't know how many gallons, I don't actually own it. I'd take a wild guess at about 3 or 4) and there is a baby Pictus Catfish in there as well which will be transferred to a bigger tank within the month. I am aware that this catfish will eat other fish, although the mollies seem to be full grown and they have not bothered each other. It would be helpful to know if fry were on the way though for this very reason.

I also have a small apple snail to round off the bunch.

Any help?

 

[Fallenstar2716]

OK another question for you guys. I cleaned the water in my tank because it was really cloudy (not sure why, maybe because I tried a new kind of food for the catfish... shrimp pellets that go to the bottom of the tank or maybe because I added a little cave thingy for him to hide in when its bright) and air bubbles formed on everything, the walls and plants in the tank. I've had this happen in the past with fish but I was curious what causes it to happen, because it doesn't happen all the time....and is it harmful at all to the fish?

 

[Javentule]

First of all - sexing livebearers like mollies, platties, etc is fairly easy. Take a peek at the fin on their belly - the one right before their tail fin on their underside. If the fish are females it will be fanned out and look like a triangle. If it's a male it will look "folded up" kind of like a spear pointing back to the tail. Sometimes females will be tense and have their fin closed (which can look like a male fin), so watch them a couple minutes to see if that is the case.

Secondly, a good rule of thumb is for every inch of fish you have you should have a gallon of water. You need enough surface area so that enough oxygen can be absorbed into the water to support the ammount of fish you have. That's why taller tanks aren't as good as long tanks - more surface area with one than the other. Of course you can augment things by adding bubblers and stuff like that

 

[Fallenstar2716]

Thanks for the help. I definitely do have a male and two females...maybe I will have babies soon.


My only problem is, how do you tell when a balloon molly is prego? haha