The Mollies et al

[CACAdmin]

Tonight I decided to try snapping a few pics of the adult platys in my 70g. Well, all did not go as planned. You see, they were there in plain view until I aimed the camera at the tank and then they disappeared. Afraid of the camera? :no: They just decided to get out of the way when the 'bigger crowd' arrived. :rolleyes: Only one male was brave enough to hang out on the edge of the crowd.

Did someone say Photo-Op?
http://www.canadianaquariumconnection.com/jb_images/Photo-op.jpg

Then my youngest adult Green Sailfin Lyretail decided to pose.
http://www.canadianaquariumconnection.com/jb_images/Youngest-adult-m-gsl.jpg

Then I picked up the container of food and suddenly everyone wanted to be first at the buffet table. :laugh:
http://www.canadianaquariumconnection.com/jb_images/Dinner-time.jpg

[Melody]

You sure make pretty fishies :yes: . Those Green Sailfins are stunners - they always steal the show and the females are such big aqua-puppies.

Don't forget me when you get a surplus of female Longfins & Blacks - can't get enough of them!

[CACAdmin]

Thanks... and yes the females are like big puppies... always first at the glass, wagging their tails. :laugh:

Notice when it came to dinner time, even one of my shy gouramis is pushing her nose in there (on the edge, of course, she doesn't like it when the mollies get too rambunctious.)

I won't forget you. Most of my longfins ended up being males (just have a couple of adult females). With blacks, do you just want longfins or regular female sailfin lyretails, too?

[Melody]

Any blacks, I like how they set the other colours off and they're just so.... classy :Smile: .

I think more of my Longfins ended up being males too - it's hard to tell until I see them chasing skirts :laugh: .

[CACAdmin]

Yes it definitely is hard to tell the if they're males with all those long fins (perfect example is the cream colored wag at the top in the first picture... :confused: I thought he was a female for the longest time:spinny: )

[Melody]

I love seeing updated pic's of my fish so since it's on topic, here's some of yours taken today:

Black Goldust Lyre Female:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-BlackGolddustLyre-F.jpg


Any pic's I take at the top of the 90G are blurry as the camera automatically shuts the flash off due to the bright lighting. I rather like the effect though.

Some Longfin Mollies of yours... it's amazing how much the finnage varies:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-LFMollies4.jpg

The big light one here obviously favours Sailfins in the dorsal, although it's more narrow in width:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-LFMollies5.jpg

Whereas the wag on the bottom right of this photo sports longer dorsal, but it's all Sphenops in shape:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-LFMollies6.jpg

Another of the similar fish zooming by, but giving us a better look at the dorsal shape:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-LFMolly31.jpg

A descendant of your Limia Tridens didn't want to be left out:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-LimiaTridens_HFPlaty_Alb.jpg

They're some of the most healthy and active fish in my tank!

[Very Scalare]

Both groups of pictures have some fantastic looking fish in them! :yes:

[CACAdmin]

Thanks for posting the pics. I love to see updates as the last time I saw those fishies, they were just juvies. That Black Goldust in the first picture looks exactly like her mother except she has a lyretail and mama didn't.

The finnage varies due, I think, to my outcrossing to other mollies. Some of them keep the Sphenops dorsal but often it is an enlarged and elongated version. Others have the typical 'Sailfin' dorsal which they have inherited from my Green Sailfins or possibly even the the Velifera.

Of course the Limia Triden male wanted in the photo because, if I assume correctly those are two pretty gals in the shot with him. Triden males are attracted to any and all livebearer females (it matters not that they don't stand a chance of mating. :twitcy: )

[fishykisses]

OOOHHH So Pretty!!!
If you decide to put some up on auction - drop me a PM!

[Melody]

I keep going on and on because hobby Mollies are often so sensitive & weak, but I've never seen the beat of Jay & Charles' Mollies - they're some of the toughest fish I own... Blows me away. :notworthy:

[Melody]

Of course the Limia Triden male wanted in the photo because, if I assume correctly those are two pretty gals in the shot with him. Triden males are attracted to any and all livebearer females (it matters not that they don't stand a chance of mating. :twitcy: )

Yup, those are two of my ladies, a HF Platy & a Lyre Molly. The Tridens are usually kept busy as I have a zillion females in there for them to play with. The boys are so small that if they try to get friendly with the big girls, they darn near get swallowed whole when the female has had enough of their pestering :laugh: .

[neon]

Tonight I decided to try snapping a few pics of the adult platys in my 70g. Well, all did not go as planned. You see, they were there in plain view until I aimed the camera at the tank and then they disappeared. Afraid of the camera? :no: They just decided to get out of the way when the 'bigger crowd' arrived. :rolleyes: Only one male was brave enough to hang out on the edge of the crowd.

Did someone say Photo-Op?
http://www.canadianaquariumconnection.com/jb_images/Photo-op.jpg

Then my youngest adult Green Sailfin Lyretail decided to pose.
http://www.canadianaquariumconnection.com/jb_images/Youngest-adult-m-gsl.jpg

Then I picked up the container of food and suddenly everyone wanted to be first at the buffet table. :laugh:
http://www.canadianaquariumconnection.com/jb_images/Dinner-time.jpg



wow, love their colours!


excellent plants!

[CACAdmin]

The boys are so small that if they try to get friendly with the big girls, they darn near get swallowed whole when the female has had enough of their pestering :laugh: .
:laugh: Either that or get slapped to the other end of the tank by the tail of an annoyed large female. I think the male Tridens just love the chase. They never actually try anything with females of other species.

[CACAdmin]

wow, love their colours!


excellent plants!
Thanks neon. As you can see, they're mostly Green Sailfins and Black Golddust mollies. My favorites are the Green Sailfins (how can you tell :laugh: ) but don't tell my fish that... don't want to hurt any of their feelings. :wink:

As for the plants, mostly what you see in the photo is my huge amazon sword. Don't look too closely at the plant leaves... you'll see they're a little worse for wear... way too much in the way of floating plants in the tank and the others suffer from insufficient light. It's a balancing act, keeping lots of floaters to help hide fry and yet allowing enough light to get through for the other plants.

[BlueAbyss]

I keep going on and on because hobby Mollies are often so sensitive & weak...

Ah the wonderful effects of inbreeding for color and finnage. Reduction of the gene pool is starting to affect some of our favourite hobby fish, I wish people would do more outcrossing to wild (or at least different) stock. Your fish are beautiful, keep up the good work!

[CACAdmin]

I keep going on and on because hobby Mollies are often so sensitive & weak, but I've never seen the beat of Jay & Charles' Mollies - they're some of the toughest fish I own... Blows me away. :notworthy:
Thanks, Melody. I have Charles to thank for the fish which started my success with mollies. He has such beautiful healthy stock.

Ah the wonderful effects of inbreeding for color and finnage. Reduction of the gene pool is starting to affect some of our favourite hobby fish, I wish people would do more outcrossing to wild (or at least different) stock. Your fish are beautiful, keep up the good work!

Thanks! The downside of outcrossing can bring in some unwanted traits but those can be selectively bred out. The trade off is well worth it, in that it often results in more robust fish... and even some surprises along the way as was the case with my longfinned mollies who seemed to appear out of nowhere. It's neat when that happens.:yes:

[Melody]

Ah the wonderful effects of inbreeding for color and finnage. Reduction of the gene pool is starting to affect some of our favourite hobby fish, I wish people would do more outcrossing to wild (or at least different) stock. Your fish are beautiful, keep up the good work!

Did you quote me from somewhere or something? lol I preach that constantly but people keep holding up weakling show guppies and saying "See? Nothing wrong with that fish!" :laugh:

I am certain that Jay's group breeding set-up and Charles' constant out-crossing to improve size, strength, stamina and cold tolerance are the key to their success in producing such stunningly healthy specimens. I also like community drops as the weakest fry are quickly gobbled up as Nature intended.

[Melody]

The trade off is well worth it, in that it often results in more robust fish... and even some surprises along the way as was the case with my longfinned mollies who seemed to appear out of nowhere. It's neat when that happens.:yes:

That's one thing I love about group breeding fancy strains - never a dull moment when it comes to looks. Many breeders work for years to get a colour strain to 'breed true' with no 'throws'. They sell them to me and I promptly cross them with a different strain - it must make them ill when I do that after all of their hard work...lol. Even when I'm purchasing, if the blurb says they throw this or that colour strain, I automatically want them more than I would if they bred true.

It's just more fun to breed them that way and the other benefits are so important. I like waiting for fry to grow up to see what they will look like. I don't cross everything I own as some are endangered or may be scientifically reclassed in the future, but having my domestic strains allows me to have it all.

Even when we have to inbreed because there is nothing available within the species to outcross too, we can maintain more than one line and cross the two at varying intervals for addition to our main population. Alternately, we can trade stock with other breeders for the same outcome. We can also select for health first, looks second. If I just wanted a pretty fish to look at, I'd frame a picture of one. I need something in my tanks that won't drop dead if I dare to go away for a weekend.:rolleyes: We don't have to sacrifice looks for health, we just have to take a longer road sometimes. There is nothing more beautiful than a truly healthy strain (as opposed to one that is environmentally pampered to keep it healthy). If it was side-by-side with a fish bred for looks only and both met the show & strain criteria, the healthy version would be the obvious winner. You'd be able to see the difference easily - they're larger, hold their shape and posture, positively glow and glimmer in the light, their eyes are bright & curious and they're constantly active... nothing beats that. Healthy strain development and a varied, natural diet is the stuff that perfection is made of.

[CACAdmin]

I totally agree and because I don't have the tank space to keep strains seperate, I sometimes end up with some wonderful surpise outcomes of fish I would normally not have paired.

Many breeders work for years to get a colour strain to 'breed true' with no 'throws'. They sell them to me and I promptly cross them with a different strain - it must make them ill when I do that after all of their hard work...lol.
You do realize that you might be partially responsible for the increase in sales of medication for high blood pressure. :wink: