Lyre Tail Trait Development

[Aequora]

Long story short, this past spring I rescued two heavily pregnant mollies from some pretty nasty and over-crowded conditions. I know for sure that one of them was a Lyre-tail female and I strongly believe the second female was as well but I can't remember for sure. The second I put them in quarantine they started flooding fry over the bare bottomed tanks like they had been waiting five years. Over 100 fry later, they both died in the middle of giving birth. I was mortified, but then I had the bigger problem of raising all of those fry. Fast forward to now .. I have two fry left, both juveniles and one from each batch. They are both over the three month mark and are growing more and more every day-it really is amazing. I was wondering if anybody knows when the lyre-tail trail starts to develop on molly fry? I heard before that if, let's say Sailfin Molly, don't have enough room, their fins won't reach maximum expression. Could it be the same story with the lyre-tails?

 

[helterskelter]

At 3 months plus you should be able to see any extensions to the tail by now if their lyretails

 

[Aequora]

Well darn.. The lyre tail expression wouldn't happen to be recessive would it? I really don't know what the fathers of these fry were.

 

[helterskelter]

Oh yes it is.

But they will be carrying it, so 50% chance of the next generation showing the gene if their breed back with another lyretail

 

[OldMan47]

My fry are starting to show the lyretail in large numbers now after approximately 6 months. I don't remember seeing it expressed at all at only 3 months though. It may be a variation that comes with growth rate since mine did not grow especially fast and are only about 1 1/2 to inches long even now.

 

[Aequora]

Ah okay, well I suppose only time will tell. It could be that each strain from every established breeder has different growth traits. It's all up in the air as of now, but I'm willing to wait either way. The largest of the fry-a female but all looks-is getting huge and has several patches of golden color on her (just like mom). She's a little over half an inch now and just seems to be doubling every time I look at her. I'll have to post pictures. The other fry is considerably smaller than the first, so we'll see. Thanks for the input guys!

 

[OldMan47]

At a half inch, all mollies look female and none show their final fin shapes. I would be a bit concerned if mine were only a half inch at 3 months though. That is very small for a healthy 3 months old molly.

 

[helterskelter]

Ah okay, well I suppose only time will tell. It could be that each strain from every established breeder has different growth traits. It's all up in the air as of now, but I'm willing to wait either way. The largest of the fry-a female but all looks-is getting huge and has several patches of golden color on her (just like mom). She's a little over half an inch now and just seems to be doubling every time I look at her. I'll have to post pictures. The other fry is considerably smaller than the first, so we'll see. Thanks for the input guys!

How often do u do water changes?