Common Molly Species?

[Butch]

What is the species of our common mollies that you can find in all of pet stores? And which one of species balloon mollies come from? I'm confused!

 

[helterskelter]

Poecilia velifera = sail fin molly

Poecilia latipinna = shorter finned molly (also balloons, black mollys)

Poecilia sphenops = Short finned molly (Males have a vrey small fin size, only slightly larger ithan the females.)

Their are several types of mollies but you dont see these in the shops.

 

[Colin_T]

most of the common mollies are actually a hybrid between the sphenops & velifera or sphenops & latipinna.
They crossed them years ago to get new colours. It's one of the reasons many captive bred sailfin mollies don't get very big.

 

[Butch]

Isn't the yucatan sailfin a "velifera" and the sailfin a "latipinna" or the shortfin molly is "mexicana"? I think the liberty molly is a "sphenops"? But I'm confused which the strains are shortfin or liberty? I seen lots of sailfin strains in my LFS.

 

[helterskelter]

I just used shop names. Their many other names, Latin names is always the best to go buy though.

Poecilia velifera = Sailfin molly or Yucatan molly
Poecilia latipinna = Sailfin molly
Poecilia sphenops = Greem molly, sphenops molly, Pointed-mouth molly, Liberty molly
Poecilia mexicana = Atlantic molly
Poecilia formosa = Amazon molly
Poecilia Petenensis Spike tail molly

 

[dunchp]

I just used shop names. Their many other names, Latin names is always the best to go buy though.

Poecilia velifera = Sailfin molly or Yucatan molly
Poecilia latipinna = Sailfin molly
Poecilia sphenops = Greem molly, sphenops molly, Pointed-mouth molly, Liberty molly
Poecilia mexicana = Atlantic molly
Poecilia formosa = Amazon molly
Poecilia Petenensis Spike tail molly

The liberty molly is Poecilia salvatoris. In the wild they are very similar to the mexicana, but have a red dorsal fin. The photo is one of the locations for salvatoris and mexicana known as Rio Pasabien. We did not catch any salvatoris here, but we did see them in the water, they were beautiful fish.

Short and Sail refers to the dorsal fin; the short fin mollies are the fish which do not have sail like dorsal fins.

Baloon mollies, dalmation mollies etc are cultivated forms which have come from wild species at some point, but have been selectively bred to such a degree as to far removed now. Strictly speaking the 'balloon' and 'dalmation' are varieties rather than species.

 

[dunchp]

This is a photo of a wild molly; probably Poecilia mexicana. We caught this in Laguna Izabel.

 

[helterskelter]

Nice fish and a nice location, your a lucky person to of been there

 

[dunchp]

Nice fish and a nice location, your a lucky person to of been there

All in good time mate.

 

[Butch]

Are black molly a sphenops? Or was just a hybrid black sailfin? Sometimes I wish someone can tell what species of livebearers can be found in LFS. Maybe someone can post what species in the pet stores and the post could become pinned. Not wild type livebearers.

 

[dunchp]

Are black molly a sphenops? Or was just a hybrid black sailfin? Sometimes I wish someone can tell what species of livebearers can be found in LFS. Maybe someone can post what species in the pet stores and the post could become pinned. Not wild type livebearers.

It is best not to think about it like that.

Black Molly is a variety, not a species. Poecilia sphenops is a species.

The problem is that if you ask about a species, those of us who know automatically think about latin names. Alan has about summed it up in his earlier post.

Black mollies are most likely Poecilia sphenops.

 

[Butch]

Sphenops mollies...what they looks like because im new to the latin names of the livebearers and mollies too. I just want to tell the mollies (purebred) species apart from each other. Im not new to keeping mollies through.

 

[Colin_T]

asking which species of molly is being sold in shops is a bit like asking which species of platy is sold in shops. They are all mixed up and unless they state they are wild caught or a pure bred single species, they are probably hybrids.

 

[Butch]

Colin_T......huh?

I wasn't ask questions about the hybrids. I just want to know what's difference between the sphenops and the mexicana? What's difference between the yucatan and the sailfin mollies? Purebred only, not hybrids.

 

[dunchp]

Colin T is right. Cultivated fish you see in shops should be referred to a varieties; wild type fish are species. Cultivated varieties have unclear genetic ancestry which is why they are not really called species.

http/www.livingfish.co.uk/forum/article.asp?art=328

Turning to your question; There is no difference between the Yucatan and Sailfin Mollies; The Sailfin Mollies is the name given to a group of mollies which have a higher, sail type dorsal fin. These include Poecilia velifera, Poecilia kykesis, Poecilia latipinna. Yucatan is an area in Mexico where Poecilia velifera can be found. Yucatan molly is a common name, the problem with this is that in different parts of the world / country, the same fish have different common names, no matter where you are in the world, they will all have the same latin name and this is why you should try and learn the latin names.

The difference between the two species sphenops and mexicana (and many mollies look very similar to each other) is very slight. Both species are very variable and it is very difficult (even for someone with experience of both types) to tell the species apart. The main difference is that I do not believe that they are sympatric and so you can often tell what you have by looking at the collection data.