Live Birth Fish Breeding

Question
Hey Ron,

I own a variety of live birth fish (Mollies, Guppies, Swordtails, and Platies). I was wondering...How can you tell if the female fish is pregnant? Could you please explain for each type also?  

Answer
Hi Paul,
 The interesting thing with livebearers is that they can store sperm, meaning that after a female has mated once, she has sperm inside her which she can use to fertilize many batches of offspring.  So basically as soon as she gives birth to one batch, she is usually working on the next batch.  In that sense, after they start breeding, female livebearers are almost always pregnant.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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