mistycheri

I have an orange female molly, a black male molly, and two male guppies. One of the male guppies chased the female molly around for weeks. All of a sudden he doesn't chase her anymore. Now she stays hidden in the cave and just sticks her head out and grabs food that floats down to her. She chases away any fish or cory that strays thru the cave or even near it. My question is: Could she be pregnant now that the male guppy isn't chasing her anymore. I heard and read that mollies and guppies will interbreed.

atmmachine816

If you have a male with a female.....you'll have babies, unless your female is defected or infertile, so I'd say she is in the early stages of pregnancy.

atmmachine816

O she'll get pregnant no matter what she does to the guppy, there's no way to impregnant a livebrearer, just let the parents eat the fry when she has them and most likely none should survive, if they do give them to a lfs. No big deal

mistycheri

But how do livebearers get prenant? What's the process? I read how cory's fertilize their eggs and all, but I can't find any information on the process of how livebearers get pregnant.

atmmachine816

I think (for guppies at least) it's when the male flares his tail then runs into the female, like bangs her on the side.

mistycheri

Yes, I've seen him do that, also it looked like he was trying to nip her belly a few times. It's funny, the black male molly doesn't have anything to do with the female molly. But the guppies like her alot. I had a female black molly I bought with the male, but after a few weeks she died. I don't know why, except that the male harrassed her alot.

atmmachine816

Yup then she is pregnant.

mistycheri

I might keep the babies. They should look very pretty with an orange molly mother and a blue guppy dad. :}

mistycheri

I have a baby platy I just released into the community tank. It's almost an inch long now. I hope it's a female, but I forgot how to tell the male platy from the female.

atmmachine816

Sorry can't help you there.

mistycheri

That's okay, I can look it up again. Thanks for all your help.

0morrokh

Pretty easy to tell--just look at the anal fin. (on the belly there are two fins--the first, the anal fin, is ningle, and the second is a pair and a bit smaller.) In females, the anal fin is large and fan-shaped. On males, it will develop into a pointed tube called the gondopodium, so if extended the fin looks long and narrow. Also, males are an inch smaller, but it'll be a while before you can see that. Remember, you have to wait a few weeks for the Platys to become sexually mature before you can sex them.

mistycheri

Soooo, would a male platy resemble a male molly? Cause the black male molly I have has that modified anal fin. I'm thinking it's gonna turn out to be a female. So far that's what she looks like. She's similar to the female molly I have fin wise.

mistycheri

How long is the gestation period for molly's?

0morrokh

All livebearers can be sexed by seeing if the fish has a gondopodium or not. So, as far as the anal fin goes yes a male Molly would resemble a male Platy. I would guess the gestation is around a month, but not sure...

mistycheri

Thanks for the reply, you're a dear.

mistycheri

Does anyone know what the fry would look like from a female molly and a male guppy? Would they look like guppies or mollies

0morrokh

They will probably be somewhere in between. I didn't realize the fry will be hybrids. It will probably be harder getting someone to take them...