??mini mollie

[millym]

hi
we have a little female mollie that we have raised from fry,she was the only survivor from our 1st mollie fry batch, ( there was about 10 in our community tank - my other half said to me when they were born- oh they'll be fine theyre 'streetwise babies' after the bubs had survived 2 days in our community tank - well they werent obviously, our cannibals- fellow tankmates had a good old feed ,this was our 1st experience with livebearers we have since learnt better) i came home from work & 10 fry was down to 1 & i couldnt leave the survivor who was swimming around up the top of the tank, i had to save her, so rolled up my sleeves , got out the net & was determined to get the little survivor which i did & put her in our little breeder box in the main tank.
well shortly after this we were off o/s on holiday, miss baby mollie was far to small to go in the maintank so to feed her i put in several plants with algae on them & a couple of catfish tabs in the breeder box - not ideal but we had no-one on check on &feed our fish whilst we were away, i felt terrible but hoped/thought this was enough for her to survive
anyway miss molliethankfully did survive & had tripled in size whilst we were gone & to cut a long story short was released in with the big boys about 2 & 1/2 months ago. shes now about an inch long but still really skinny( about 0.5 inch wide) compared with our mature mollies & we're just wondering is this a mini stunted mollie or how long do they take to mature or grow into normal sized mollies. our adult mollies are about 2 inches big & about 1/2 inch wide. just wondering if we've got a pygmy mollie cos she didnt have the best of nutrition whilst we went away when she was a weeny baby ( yes im feeling a bit guilty) but shes vey active & looks quite happy in her own little way!!!

 

[WILDER]

Is the belly sunken in, what does it look like when the fish goes to the toilet, is it long white and stringy, is the anus red and inflamed.

 

[millym]

hi there,
no she doesnt look ill at all, in fact shes the picture of health just very very small for a mollie. im just wondering how long it takes for a mollie to be mature, this girl must be about 8 months old but is still teeny compared with our other mollies which is why im thinking shes a bit stunted or like a pygmy mollie . but she is definately not ill or sick or anything like that - just very small. shes eating food i put in + nibbling algae off our plants &swiming around quite happily no signs or symptoms of anything nasty at all. the only reason ive posted about her is that she has just stayed so small in size.

 

[WILDER]

You just get some fish like that same as with animals wouldn't worry to much.

 

[blitztidus]

I have had little fish that just don't seem to want to grow. The way it sounds, I am almost a hundred percent sure it genetics passed down from fish to fish.