Little Fish Swimming Under Big Fish, Means?

[monto]

hello i have tropical fish, theres a small white one (male?) and a larger white one (female?) same type of fish, the small one is always swimming underneath the belly of the larger one, kind of poking with nose. any idea what that means please? and if i introuduced one more of this type of fish to the tank, should it be male or female? currently there are just the two.

 

[Colin_T]

it could be breeding behaviour but without knowing what the fish actually are, it is impossible to say.

 

[rdd1952]

Do the fish look like the one here. If so they are livebearers and if you add a 3rd fish, it should be female.

 

[monto]

yes, the fish is exactly like in your picture

so they are thinking of breeding or have bred already?

if i add another female it should be ok? how would the behaviour change, would there be perhaps fighting or jealousy

 

[Colin_T]

if you have a pr of livebearers, (mollies) then they will have bred and the smaller male is still trying. Male livebearers are randy little sods that think about nothing but sex. Having several females in the tank will take of the stress off the females.
You will probably have baby mollies in a month or so.

 

[monto]

yes i have noticed that the little one wont leave the big one alone! lol

lately though she is chasing him and pecking at him

ok i might get another female if i can assuming the guys in the fish shop know the difference between males and females!

ps. thanks a lot

 

[Colin_T]

the following link will take you to a page with some fish pics on. Go to the bottom right corner and click on the picture or text called "Mollies, Swords, Guppies & Platies". It will open a window with some info on sexing livebearers, including pictures of males and females.

http/www.perthaquarium.com.au/fish/tropi...ater_fish.phtml