are mollys hermaphroditic?

[vwill279]

Some livebearers can change gender (I've seen in in swordtails), however, in the O.P's situation, the most likely scenario is that the molly was hit before the male died and can store sperm for several batches of babies without needing to breed again.

To answer your other question...there is NO way to tell the gender of fry at birth. I'm pretty sure this is the case for most fish, and is certainly the case for livebearers. Female livebearers, especially guppies, can be pregnant almost before you can tell their gender if they have been with a male, and, if hit once, can produce up to 9 batches of babies off of that one breeding. This is why virgin females are worth so much more, you know positively which male impregnated her. If you buy a female guppy from a pet store, even if she is very young, chances are good that she's pregnant already. Usually, with fancy gupppies, I can tell the male fry before they get their gonopodium by the fact that they color up brighter, faster than the females. If there is no difference in color in the genders as an adult, like with many swordtails and mollies, you have to wait till the males develop their gonopodiums.

 

[Finster]

I did have a black Molly once that changed from female to male in a tank populated by females.

 

[excuzzzeme]

There are a fairly limited amount of fish that can change sex. Unfortunately, I don't remember which ones can. Once they do manage to change sex, they can't change back. There is also such a thing as a dominate female that will act like a male in the absence of a male. That does not mean it changes sex but takes on all the traits of being male.

It is not possible to ID the sex at birth but it does become clear early on.

 

[Finster]

In my case, I'm sure it was a change. It was a large dominant female, but the only births in the tank were several months after the change. If it's not known to be a species that can change sex, someone had better re-examine it.

 

[jpappy789]

I'm remaining skeptical on this topic. Most of what I read is hobbyists claiming they witnessed a sex change while nothing on the scientific front says anything but chromosomal sex determination.

What I'm almost more confused about is why this topic ended up in the anabantoid forum...

 

[livebearerfreak]

livebaerers can hold sperm for up to 4 to 6 months after being hit by a male once.. so expect a few more months of babies

 

[livebearerfreak]

I'm remaining skeptical on this topic. Most of what I read is hobbyists claiming they witnessed a sex change while nothing on the scientific front says anything but chromosomal sex determination.

What I'm almost more confused about is why this topic ended up in the anabantoid forum...

i had a group of female swordtails, the dominate female turned to a male ( grew a sword, i know she was a female as she gave birth before she grew her sword ) so only livebearers i know that can do sex change are swordtails.

 

[livebearerfreak]

I did have a black Molly once that changed from female to male in a tank populated by females.

sorry, but its only been recorded that swordtails change genders.. no other livebearers do, i had all livebearers, use to raise them for years, and never had any other livebearer besides swordtails chnage gender.

 

[excuzzzeme]

After briefly browsing on the i'net, I found that the most reef fish can change sex, especially the clownfish! I didn't find a great deal on freshwater other than the blackspot angelfish. The lack of a longer list is not due to absence of candidates, but rather I just wasn't going to become overly engrossed on the topic. There are some than change from male to female only (clownfish), some that change female to male only and some that actually change back and forth.

This does not mean that it occurred with the OP's fish and her continuance of spawning is more likely a case of sperm packeting, which most livebearers do.

 

[jpappy789]

i had a group of female swordtails, the dominate female turned to a male ( grew a sword, i know she was a female as she gave birth before she grew her sword ) so only livebearers i know that can do sex change are swordtails.

After it grew the sword did it impregnate other females?

Looking like a male and actually being a male are two different things...