Identify My Fish Please

[Neon_Momma]

HI,

I was told by my LFS that my fish were Giant Molly's (IIRC)

But I've just been having a read in the livebearer section, and seen some photo's of Platys that look exactly the same as my fish

So I've been david Baileying and trying to get a good pohot of my fish, to show you and ask you what you think.

I have one male and one female, I would say they are about 3 inch long, the main reason I ask is because I want to get another female and need to make sure I get the right type!

Male:

I him

and Female:

Sorry if my photography isn't upto scratch yet, I can see photographing my fish becoming another side of this hobby

 

[karen84]

looks like the male is a sailfin molly and the female a normal molly

 

[Neon_Momma]

Just gogled and your right, he does...

I found this on google:

Thankyou!

So if I got a normal molly female they'll get on ok?

I worry though as the ones in the stores look so much smaller than these two

 

[karen84]

yeah they'll be fine together they can even breed together

 

[FBF]

you may have a problem here.

although im not 100% certain i think the sailfin molly is the only molly that migrates along the tributaries and develops in brackish water then moves to full marine conditions. im almost certain keeping them in fresh water will kill them before very long unless young. can anyone else confirm this?

 

[karen84]

never heard anything like that before about them

 

[Neon_Momma]

i've just read this on another site:

These fish are often regarded as essentially brackish, but can thrive in fresh, brackish, or even full marine conditions if acclimatised gradually. Although often considered beneficial, the addition of salt to the water is not essential as long as the water is hard and alkaline. If salt is added, it should ideally be marine salt, rather than general aquarium tonic salts. The tank should not however be routinely salted if it is a mixed community containing soft water fishes.
Many colour varieties are available - including silver, mottled and speckled or "dalmation" varieties, and the popular black molly.

The shop where I got them from had them in Tropical freshwater conditions, i've had them a week now and they've settled in really well.

 

[Carolinesugar]

Hi - this is a giant sailfin molly, and will be more than happy to live in normal freshwater - tropical.

I have had mine about 2 years in this water, and have never had any problems with them needing salt.

I would say they will never need to go full marine, or have salt. If they become ill, you may add salt, but not for their normal lifestyle.

You will prob find that your local fish shop will sell the giant sailfin mollies in pairs, and then you will have to find another female from the normal sized molly tank. This will be fine, especially if you want to breed them, as they will get on fine. Aslong as you have more than 2 females to each male, you will be fine. In my experience, I have found that you are safer to just keep 2 males per tank of around 24" long, 12" deep and 12" high. This is mainly due to their size, along with their extremly high sex drives. These fish love to breed, and will pester the female if you do not have enough females to each male in the tank.

I hope that this helps you.

I hope your ready for babies! as with all liverbearers, once you add a male to a group of females, or just one female for that matter, you will have babies every 4 weeks! If you keep other bigger fish, they will eat the fry, which will help keep the babies count down, but if you want to keep the fry, you may want to buy some floating plants for the fry to hide in.

Good luck!

 

[Seidge]

I saw these at my LFS today they had them labelled 'giant copper mollies'. They where housed the freshwater section

 

[Neon_Momma]

I keep a really close eye on them all the time, as they are in the living room and much more interesting to watch than the TV anyway!

I am finding the pair I have take it in turns chasing each other, it is almost like watching synchronised swimmers, they follow each other all over the tank, very gracefully, they always feed together too.

When they are resting they lay together, they have hollowed out a little groove underneath my filter where they like to hide.

I will definately get another female and hope they all bond together nicely,

What other similiar sized fish go well with mollys?

 

[Neal]

I think my brother may have a pair of mollies, are them the ones that have a little willy and the males CONSTANTLY (I mean CONSTANTLY!) chases the female around? If so I will tell my brother to get another one or two.

 

[Annastasia]

Mollies prefer hard, alkaline water. All Mollies will benefit from salt, but the ones that really need it are black mollies, and wild-type Sailfin Mollies. Most Mollies are pretty hybridised though, so it's hard to look at them at say which ones are the ones that need salt. It's best to just add a bit of salt to the water, and if possible, keep them in hard, alkaline conditions.

The only problem with this, is most other community fish don't thrive in hard, alkaline water, and not many will like salt in the water. Are you planning on keeping these Mollies alone, or with other fish?

 

[blitztidus]

I keep a really close eye on them all the time, as they are in the living room and much more interesting to watch than the TV anyway!

What other similiar sized fish go well with mollys?

I can compare to you with the first part. WHO HERE CAN'T!!!

Almost anything that can live in the same conditions as them. I love putting them with angels, they blend well!

 

[matty_022001]

yea i agree they go very well with angels i currently have 3 mollies ( 1 black female 1 yellow female and 1 Neon orange male) living with 3 white angels and they do get on very well......... after the angels have told them whos boss lol

 

[dthoffsett]

3 year old thread.