Lesbian molly??

abbye

I have one female molly in a tank with lots of platies, a male gourami and some neon tetras. Tonight I noticed my molly behaving really oddly. As soon as I turned off the tank light, she started following all the female platies and going towards their 'bits'! I know this sounds strange but she is not doing it to the male platies and she is following them closely and persistenly just as the males do when trying to mate (she is not chasing them aggressively). She seems quite hyped up. I know for sure she is female. I have often seen her going to the male gourami and sort of rubbing against him but tonight she is only interested in the girls! What is she doing? Do females have the mating instinct too - ie is she lonely with no male molly to mate with her?[/code]

fish_4_all

It isn't uncommon for a female to do that. When I had my swords and platties the females would often nip at the 'bits' of the other females. It may be a competitive thing where the female molly is trying to make it difficult for theothers females to have babies. I actually had one female that would lay under the other females whihle they gave birth to eat the babies as they were born. I would bet it is just a ntural thing. She might be lonely but even if there were males I don't think it would matter much.

abbye

Oh right thank you. : ) The females she has been following are actually heavily pregnant so maybe that's why then, what a greedy fish! Someone told me that fish eat fry because they think the babies are just flake food, but if they know it's fry and eat them deliberately that's not very nice! But I guess it's just natural fish instinct.

abbye

One more question: how long does the process of giving birth take? and will the female hide away when she gives birth?