Average Size Of Sailfin Mollies?

[Mikaila31]

I've been thinking of buying a sailfin molly but some websites say they get 3" while other say they get 6.5". Some say they are easy to care for other say they r hard . This has stopped me form getting them in the past, so if someone could help clear this up i would really appreciate it

 

[Annastasia]

Sailfins will get to 6". Some stay slightly smaller, but they definitely get bigger then 3".

They are fairly easy, the only thing is, they usually like salt in their water. So that limits the fish they can be kept with. It depends how the breeder raised them though, some are raised in pure freshwater, and can therefore live in pure fresh, some were raised in 1 Tbs per 10 gallons of salt, and then need that much to stay healty...it all depends. Other then that, they aren't really hard. They can be aggressive to some smaller fish though. And you need to have at least 3 females per male. Otherwise, they'll get pretty harassed.

They are really gorgeous fish though. I'm sure if you get some, you'll love them.

 

[ananda1]

They are fairly easy, the only thing is, they usually like salt in their water.

I had numerous sailfins who seemed to do just fine in fw -- given that its base pH was 7.6-7.8 and its hardness was 12+! (In various discussions with people who kept sailfins in fw, we found out that a pH of 7.6 or higher and hard to very hard water seemed to be common among people who were able to keep them long-term.)

I had one 5" male who got pop-eye every time I tried to keep him in a tank with a specific gravity of < 1.004. (I gave up and just kept him in brackish after the third try.) Freakin' beautiful fish.

For tankmates, check the brackish forum. I kept some of mine with knight gobies ...they did a good job on fry patrol.

 

[Annastasia]

They are fairly easy, the only thing is, they usually like salt in their water.

I had numerous sailfins who seemed to do just fine in fw

I know, that's why I said "usually".

I, too, have found higher pH and hardness seem to help. But, still, you don't know how they were raised. Some might have been raised in 1 teaspoon of salt per gallon. In that case, they wouldn't have too much trouble going to pure freshwater, because the salt difference isn't all that big. If they were raised in full Brackish, they obviously aren't going to do as well in pure freshwater. It's just not what they are used to. However, most Mollies are raised in pure freshwater, or freshwater with a little salt. Finding out how they were raised is just a little comment I added, so you can keep your fish the way they are used too, and then cut down on stress. However, you could really acclimate them to anything over a period of time. But I'm in no way saying they can't be kept in pure FW.