Sexing Fry,

[Monte20]

Ive been raising this batch for a few months now. I have about 35 or so, i cant remember exactly. But I have yet to see one male in the bunch. Do adolesent mollies show there sex? Or do I just have a ton of females? They all seem to have an anal fin. and I cant see any gonopodiums on any of them.

 

[Annastasia]

What kind of fry are they? If they are Mollies, don't expect to see any males for a bit longer. Mollies take a year to mature, so you usually don't start seeing males until a bit later. Don't worry though, some will turn up. It just takes a while.

 

[Monte20]

yeah they are mollies. so you are saying that they havent reached PUBERTY yet? lol, i didnt know fish did that. hehe

 

[Annastasia]

Well, sort of. The males usually don't develop their sexual organs until a little bit later. Mollies take longer to mature then say...Guppies. Guppies can start breeding at 3 months, so they start developing their gonopodiums earlier. Mollies can't breed until about 3 months at the very earliest so they take a little longer to develop. You'll get some males, just be patient.

 

[that smell fishey]

how many babies do mollies give birth to

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

how many babies do mollies give birth to

Anything up to a 100+, it varys alot though .

 

[that smell fishey]

i only found 3 from a black mollies

 

[Annastasia]

Some have smaller batches, naturally. Or some may have been eaten. Or sometimes they only give birth to a few at a time over the course of a few days. So there are a lot of reasons why you only found 3 fry. My bet would be some got eaten, but you never know.

 

[that smell fishey]

that is wat i thought

 

[fawnmodel]

Well... I have baby mollies that just turned three months on Tuesday. I have two DEFINITE males with gonopodiums, and they are already mating with adult females to the best of their ability! Some look like they may also be developing male parts in the coming weeks.

Granted these are my first molly fry. Surely there is some range in development, but one year seems quite excessive. Nearly all fish can begin to be sexed out around 3 months.

 

[Annastasia]

Granted these are my first molly fry. Surely there is some range in development, but one year seems quite excessive. Nearly all fish can begin to be sexed out around 3 months.

One year is when they are mature, not when they can start breeding. They can start breeding at about 3-4 months at the earliest, provided you have a male with a gonopodium. Technically, the females can be bred with at about a week if you have an older male fry. Anyway, Maturity and breeding age are different things.

 

[Monte20]

I havent seen my fry try to mate yet. But its about time that some leave the tank now. its like a swarm in there...lol.

 

[Ddraig Goch]

Some fish are much later developing than others, it's best to keep an eye on them from 2 months to 1 year.