Please help sex my Mollies (pics)

[fawnmodel]

First we are pretty new to Mollies.

This is a pretty new tank, say 5 months old.
Originally we had one gold Molly, with three Tiger Barbs, two Danios. The Mollie was tough against the barbs, we thought she was eating to much cause she got really, REALLY fat.

Then, we bought a Pictus and it brought ick with it, two barbs died and the cat. So we had one Tiger Barb, two Danios and the Molly.
When all was healthy, we got a new red Mollyy friend for the gold Molly. But, the gold Molly died anyhow a few weeks later.....the barbs ripped her fins up.


So we decided to wait a while, and then got a BIG fat dalmation Balloon Molly, and recently a Silver Lyre, so we have them plus the gorgeous red Molly, and the two original Danios. Its a happy tank. Then the barb got nasty. So we got him a friend, nastier.

Meanwhile, we thought we saw something flitting in the tank...a little black molly fry! But it was the last one, and before we knew it it was gone, probably victim to the barbs. So we took the barbs to the petstore to keep a happy little Molly tank. The Danios are still there.

I am pretty sure the Balloon Molly had the babies, only because she got SOOO FAT and eventually took to hiding in the ship we have in there. She loves it in there. And, she is skinny again now. I think the gold one was a female too, because she also got really fat then skinny but the barbs prob ate all her babies.

So now that the tank is nice, I want to find out EXACTLY what sex each is. And set it up for happy Molly babies

I think it is as follows:
Silver Lyre; male, though he's small so I am unsure.
Red Molly (if there is another name please tell!); female cause her pretty fan-fin
Baloon Molly (dalmation); female, and she is hiding again and doing a funny 'spawning' dance with the lyre.

But what do I know, nothing, so here are some pics can you guys help identify sex from the pics? We used to breed firebellied toads so I am looking forward to some fry

Thanks!

 

[bigmick474]

i think males have a "bigger" fin on their back, i might be wrong

 

[fawnmodel]

Actually its supposed to be the anal fin on males is 'horizontal' and more stick-like, and the females are very fan shaped, round and vertical. The dorsal fin is not a good indicator on Mollies.

But I have a hard time telling on the dalmation (cause its sorta in-between, but I think it was preggers) and the lyre (cus the lyre is small, but his fin has NEVER come down like the others), I am pretty much positive the red one is female and its SO pertty and nice I wish I had a better pic.

If they are all females then I want to go get a male, but I want to be sure cuz don't want to have two males if I already have one...

 

[Elisabeth83]

The 2 top mollies are females and the bottom lyretail is a male. You've got yourself some very pretty mollies I especially like the lyretail male.

 

[cheekeyarab]

The 2 top mollies are females and the bottom lyretail is a male. You've got yourself some very pretty mollies

I would agree with that (although I like your red molly, never seen that before)

I know this isn't the point of your thread but I think it would be nice to have more danios in your tank. You could (tank space permitting) buy 4-6 more and I am sure they would look loads more beautiful in a school.

Edit: sorry forgot to say loads of beautiful plants to provide hiding space for your fry and also so the females can escape attention from the male. You could also get another female to add to the mix.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The first one is a female dalmation molly, the second one is actually a red female SWORDTAIL(don't worry its easy to get mollys and female swordtails mixed up but mollys don't come in red so its pretty easy to tell with this one ) The lyretail molly looks like a female although its hard to tell without his/her anal fin fully extended, the zebra danio is a female full of eggs although they won't hatch without a male around.


How many gallons does the tank they are in hold?
Do you still have the tiger barbs and how many danios do you have left exactly?


Tiger barbs need to be in groups of 6 to work as community fish and need a tank of at least 30gallons because of their agressive behavior, they also get very agressive when they are not in a big enough group and/or too smaller tank.
Danios need to be in groups of at least 5 due to their very sociable and hyperactive behavior, they can become very nippy fish if they don't have enough of their own kind to spread out their attention.

Mollys can have up to 100fry+ and their fry take on average a year to mature although it is unlikely many if any fry will survive in a tank that has tiger barbs and danios in as they have reputation for gobbling up fry.
Livebearers(i.e guppys, platys, mollys, swordtails etc) are easy fish to breed but due to the huge amounts of fry they can produce and the fact they can do it on a monthly basis are not easy fish to raise fry with due to the large fry tanks and amounts of them they require to raise fry.
Livebearers can also store sperm in them for up to 7 pregnancys so simply having no males does not rule out the posibility of fry.
Before you go around changing your stocking levels, we need to find how many gallons your tank holds and thus its stocking capability and what is suitable for it .

 

[terrorist_124]

all are female.

but the red one looks like a cross between a platy and a swordtail

 

[cheekeyarab]

The first one is a female dalmation molly, the second one is actually a red female SWORDTAIL

Wow, that's cool. It's a really beautiful fish.

At least with them all being female you don't have to worry about male attention stressing them out!!

 

[jmaster]

they all look like females to me

jmaster

 

[Angel Lady]

The red one is a platy. The first one is a female molly. They are very pretty fish. Is that a danio??It looks awful fat for some reason.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Red one is a swordtail, platys top fins are more fan shaped while swordtails are more rectangular, also platys are more rounded looking than swordtails i.e;

red platys;

http/fnp_platy.tripod.com/platy/redplaty2.jpg

red male and female swordtails;

http/www.badmanstropicalfish.com/sbs/liv...sbs_swordtl.jpg


See?

 

[terrorist_124]

it could be a cross between a platy and a swordtail

 

[Elisabeth83]

I was thinking that the red one was either a platy or a swordtail because I also had never seen a molly in a red like that

I thought the lyretail was male though? The anal fin is so long like a males? Maybe lyretails ones are just like that though??

 

[fawnmodel]

Thanks for so many replies guys, n girls! WOW

Both my danios are girls, Ive had them a long time they are great hardy fish and distract other fish from botherin one another due to their swift motion. They are BEST friends and hang out together. We are going to add to them later, after we try out the baby Molly thing. They also really get on well with the mollies, they all swim together and and nobody gets harrassed or chased.

This tank is a 30 gal tank, it has 7 plastic plants as of today. It also has several hidy spots, a huge fake shipwreck (that my female dalmation molly lives in), brick type hidy spots etc. Today I am going to get another female molly, hopefully a preg one, and some more plants etc. We have TONS of aquariums so setting up a fry tank should be easy, and will be fun for the kids to see what is going on too.

The funny thing about the barbs is we used to have tons of barbs, years ago. The STUPID petstore we bought he molly from (the original one) did not tell us they were livebearers (duh)or anything else about the fish and its compatibilty, other than ITS FINE.

We know Barbs are aggressive and we used to house lots of ours with loaches, sharks and danios (they never bothered them, but one BIG shark started terrorizing them a year later when he got really huge). But the barbs were the first FEW fish we wanted to add to this new tank just during breakin, and until we were to add more fish for a communtiy tank with schools. But everything went haywire when the cat with ick was brought in.

So the plans have changed, now we are going to keep it a molly tank, and add a few danios once the sexing/breeding is sorted out.


Thanks again, I am sure we will be back with more questions soon.

BTW yes the red swordail/platy whatever, she is sooo pretty I wish I had a better photo it took me a half hour to get the ones I got! She is VERY brightly silky dark red, like a Betta, very velvety with no other colors (no white silver orange nothing). We got her she was the nicest fish in the store and I've not seen another her color) Maybe sometime I will find her a lovely male. Shes an adult I figure, about 2.5-3" long.

 

[fawnmodel]

Alright, Just returned from the petstore with a BIG fat pregnant female baloon Molly. They told me to put her straight into a breeder after floating the bag for awhile and leave her in there. I did and she is doing good. She is HUGE! Question, generally how long will it take before she has the babies? I am setting up the fry tank now, with water (and some gravel) withdrawn from the big tank today during water change, and also treated with cycle etc...

I'll try to post a pic later.