It's almost got to be the Molly's...

[Magnum Man]

so, I had this bright idea, about breeding wild looking sail fin Molly's... the only trouble is, I can't keep any of them alive, they have been going into hard well water, and a well seasoned 45 gallon, with over sized sponge filters, and a tidal 75 hang on tank filter, and 2 heaters, holding the tank, at a steady 78 degrees... even though the water is not ideal, for pleco's, there is a mature ,super red bristle nose pleco pair, that appear to be thriving... a 65 gallon below the 45 gallon, gets the same water, and has fish breeding, and pretty much all are thriving... I've tried multiple orders, and from several on line sellers, including premium sellers like Dan's... I've tried treating for parasites, pretty much everything I can think of, but they are doing good, if they live past a week here... I'm obviously not having that problem with other live bearers...

My well water does have a level of nitrates close to legal limit, being solidly in an agricultural area... but both of these tanks get the same water , and maintenance schedule...

I'm a big terrestrial plant person , and I have cuttings in both tanks... I personally think the plants lower the nitrates, wishing the plants were more mature, but the 45 gallon only has 2 full time fish right now, so it shouldn't be a problem...

maybe molly's have been in the hobby too long, and they are just junk right now... although, that's more of a reason to try to breed them... it's just really frustrating...

 

[GaryE]

You've discovered something very few people talk about. Sailfin mollies can be very demanding and difficult fish. They are sensitive, and males are aggressive.

I had wild caught sphenops, orri, salvatoris and mexicana that were quite easy. The same for gilli, butleri and a bunch of shortfins I had a hard time identifying. I had a friend who traveled back and forth to Mexico several times a year, and while she didn't keep mollies, she liked buying from a feeder fish market and giving the results to me.

I found the sailfins I caught in Florida far more difficult than any shortfin.

 

[Rusty_Shackleford]

Have you tried aquarium salt?

 

[Magnum Man]

I haven't, but my well water was a ph of 8.4 last time I checked it... maybe I need to blend in some RO... but it would seem my water should be good for them???

 

[gwand]

I purchased a pair of yellow sailfin Mollys from Dan that lived for about 2 years. They went through multiple reproductive cycles giving me over 50 juveniles to sell and rehome. I kept them in a 29 gallon with water GH about 220 ppm and pH of 7.4. I never figured out why they died.

Here is one eating a shrimp.

 

[Magnum Man]

2 out of 3 mollys gone in 2 days, from the last order... I'm going to try another order from Dans... if those fail, I'm going to give up on them for a while, at least until the tank, and plants get more mature... these are hoya cuttings... there is no new above tank plant growth, but you can see the roots coming, from the recently bare stems...

 

[emeraldking]

Ohw, that's such a shame... Sorry to hear...

 

[Magnum Man]

so, I may have to go through the back door to do this... this is 2 babies, that were ordered in a group of female green sail fins, that all the adults perished ( these being the smallest, got put in the dump tank, and I'm pretty sure at least 1 is a male, as it has the reproductive fins of a male.. there are 3 total , one looks beat up / fin rottie , 2 look good... they have been here a couple months... there are still a group of 2-3 babies in this tank, too small to tell if they are molly's or swords yet... these 2 are about 1.5 inches long right now...

 

[emeraldking]

They look like mollies and not like swordtails. So, that may be a blessing to you that you've got 2 surviving sailfins.

 

[Magnum Man]

this is my sole survivor of my last Poecilia velifera order, it doesn't even look like a sail fin right now, looks more like a lyre tail, or some other cross

 

[gwand]

Where did you buy the fish?

 

[Magnum Man]

these came from Aqua Importers, but I regularly buy from Dan's , when in stock, and also a florida seller lists 1000's of sailfins sold as mixed, males, or females... that is Quinn's Fins's... however the orange one last pictured was purchased in a small group of Sail fins listed as Poecilia velifera, from Aqua Imports

Assorted Sailfin Molly (Poecilia velifera)

An aquarium hobby classic, the Molly is a livebearing species found through parts of Central America but it has been bred worldwide for the aquarium hobby for decades. In that time, the wild form has been developed in to dozens of varieties and color forms, including 'Dalmatian', Black, Gold...

www.aqua-imports.com

 

[emeraldking]

this is my sole survivor of my last Poecilia velifera
order, doesn't even look like a dsail fn right now, looks more like a lyre tail, of some other cross

If it's a real Poecilia velifera is something I doubt. Most sailfin breeding forms through the commercial trade are already mixes of Poecilia velifera, Poecilia latipinna, Poecilia sphenops and Poecilia kykesis. Which would make these breeding forms not a real Poecilia velifera. You can also see it in the pattern in the fins that they don't relate to the real Poecilia velifera.
But yours is sailfin for sure. It doesn't matter whether it's a lyretail or not. There where the dorsal fin starts on the back is broad. A true short-finned fish, such as the Poecilia sphenops, the dorsal fin starts more narrow on the back. This is the difference between a sailfin and a non-sailfin. The height of the dorsal is something different.

There are way more molly species. But the four mentioned are the ones that are used to develop the breeding forms we know .

 

[Magnum Man]

it's amazing how much they can change over a month...

this one showed up 50% salt and pepper, ( a dalmatian )... so it got dumped into the dump tank... that was a month ago... still not sure it's 100% right, but it's interesting now, being mostly black, with a yellow line along the top of the sail... it had a little more black, but looked similar to the other one that is still alive, in the bottom picture..

 

[emeraldking]

with a yellow line along the top of the sail...

A yellow, orange or red seam in fins of mollies is actually a wild trait.