wonton55912

how old do they have to be

Lucy

What kind? I'm sure it depends on the fish.

wonton55912

bblack molly

Randog

My sourses and experence is that males can be distingiused at about 6 weeks old. Males have one hole while females have two.

You have to use a microscope and it is best to knock them out with a solution of 2 drops of clove oil to 5 cups of tank water for about 2 minutes. Then only have them out of the water for no more then 3 minutes. If it takes you that long to have a peek, see your eye doctor.

Their external sexual characteristics will be expressed once they have reached maturity. Maturity varies, even among tightly bred stains.

Good luck and happy hunting.

jorabi

Here's my story...I have some dalmation molly fry that are just one year old. The males did not grow their gonopodium until they were 9 months old!!! The whole time I thought I had a full batch of females!

I also have a batch of black molly fry who were born in July, so they are only 9 months old. The males were all developed within 3 months! So it really depends on the molly and their individual development.

I also wanted to point out that my 1 year old dalmations are much smaller (they are all about an inch - some even smaller), where as my 9 month old black mollies are all larger than the dalmations.

kloseo

wow thats good info to know about the gonopodium visible at 9 months, i assumed it was much earlier but makes sense thanks jorabi

jorabi

Here's a funny update...in April I stated that my male dalmation mollies did not develop until they were 9 months old...well now they are 1 year & 5 months...and two of the "females" just developed into males NOW!!!