Mollies Changing Colors?

[stargirly1208]

i remember my mom bought a bunch of mollies that were tagged as being white lyretail mollies and a couple months later they turned out to be dalmation mollies because they got spots! so i've seen this before! it makes me sad though because i do have a molly that looks like yours and i think it might end up looking like that too...

 

[Jozlyn]

Whoa! I hope my dalmation doesn't loose her spots, because I think she looks gorgeous just the way she is! I've had her for nearly about 4 months now and I don't think she's changed a bit.

 

[WildernessLofts]

Mollies have been...cross-bred with guppies so many times

Yeah...I don't think so.

 

[Nick Bramley]

happened to my dalmation sailfin, not great as it doesnt look as nice now but its not his fault

Nick

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Mollies have been...cross-bred with guppies so many times

Yeah...I don't think so.

I'm pretty sure bignose is right, there's people on this forum who've cross bred them, it's definately possible.

how much it happens in commercial fish farming I don't know but it's very definately possible

 

[rob newland]

Actually its often to do with water hardness.
We have hard water and my mollies started off with a small bit of black, and now are almost completely black - hard water brings out the black in fish - for example in our 7000g koi pond we had a koi turn completely black, and many of our koi have alot of black on them.
Rob

 

[molly girl]

aw i think the black ones are so pretty though! i have a black molly, and i just love him. i'd get another, but it would be pretty impossible to tell them apart. i have a gold and black speckled molly, i wonder if she'll change at all.

 

[Bignose]

Mollies have been...cross-bred with guppies so many times

Yeah...I don't think so.

Yeah, I do think so. Natural Mollies don't have much color at all, to get their colors today they have bred with guppies to get their colors. For that matter, the average wild guppy isn't very colorful either. They have been selectively bred for quite some time for larer tails, and brighter more dominant colors. Mollies and guppies can cross-breed, which is why unless you are looking for hybrids, you shouldn't keep them together. Same thing with platys and swordtails. Wilderness, unless you have some knoweldge about this, next time you need to get your facts straight.

 

[WildernessLofts]

Mollies have been...cross-bred with guppies so many times

Yeah...I don't think so.

Yeah, I do think so. Natural Mollies don't have much color at all, to get their colors today they have bred with guppies to get their colors. For that matter, the average wild guppy isn't very colorful either. They have been selectively bred for quite some time for larer tails, and brighter more dominant colors. Mollies and guppies can cross-breed, which is why unless you are looking for hybrids, you shouldn't keep them together. Same thing with platys and swordtails. Wilderness, unless you have some knoweldge about this, next time you need to get your facts straight.

I do have my facts straight. Mutations occur. However, although I know mollies and guppies can cross, I highly doubt there have been enough successful attempts to affect the molly species colourwise. There would be A LOT more documention on the hybrids than there is now. When you can back this up with actual proof, I'll believe it. Until then, it's just more random opinion. You stated yours, I stated mine.

 

[Bignose]

Please read the article "Species of Poecilia-Sphenops complex (Pisces-Peciliidae) in Mexico" by Schultz and Miller in Copea 1971. They describe several of the native molly species living in Mexico. They describe differeneces in morphology like overall length and shape and size of different fins, and different sizes mouths, etc. But no mention of the different colors. I would have thought that such well-trained scientists would have mentioned if the different native species would have had vastly different colors. No, they are grey and black. The colors mollies have in LFSs today do not come from mollies. They have been cross bred with the much more natively colorful guppies. Just like the guppies have been bred with the mollies to increase their hardiness. All the common livebearers today have many, many mixed genes to increase certain traits. Go back to the literature and look up the original discussions of the native species and you will see that what they descibe in the wild bears little resemblance to the species you can find in most LFSs today. For that matter, go to a fish auction where life caught or one/two genertions of pure wild-caught specimens are being sold. Their colors are far muter or non-existant compared with the ones in the shops today.

Ok, I provided my well-documented facts, can you do the same?