Hello Everyone! New Here, With A Very Unsual Molly.

[sfameli]

I will just copy and paste from my introduction post, I'm hoping for some response...

"I've been keeping fish for about 20 years. Not too huge into it, but I always have (at the very least) a 20 gallon with some livebearers. I recently had to sell my 70 gallon safrican cichlid tank because I moved to a 2nd story apartment
I've been itching like crazy to talk to someone about my molly...

About half a year ago, I found this tiny baby Molly in my tank one morning. She was the only one born, I didn't even know her mom was gravid. She was orange, and had a very "icy" look to her back. Well, now that she is grown, the area that looked icy (only because she was tiny) is now covered with very thick scales. Similar to her color, just lighter. They look sort of like armor plating. The scales on the end of her tail, just before the fin, are also slightly spiked. I'm not joking about this. The scales are slightly matte (don't have much of icy look now that she is mature), while the rest of her scales are bright and normal. the distribution of these odd scales is a symetrical pattern going down each side of her back. Even her lips and gills have them. I know some goldfish have bizzar scales...

She's been getting special care since I realized she was born unique, and isn't infested with something. She is very beatiful, and her tail shines with irridecent turquoise and sky blue when the light hits it just right.

I have been trying like MAD to get a quality photo of her, none that I take show what she actually looks like, though a couple are close...

Has anyone ever heard of an "armor plated" molly??? I've been very paranoid about losing her. I am thinking about breeding her, and seeing if what she has passes on, and maybe produce some that are nearly fully plated? Physically she is active, happy, is getting pretty big now, and has never been ill. She even survived when a fan fell on her old tank and I had to find her in the carpet... I am also kind of wondering if maybe she is a hybrid from a male silver tuxuedo guppy I had in the tank?
Her mouth IS more petite than her lyrtail molly tank mate (female) and she never skims the surface and her head shape just doesn't look completely molly to me (but that could be an illusion from her scales I guess)

I do have pics, but they just barely show her scales. You can see them, but they look much more dramatic "in person". I'd share them now, but I have been rambling on too much, and I just wanted to know first of all, if anyone has seen a molly like my description??? "

I am attaching what photos I can. You can see the scales, but they look dramatically different in person (more pronounced, thicker)... I really hope y'all can see what I am talking about, lol.

 

[basboi85]

To me in one of your photos (1st) it looks as if her scales are lifting up which would mean to me dropsy

 

[sfameli]

Hello Fishaholic For the first couple of months, the scales on her tail did concern me. As she got bigger though, it became clear that her scales weren't raised, and they were maintaining their shape and growing proportionatly with her... they have a very calcified appearance to them, and seem almost spike.cone shaped (though small and only at the end of her tail). Like I said, these photos are very bad representatives of her. I have no clue how to photograph fish.

When she was just a fry, they weren't so calcified, and still had some metalic sheen which made it look like her back was made out of orange ice (very cool). The bigger she gets, the thicker her scales on her back get thicker. It is to the point now, that they just look like orange armor sort of, and she has lost her icy look to her back. The rest of her scales are very metalic. Her back scales appear thick and calcified, not raised like dropsy... I would compair it to the different sections of, say, a turtle shell? I have had fish for 20 years, I have lost at least 10 to dropsy. I know dropsy when I see it I have been working very hard to keep her perameters optimum, and she gets a varied home made diet with plenty of algae

 

[balraj_bangar]

Shes quite sexy. My 24 carat sailfin male would love her!

 

[KrystaK]

I think she`s unique, if she`s been like that since birth I would say it is some sort of genetic defect, basically evolution in action.
If you want to try and breed her, I say go for it.

 

[Animal Lover 2000]

i have 2 males just like her with the tint and everything and mine are lyre tails i love yours and it would be cool if we could breed my fish and yours!!!

 

[sfameli]

LOL @ balraj
@ Animal lover...
I am going to try and find a male of similar type to breed her to. Could you take some photos of your fish? Maybe they have the same mutation, but then again, maybe they don't. Maybe down the road, if you don't mind paying shipping I could send you a few... I don't know. First I have to get some babies out of her!