Is my Molly pregnant?

[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 analfin. (on the belly there are two fins--the first, the analfin, is ningle, and the second is a pair and a bit smaller.) In females, the analfin 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 analfin. 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 analfin 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...

 

[mistycheri]

Ohhh, I'm not giving them away! I will love em, and feed em, and pet em, (or maybe not )
But they will be my babies! I think they will look beautiful. The mother is light orange molly, and the papa is a blueish, sometimes purplish, depending on the light. I think they will be beautiful babies.

 

[0morrokh]

Just to clarify, you are planning to keep them all? You do know how many fry livebearers can have?...