 |
 |
|
| Home | Dog Care | Cat Care | Bird Care | Fish Care | Reptile Pets |
Molly Fish
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Poecilia sphenops. SYNONYMS: Numerous, the best-known onebeing Mollienesia sphenops. DESIGNATION: Tropical GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: Texas; widelydistributed in Mexico and northern SouthAmerica. It has also been introduced intoleast one Middle Eastern country. SIZE: There are so many naturally occurringraces and artifically developed ones that anysize given can only be an approximation -around 7 cm (2.75 in) for males and 10 cm(4 in) for females. WATER PREFERENCES: All varieties preferhardish alkaline water containing oneteaspoonful of salt per gallon (4.5 litres),maintained between 25-28°C (77-82°F). DIET: A wide range of dried and live foods willbe accepted but vegetable matter must form aregular part of the staple diet. BREEDING: Heavily pregnant females arelikely to abort or give birth prematurely ifthey are moved during the last week or so ofthe gestation period which can last as long as10 weeks at the lower end of the temperaturerange but is usually only half as long. Sincethe size of mature females can vary so much,brood size is difficult to categorise. However,batches of 50 fry or more are not uncommon.DESCRIPTION: The pure wild form (or forms) of the Molly are hardly everavailable commercially, their place havinglong been taken over by cultivated varieties.The most basic of these, and still one of thepopular ones, is the short-finned Black Molly.Claims that this variety was developed bycrossing P. sphenops with P. formosa areunlikely to be true since the latter speciesoccurs almost exclusively only as females.Male P. formosa are, at best, rare. Anysupposed P. formosa males that I have seenhave been less than convincing. It is, therefore, far more likely that theBlack Molly was developed from crossesbetween various `wild-types', with subsequentselection producing the fish with which weare now familiar. Today, numerous varietiesexist, showing a wide range of colours andfinnage, some of which do not come from pureP. sphenops stocks.
One relatively 'pure' P. sphenops that isstill available from time to time is the LibertyMolly, a green-based fish in which the maleshave smallish, but very colourful, dorsal fins.
|
Agassiz Dwarf Cichlid Goodeid Fish American Flag Fish Pictus Catfish Asian Fire Eel Bitterling Black Tetra Bleeding Heart Tetra Blind Cave Fish Blue Acara Limia Bronze Cat Fish Armoured Catfish Butterfly Cichlid Cardinal Tetra Chameleon Fish Channel Catfish Cherry Barb Chess Board Cichlid Clown Killi Clown Loach Clown Rasbora Combtail Paradise Fish Congo Tetra Cuban Limia Devilfish Dwarf Gourami Eastern Mud Minnow Fathead Minnow Festive Cichlid Firemauth Cichlid Flying Fox Fish Four Eyed Fish Frontosa Giant Gourami Glass Catfish Glowlight Rasbora Glowlight Tetra Golden Banded Goby Golden Nyasa Cichlid Golden Pencil Fish Goldfish Gudgeon Nothobranchius Guentheri Guppy Humpbacked Limia Indian Flassfish Kissing Gourami Koi Kribensis Leeri Gourami Leopard Danio Long Finned Barb Longnosed Distichodus Lyre Tailed Panchax Lyre Tail Lamprologus Bedotia Geayi Malawi Blue Dolphin Cichlid Malayan Halfbreak Masked Julie Melanotaenia maccullochi Molly Fish Mosquito Fish Neon Tetra Nyasa Blue Cichlid Odessa Barb Jenynsia lineata Opaline Orange Chromide Orange Good Eid Pale Chub Pompadour Fish Paradise Fish Peppered Catfish Pygmy Sunfish Pirate Perch Platinum Gourami Platy Misgurnus Fossilis Purple Headed Barb Rainbow Goodeid Jewel Cichlid Labeotropheus Trewavasae Notropis lutrensis Red Piranha Red Tailed Black Shark Red Rasbora Rice Fish Rosy Barb Sailfin Molly Sailfish Scalare Schubert Barb Schwanen Felds barb Severum Cichlid Brochis Splendens Siamese Fighting Fish Hemiodopsis Semitaeniatus Silver Hatchet Fish Slimy Loach South African Mouth Brooder South American Leaffish Sparkling Gourami Spike Tailed Paradise Fish Spotted Rasbora Anostomus anostomus Sucker Mouth Catfish Sucking Loach Sumatra Barb Sunfish Swordtail Tail Spot Bushfish Thick Lipped Gourami Three Line Rasbora Tri Colour Shark Upside Down Catfish Variatus Platy Velvet Cichlid Climbing Perch Whiptail Catfish White Cloud Moutain Minnow Zebra Cichlid Zebra Danio | |
COMMON NAMES: Molly (Green, Black,Albino, Liberty and others).