Gambusia + dalmatian molly = gammolly? dalbusia? dalmatian mosquito?

[two_wheeled]

Hi,
I had a very interesting thing happen recently. I have an outdoor 275-gallon IBC tote that I keep heated and use it as an aquarium--that is, when it's not being used to quarantine new pond fish. I haven't bought new koi in a while.

I have a handful of different freshwater fish breeds in this tank. A few months ago I was gifted some dalmatian mollies.

I noticed some weeks back that a few of the gambusia (mosquito fish) and the dalmatian mollies were looking as if they were trying to mate.
Lo and behold, I now have at least one, maybe as many as 3, spotted mosquito fish. Definite spots on their bodies and the body shape is a tiny bit different as well.

I have had mosquito fish in my pond and in this tank for years. As the mosquito fish breed, I regularly dump some of them from the tank into the koi pond. I have hundreds of mosquito fish in the pond. None of them have ever had spots on their bodies like this until I recently introduced the dalmatian mollies into the tank.
Isn't this supposed to be impossible???

I often drop a gopro into the tank and the pond to watch the fish and check for any abnormalities. Here's a recent video of the tank. Super long, but I don't have video editing skills.

 

[Benji k]

I've never owned mosquito fish, so I don't know but sounds rare to me.

 

[GaryE]

I know that when I was south and went fishing for mosquito fish (well for mollies but Gambusia were everywhere) there was nothing resembling a hybrid, but there were spotted Gambusia in the same net as unspotted. There were silvery Gambusia everywhere, but spotted only showed up in a few places. I expect it's an extremely common mutation, and it's what you are likely to have. Poecilia and Gambusia have lived side by side in the same waters for millenia. You'll often get hybrids from species that would never meet in nature when you trap them in close quarters in a container, but these guys know each other well.

My Gambusia would try to mate with rocks, but that didn't work out for them. They are relentless creatures.

 

[Slaphppy7]

@emeraldking , have a look...

 

[two_wheeled]

My Gambusia would try to mate with rocks, but that didn't work out for them.

Funny because it's true!

 

[Alice B]

I have had gambusia for about 25 or 30 years.. Yes they would try to mate with rocks...

 

[emeraldking]

From what I can see in your video and photo, these are mollies. Mollies can also have these colors and patterns. That's quite normal.

Melanistic mosquito fish can occur if you have Gambusia holbrooki. Of this Gambusia species there are melanistic and grey bodied specimens. Which is normal. In Gambusia affinis there are no melanistic specimens. So, you need to know wether you have the Gambusia affinis or the Gambusia holbrooki. And again, G.holbrooki can produce melanistic and grey bodied offspring.

I also have to say that technically mollies can not crossbreed with mosquito fish. But that doesn't mean that they won't try to mate. Why can't these two species crossbreed? Their sexual organs are not compatible with another. That's the only reason. Same thing that mosquito fish can not crossbreed with guppies. But guppies can crossbreed with mollies, endlers, Lima species and Micropoecilia species. Those sexual organs are compatible with another.

 

[davros]

Is that a common fern? I didn't know that would work? Love the vid.