Sailfin Molly

[PENEJANE]

Can anyone tell me about the up keep of these fish?? I saw a real nice bright yellow one that was showing off at the store and thought that it would be something different to try. I won't be adding it to my guppy tank as I will eventually look into another tank all together depending on if the hubby will let me and once we have brought a house (with in the next yr hopefully)

What water conditions do they require and are they hard to breed?

cheers

[Caper]

Penejane...did you get a response to this somewhere else?

I was going to ask about the sailfin mollies (hmm...may have somewhere else :-? ).

Did you get any?

Do you know if there are more than one kind?

What I mean is I've seen fish called mollies with lytretail (darn can't spell), tails are curved, if you know what I mean! They also had a fairly long dorsal (top fin?).

I have also seen fish called "sailfin" mollies that have a different tail but a "high" fin on top. Oh dear, not doing a good job at describing these, sorry :-?

[PENEJANE]

yeah I know the ones your talking about. I have seen them with the tail your talking about and the dorsal fin your talking about also.

I haven't gotten any of them as I have decided to stick to my guppies

[Caper]

Thanks Penejane

Guppies are really cute aren't they...the 2 I have...well, it almost seems like they are playing chase sometimes, could they be?

So, is there anybody out there that has sailfin mollies and if you would recommend them for a community tank (platy, guppy, tetras so far)?

Checking what I can on the net.

[HummingBird]

Your guppies are probably trying to mate. They're both males though so they probably won't have any luck

[Caper]

OH MY

Are you serious, :lol: is that what they maybe trying to do as opposed to a game of chase :roll:

[Caper]

So...does anyone have any experience/knowledge with sailfin mollies?

[Faran]

Hi PJ, it's been YEARS since I had any sailfins, but I can highly recommend them for a community tank. As livebearers, they instinctively try not to eat smaller fish, they are a great addition to any tank with great personalities and a showy way of things with that big sailfin. They are livebearers, so be ready for babies if you have males and females together. As with all livebearers, they're easy to sex and VERY easy to breed. Lyretails should be bred young as the extensions on the gonopodium (fish penis - you know what I mean) make it useless for mating when it gets too long. Aside from that, here's a few useful sites I came up with when I Googled "Sailfin Molly".

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/D ... Molly.html

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/molly1.htm

There's also a couple entire books on Mollies:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 67-3737664

Hope that helps, and enjoy them - they're awesome fishies!

For current personal experience, ask Billaney. He has a few in his comm tank.

[livebearer_breeder]

Its easy to fix males livebearers gonopodiums, simply put the male/s into tank by themselves, which they will be comfortable, dose it with a small amount of melafix, remove your males, then cut there extension off, put them back into the tank and watch them carefully for signs on infection or disease, after a few weeks, if you've cought it early enough and there sperm is still active, they should be breeding in no time, however if this is done inccorectly you could end up with a still sterile male or a dead fish.

Shae

[Caper]

Hi Blueand Kim!

It was actually me who brought this topic back (Penejane has decided to go with the guppies for now).

I did see those 2 sites. So, it's great to know that they can be in a community tank. Dept. store told me I couldn't have them in a community tank as they were very aggressive and would probably eat my tetras.

BILLANEY So, what can you tell me about your experience with them?

[dee_jay_01]

Here is another site for Sailfin Mollies,

http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profi ... ailfin.xml

I have 2 females (Males died shortly after getting them) Both of mine have just had their fry, but word of caution ALL LIVEBEARERS WILL EAT THEIR FRY, So add some Java moss to the bottom of the tank, or have a thick planted tank and they should be ok. Other guppies will also try to eat the fry but as above have lots of plants for them to hide in.

And I highly recommend them for a community tank, but make sure you have atleast 2 or more to keep them occupied with each other, other then interested in your Tetras.

Mine have never attacked my tetras so as my signiture says:

[Caper]

Well as I posted on another form...1 of my mollies died. He looked like your white one dee_jay_01.

But, I'm having a hard time telling the difference between a "regular" mollie and a sailfin. I thought what I bought were just mollies as opposed to sailfins. I've been looking on the net but still can't tell :oops:

Now I have to wait till the end of the week before I can get another one.

[PENEJANE]

I have done some searching for you Caper.

This site has fish that are for sale but you can see the difference with the tails and top fins for the sailfin, lyretail and normal molly. You can apparently get a sailfin with a lyretail or a lyretail with normal dorsal fin

hope this isn't to confusing but here you can see the different sorts of mollies and their fins

http://www.petsolutions.com/Mollies-C-40001594-C-.aspx

[Alan]

Do some research, and you'll find that you get the different types by counting the rays in their dorsal fins.

With the cams we have these days it is a sintch to do.

Alan 104