Sexing Mollies.

[Dane]

I've owned mollies from time to time over the years, and just now I'm concerned with how to tell a male from a female apart... I've owned a female (i'm positive she was female since she had eggs that hatched ) but what are some characteristics to look for in a male?

I'm not trying to breed them, atleast not yet, but i'd love to be able to tell if my new molly's a girl or boy

 

[Opcn]

Look in the Livebearers section of the forum in the future. But with livebearers the males all have pointy anal fins that they use to deposit a present in the females.

HTH

 

[Dane]

a pointy anal fin? Like it has a point.. longer than the females, as the female's anal fins are more rounded? I'm really hoping this one's male.. lol.. the fin looks a bit different than my female's.. so maybe?

I checked out the livebearers section, and not much on sexing the mollies.. just about them breeding basically.. hmm.. thanks though

 

[Ava_Banana]

My mollies are far too oversexed.


The females do have a specific anal fin, which is round and well, just like a normal fin.



The males do specifically not have a proper fanned-out fin.


They have what looks like a collection of dangly-bits......... .......one of which they can flex. and poke into the orifice of any nearby females that they fancy chasing.

If you haven't noticed one fish doing this to another, you haven't got a mix of females and males.

......oh, and as livebearers, they "normally" have live young, not eggs....

Good luck........If one of them is fat, it is probably female............and probably pregnant...... B)

 

[MAM]

first off, are you sure you have mollies? you mention she had eggs that hatched. did you actually see eggs or did you just see babies and assume. i say this because if you did see eggs that then hatched, you don't have mollies. mollies are livebearers as said above, they give birth to live young.

if you look at this in the livebearers section: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=13664 the first two pictures are of platies, but platies/guppies/swordtails/mollies all have these same fin characteristic. look at the fins on the belly, the ones closer to the tails. see how on the male that "fin" is long and narrow like a tube? and on the female its a fanned out fin shaped fin? thats what you look for.

oh, and in the future, you'll get more responses to molly questions if you just post in livebearers. i know this says breeding advice, but this for non-livebearing fish questions (if you read the pinned article at the top of this section, you'll see that). no harm done, just wanted to point that out to you for future reference.

 

[Sanj]

, but i'd love to be able to tell if my new molly's a girl or boy

Boys have a 'weener fin' its kind of tubular shaped and is called a gonapodium ...i think.

However Mollys are livebearers...they give birth to live fish not lay eggs.

 

[shrimpster97]

i have two silver mollies and my male has a much bigger fin on the top of his body, and the female doesnt have one as big. they are pretty easy to tell apart.

 

[pnyklr3]

I have found that the dorsal fin is not the best way to tell male from female. You can run into female sailfins that have a dorsal fin as large as a regular mail molly. The gonopodium is the beest way to determine.

 

[Ava_Banana]

To conclude:



Anal fin.................female


Dangly bits............male




......hth.......

 

[hayz]

Hi there,

Before posting I had a look through posts about 'sexing' mollies to see if it shed any light on what sex my two new mollies are. I purchased (along with some other fish in a lovely new set-up), a black molly and a dalmation molly.

By instinct, I guessed that the black one is male, and the dalmation is female- as 'she' seems a lot rounder and 'he' seems to chase her around a lot. Just so I am 100% sure, as I would like them to breed, feel free to have click on the links below and take a look at the pictures and tell me if you reckon I'm right!

Cheers now.

http/www.tinypic.com/amgb5

http/www.tinypic.com/amgba

 

[hayz]

Ok, so it's true! The dalmation has just given birth....and there are these little critters everywhere:

http/tinypic.com/ammti

 

[poohbear]

congrats on your babies

 

[pnyklr3]

Good god she was huge!!!! I am just counting down the days till my dalmation drops her fry.

Congrats on the babies!!!

 

[hayz]

I'm glad I know what to expect now! We weren't really prepared so will have to go and buy a net etc. for the next time because I think they're at it again!

I've counted about 20 of them, but I have a feeling the silver sharks are going to eat them...

 

[willywonka099]

If you have males and females the are both mature the male will chase the female and you will see a "rod" sticking just before where the anal fin is ..... you can't miss it it looks like a penis ..