Ask a Question
or
Create a Poll
  1. Home /
  2. Questions /
  3. Pets And Pet Care
  4. / Fish
  5. / Freshwater Fish
  6. / Freshwater Aquariums For Beginners

by AsHyWaShY on April 16th, 2006

AsHyWaShY

Question

Help answer this question below.

Can fish mate without a male fish?

  • Like
  • Report
Share:
Other

Answers. 6 helpful answers below.

  • by Godfather Part II on April 16th, 2006

    Godfather Part II

    Most cannot. Live bearers (fish which allow their eggs to develop inside) definatly can't. Some female fish can store sperm and use it at a later time, but a male is still needed to start with.
    (I see this is your first question- So welcome to Answerbag!)

    • Like
    • Report

    3 comments | Post one | Permalink

  • by rosie on July 9th, 2009

    rosie

    yes, some female fish retain the male sperm for up to 6 months. If bought at the store, mostly they got pregnant while in the tank at the store. Some even jump from one tank to another at the store.

    No comments. Post one | Permalink

  • by Frogger on November 12th, 2007

    Frogger

    Our Dalmation Molly has had to litters of babies so far, an we have no males in the tank. The first litter can be explained by her being pregnant when we brought her home from the pet store. This, however, does not explain the second litter. So, will she continue to reproduce "asexually" or is this a case of stored sperm?

    No comments. Post one | Permalink

  • by notmrjohn on April 17th, 2006

    notmrjohn

    I think you mean can fish REPRODUCE without mating? Strictly speaking mating requires two sexes. The answer is yes, some fish can reproduce without a 'male' being involved, the term for that is parthogenesis, from Greek words meaning 'virgin birth.' Parthogenesis in fish was first observed in LIVE bearing fish.

    A familiar example is a common aquarium fish the LIVE bearing Mollie. In fact the Amazon mollie (Poecilia formosa) is frequently used in studies of genetics and parthogenesis in general, as opposed to the process in specific species. Other members of Poecilia are familiar LIVE bearing aquarium fish and exhibit parthogenesis; P. sphenops ( black mollie), velifera ( Sailfin mollie), vivipara ( One Spot, and whose specific name *means* LIVE bearing) and the guppy, P. reticulata. Other LIVE bearing aquarium fish that have exhibited parthogenesis include the Xiphophorus, swordtails and platys. (Actually these fish are, strictly speaking, not "livebearing, they are Ovoviviparous, which means " Egg-live-birth.' There is an egg,( as Godfather mentioned [ if he'd just not sed, 'Live bearers DEFINATLY can't.' and if ONLY scuba hadn't sed,"ONLY with egg laying fish.") but the egg remains in the mother's body until it hatches. The egg does not receive any nutrients from the mother, it is a true egg that hatches in the mother, then the fish is born 'live.')
    Some familiar egg laying, or oviparous, aquarium fish Genera that have exhibited parthogenesis include Atherinidae (silversides), Cyprinidae-( barbs, rasbora, carp, danios), Cobitidae (clown loach, weather loach, kuhli loach). The fish I listed are not necessarily parthogenetic, Just examples of the Genus that you may recognize, tho I think in some of the danios, such as zebrafish the phenomenon is fairly common.
    A few fish are true livebearers, Viviparous, there is no egg, the young receive nutrients from a membrane that functions similar to a placenta. An aquarium fish is the halfbeak, I dunno if parthogenesis has been observed in any viviparous fish.
    (I corrected the spelling of "parthogenesis", my spelchequer dropped the 'R' & changed it to "pathogenesis", which is something entirely difurunt. If i missed any of them, please insert your own R, if you have 1 2 spare.[04-18-06, nmj]

    No comments. Post one | Permalink

  • by scubabob on April 17th, 2006

    scubabob

    Actually it's possible, but only with egg laying fish.According to what I found. There is a species of Sea Bass that is both male and female,making it possible for it to lay eggs, then 30 seconds later switch gender and potentially inadvertantly fertilize.
    http://www.susanscott.net/OceanWatch1996/apr29-96.html and
    http://www.marinebiology.org/fish.htm#FISH%20SEX-%20how%20fish%20reproduce
    One way to look at this. It all depends on timing. They are both sexes but are only one sex at a given time.

    1 comment | Post one | Permalink

  • by Victoria S on April 18th, 2006

    Victoria S

    When Creation was made, He created both male and female. Weither animal or human.
    For instance, no dog can mate another dog. They wouldn't have any puppies.

    It is not humanly possible for both male fish to mate.
    Human and Animal were made for eachother. You can't have children without both a man and a woman. You can not have fish without both and male and a female fish. There are different oganisms in both male and female fish which help with the mating prossess.

    So no. Its not possible for fish to mate without a male fish.

    3 comments | Post one | Permalink

Want to attach an image to your answer? Click here.

Did this answer your question? If not, then ask a new question or create a poll.

More Questions. Additional questions in this category.

You're reading Can fish mate without a male fish?

Follow us on Facebook!

Related Ads

Related Questions

Professionally Researched

ANSWERBAG BUZZ

How to mate fish
Fish mate
How to fish mate
How fishes mate
How does fish mate

Answerbag

a Demand Media company