Is This A Sailfin Molly?

Hi there,

I'm assuming the answer is obvious, but I've looked at many books and online sources and am getting conflicting results. I am relatively new to keeping fish and this guy was a gift to my son from his aunt, who doesn't know either. I'd just to be sure as I'm considering a brackish tank for him (and others like him..and I'm assuming he's a "he") and want to be sure he's getting the correct environment. I also want to be sure about his full size as I don't want to overstock.

Speaking of brackish tanks, does anyone have advice on how to acclimate fish to being in one? This molly was in a community freshwater tank and for several reasons (I can explain if you would like to know), all but he and the emerald cory cat (I'm also guessing on this guy) have died. I am trying to make suitable, well-kept homes for them and am spending a great deal of time researching before continuing.

Thanks for your time,
Desiree

Sorry for the low quality photo...all I have is a point and shoot.

he is a black one, and is a "he".
they dont need a brackish tank. u can just put table salt in ur tank, just crunch it up and put it in little by little.
i have a bunch of mollies and mine r fine in fresh water.
he is also full size by the look of it.

Mollies these days do perfectly fine in fresh water as most are bred in it, yours is indeed a sailfin male.

NEVER use table salt in your aquarium

Heh, see what I mean about conflicting information?

No worries, I know not to use table salt because of all the extra stuff in there (at the very least), and will be using marine salt from the pet store should I go brackish, which I suspect I will.

As lilfishie Said table salt is not good / cooking salt is ok to use it will do the same as marine salt and is a lot more Cheaper.

Definitely a sailfin molly

Water for mollies is sometimes recommended to have some sea salt added, not table salt. Some mollies do come from somewhat brackish water but many of the more common mollies are euryhaline. A black somewhat sailfinned molly, like the one in your picture, is simply never found naturally in the wild. It is an aquarium strain developed from multiple different fish, some of which are sometimes found in brackish water. A natural sailfin molly will run about 5 inches, 12 cm, long with a fin that not only stands up tall but even extends forward from where it attaches to his back. It will not have any significant amount of black color on its body at all. There is a picture of one here. That particular one is a true Poecilia velifera, not a pet shop molly at all. Another picture of a P. velifera is here on the fishbase site along with a bit about the fish's natural environment.
A note on salt for mollies:
Mollies do not live in table salt or water softener salt or even ice melting salt. They sometimes are found in brackish water which is a mix of ocean water and fresh water. If you must salt your fish, please use the same kind of salt that saltwater fish keepers use for their tanks. Table salt / cooking salt can be used for things like ich treatments intermittently, but it is not suitable for long term care of any freshwater fish.

Oldman47, thank you so much for getting back to me. I see that he is a true hybrid and the likelihood of me finding more like him is pretty small. I had originally thought he might be a latipinna.

Anyway, my biggest concern now is who I can put in the tank with him. I have a 35 gallon BW that has just started fishless cycling. My plan was to put him in the tank, as well as a couple bumblebee gobies. I wanted more mollies like him, but will he fair well with just a couple more "regular" mollies of whatever color? I'm just not sure how big this guy will get.

Also, have no worries...I will salt their tank using marine salt and I will acclimate him slowly to the change (he is currently in a FW hospital tank with a rescued emerald cory.

As long as you use marine type salt, your aquarium strain molly will do fine. He will thrive side by side with the gobies. Your brackish water tank should suit him just fine. Any pet shop molly that you find can be placed in that same tank and can be expected to do just fine. If you can find a true sailfin or another black with some sailfin gene to it, you should be able to parlay that breeding group into some beautiful fish. Almost any molly available today in your local fish shop is a cross of at least 2 kinds of molly but that does not detract from their beauty. I recently bought a pair of almost orange colored mollies that had a large sailfin type dorsal and a few black spots on them. I have seen a number of names for them but I think they are gorgeous. I am fully aware that they are some kind of hybrid but I love the look of them and I paid a premium to buy them. The actual value of a fish has nothing to do with its genetic purity and has everything to do with the desirability of its phenotype. When it comes to that, the fish I got are well worth the price I paid.