a question about mollies?

[koi-angel]

i have two white mollies one male and one female i think? anyway the female was alot fatter and just had babies most were eaten by my angel fish but i managed to save a few, anyway now the female looks exctly like the male, they both have the long fins underneath how can i tell the differnece?? also some of the fry were born dead?? does anyone know why?? koi-angel

 

[waambat]

I wish i had the answer to your question. Infact, i am having the same problems sexing my two balloon mollies (one is white, the other black with the silver gills).
Here's the story:
I haven't had the fish but for 2 weeks or so now. I stay in a dorm at college and had to leave my babies behind for about 5 days to visit home for thanksgiving break [so, unfortunately i had to put lots of food in the tank before i left and wasn't able to feed them during the time i was away]. When i returned, the fish were active and appeared fine--however the white one's belly had obviously grown. But looking online i cannot find any pictures of (specific) balloon molly sexes. If i compare them to platy pictures, they appear to both be male. However, it appears that one is pregnant (!?).
They seem healthy, otherwise i would suspect that she (if it is, infact, a she) is sick.

What am i to make of this?

 

[pondfreak4365]

When my silver sailfin fry were only a few months old, I thought I had all males. Now, at about 6 months, if I look closely, I can see the fan shaped anal fin of the ladies. You really have to watch them swim to see it, and it's really hard with fry!

 

[ruffmeister]

right i have balloon mollies and the answer is
males have a huge dorsel fin stretching all over their backs and have an anal fin whereas the females will have a muc smaller dorsel and no anal fin, hope this helps you guys

 

[koi-angel]

ok i think i have two females they both have three anal fins?? man this is confusing,

 

[lilmolly]

It takes practice to properly sex fish. The anal fins are so small. Try doing a search. I know there are many cites out there that have gender identication on them. It may take you awaile. Unfortunatley, I can't find one of those on my fav's