Got Mollies

YES...

Got mollies yesterday, pair. The male is solid black sailfin, he looks like he's covered in velvet, not scales. He looked better at the LFS because he went wild when they tried to get him in the net and knocked off a few scales above his eye. They've been trying to get black sailfins for at least six months - aren't I lucky I turned up just when they were around... The female is a black and white dalmatian, very evenly marked. She's also pregnant, dunno who. With any luck it's either the black sailfin or one of the dalmatian sailfins, or maybe that nice grey male. She's not very pregnant, probably at least a month left to go, but she's definitely knocked up. It's not just a pair, there was already a female in the tank. (Iron grey with black spots, virgin, getting old, has survived almost everything)

I will post photos if I can get them but it's hard because they are living in a plastic container. It's a gravelled, filtered, aerated, soon-to-be-heated-because-winter-is-coming-and-the-water-is-too-cold, planted, covered plastic container but it's still a plastic container.

I'm a bit worried about the male because when I saw him yesterday he had a white spot on his bottom lip. Naturally I'm worried about columnaris, but he was active and healthy, eats (and shoves everything else out of the way when there's food in the tank, including females!) and there were no other signs of columnaris either - no saddleback marking, no sign of slime or finrot or anything else. I will keep a very close eye on him. If he does turn out to be infected, should I add the heater or keep the temperature down? Also what medication should I use? If I think he's infected I will post in emergencies but I'm not that worried at the moment, he looks great.

Pics up tonight with any luck, IF I can get them.

EDIT: Couldn't catch the female. THis is the only clear photo I got of the male. It doesn't do him justice, his fin isn't even up, but I wasn't going to keep a fully grown sailfin molly in a 1/4 gallon jug for more than a few moments to get a photo. I called him Velvet.. for obvious reasons.

Laura, you don't say how big your plastic container is but if its large enough for your mollies there is nothing wrong with plastic as such. Heat for winter is definitely a good idea and it will help stabilize temperature year around. You might try a picture in the container as you are probably causing stress moving the fish to the little cup to take his picture. When you post again, please include water parameters to help people figure out what might help you and your fish.

I have a black male and female molly along with dalmations also. They are beautiful aren't they? My black male is a bit smaller than "Rocky" my big dalmation male but that doesn't stop him from trying to bully him away from the girls. Such personalities!

I love molly's they were my first fish and i still have some now, the black variety are especially beautiful

OldMan, I live in a small town in Australia. It's a source of endless frustration that I can't get test kits for anything except pH. I know the tank is cycled but I had to do it fish-in because I couldn't get ammonia that doesn't have detergent in it - I hadn't heard about putting in fish food when I set that tank up. It's been set up for months, no fatalities, so I think it's safe to say it's cycled.
The plastic container is semi opaque, so I couldn't get a photo because it's too hard to see through the plastic. It's meant to be a temporary arrangement until I can talk my parents into letting me have a glass tank outside. It's too small for mollies really, I certainly wouldn't put them in anything smaller. I've put salt in it and the filtration is 8.5x/hour. I'm wondering at the moment if I can talk my parents into letting me set up the 20g plastic container (current one is 15)... I'd rather have the 24g glass tank though!

I love the personalities on mollies as well. They're so intelligent. I hand-tamed my first molly within a fortnight of having her and she still rushes over to my hand for a pat when I put it in the tank. I can even pick her up without a net - I never hurt her because she doesn't struggle, she knows I won't hurt her. I can't do that with the new ones yet but I've only had them a few days. I love dalmatians, and I was intending to buy a dalmatian pair but how can anyone resist that solid black beauty?

What do you think he'll throw with a 50% dalmatian female, and this female (the iron grey, not the white one, she died a few months ago)

I can't photograph the female at all. Even taking a video and using a still blurs her spots because the fps rate of my digital camera sucks. I managed to get some photos of Velvet... look at the FIN on him!

Velvet is just stunning. The shape and form on him is wonderful.

Emma

I love him.... I'm kind of worried about the white on his lip. I think I'll post in Emergencies just to be sure.. maybe some seawater dips are in order. Mollies don't travel well.

It's probably just a little scratch, or it's his coloring, all my mollies have white coloring on thier lips. I dont know why. Beautiful Male! almost as sexy as mine, but mine is still sexier!

Prove it! (PICS!!!)

Well thanks for the compliments guys... he's going to make a great lead stud as well if you catch my drift. (The LFS said the black males are less aggressive chasing females - got news for them!) I have some lyretail females in the grow-on tank and they are looking really nice. They're from Dalmatian/Gold Dust lines - what do you think they might throw?

I will! You cant be accurate with throws when you dont know there gene pool!

Okay, you dare challenge my Molly? Your on!!!!!! My molly OWNS!!!!!!!! Take a look yourself:



Notice that band of Gold on the top of his sail? Exactly, amazing! What now Laura?

You both have very nice looking sailfins with the gold colored top edge on their dorsal fins. No use getting into a scrap about it since they are both so nice. Krib, your picture is definitely clearer.

^ thanks! We arent exactly fighting, we are just messing. I still think mines better IMAO! Thnaks, i used our new camera. It was a hard shot to get as his sail is never up and he swims fast!

I got another decent photo of mine, I will dig it up.

Yours is stunning too but I think MINE is nicer... typical. Your guy has a better tail, but I think the sail on mine is bigger. How big is yours? And will it mate with anything including a half grown bristlenose? that's a plus if you're trying to breed them. Once you can get it in the vicinity of the right female... Or just keep him in a tank with less than a hundred fish. He'll find the right one eventually

More pics (after the one more) might not be forthcoming. He's back in the outside tank. Those photos were taken while he was temporarily in the six gal on my desk. I can't keep him in there.