Sailfin Mollie

[lindanne]

hi
i brought a pair of sailfin mollies
unfortunately the female has died
the male is still in quarantine the question i have is
would it be possible to keep the large male sailfin in my community tank with the smaller mollie breed
i dont want to lose my females if they cannot birth the babys if he breeds with them
i would rather rehome him
thanks in advance for any replies x

 

[helterskelter]

Smaller breeds are quite often a different species of molly so a true sailfin may be difficualt to breed with smaller species, esp if the females have males of their own species.

He will how ever still try to and display to them, competing with other males you already have. This could be a cause of stress in the aquarium.
can you list what your keeping as this may help us.

 

[OldMan47]

Sailfin is a description of a molly, not a species. There are at least 2 wild type mollies called sailfins, the P. velifera and the P. latipinna. There are also lots of aquarium strains of mollies called sailfin. Depending on what you have, HelterSkelter's observation that you species may not bred with your existing fish is quite valid. On the other hand, if your fish are simple aquarium strains of molly, no harm will be done when they cross to another aquarium strain. I am going to go out on a limb a bit here and say that either way the male, once ready to introduce to your community tank, will be fine and not cause an real problems with your existing fish.