Interesting development

[CACAdmin]

Now that I finally have a large Black Golddust Sailfin Lyretail male that I want to breed, I put him in a tank with the juvies and young adults and removed all molly males with the exception of one other male (slightly smaller and with a little less gold). This was going to be my breeding colony to build up my black golddust stock as the females are all just reaching breeding age.

However, this was only a week ago, and tonight I look in the tank and discover 4 more males. :rolleyes: So much for assuming I left them with all females...lol. Mollies do develop late and these are not 'late bloomers' so to speak but what I found interesting is that they all started to reach sexual maturity right after the removal of almost all other males. I wonder if there is any connection between the number of males in a tank and how soon young males mature sexually.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have 4 fish to net and relocate. :twitcy:

[Melody]

I don't recall if I've heard anything about Mollies specifically, but it happens with Swordails and other species.

No worries, they can come live with Auntie Melody. ::D:

[CACAdmin]

Actually, I netting them quite quickly and put them in the 70g. Unlike many other fish when moved to a new tank they didn't head off for cover until they got their bearings but immediately took one look at all those big females in there (2-3x their size)and excitedly headed straight for them (young fellas with a one track mind :rolleyes: :laugh: ).

Now of course to monitor the other tank to see if there are any other males lurking in the shadows. :spinny:

[blainep]

I've seen my Limia's pull the same stunt as well.

Set up a tank for a pretty male, give him a small harem and wait a week or two then swapping in 'real' females. :rolleyes: