Midget Fish?

[dee dee]

I have a 6 month old mollie that has never grown past 1 inch.

She has two sisters that are over 2 inches and nicely formed.

The 'little one' is nicely formed, too. Not a thing wrong in form or

behavior. I have had a couple of 'skimmers' in the past and they

didn't live long. I have bred mollies and platies for a few years

and have never run into this. Can there be a midget gene? The

male is a 3.5 inch black lyre tail and the female, a large orange/black

calico. This little guy was the only black fry. It is so petite.

Any ideas? dee dee

 

[SouthernCross]

I had a platy that stayed small in comparison to others bought at the same time and never seemed to thrive. But then she got sick and couldn't shake it, the other fish picked on her all the time and eventually she died.

Forgive my ignorance but I don't know what you mean when you refer in this way to a skimmer?

Maybe this fish is just a poor, weaker specimen. Although if she appears healthy and others don't bother her I wouldn't worry about it! Let her be little and cute .

 

[dee dee]

I refer to a small fish with a poorly developed swim bladder as a 'skimmer'. They never seem to be able to get far off the bottom and so 'skim' the gravel. And, true, they don't live long.

This guy is so unusual because it is perfectly miniaturized. I'm going to try to get a picture with her sister to illustrate the difference in size. She is 7 months old and looks about two months.


regards, dee dee

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Dwarf Molly possibly?

Nevemind I didn't see that you bred it's parents