In copulation, the male swims alongside the female and fertilizes her with his anal fin. As mentioned before, the anal fin serves as the copulatory organ, the gonopodium. The male briefly introduces his gonopodium into the pore of the female. One out of ten attempts is usually successful. Interestingly, the female body has the ability to store male sperm for future fertilizations.
Females are thus able to have several young after just one mating.
If the female is not interested in mating, she attempts to get away from the male. This is why it is important to have hiding places such as rocks or caves in your aquarium. If the male pursues a female so aggressively that he injures her you will have to remove the female from the aquarium. After copulation, the female will incubate the fertilized eggs for a period of time which varies from specie to specie. At birth, the young of all live-bearers are fully formed.