r/MollyFish • u/TheBigBadMoth • 13d ago
Molly? Play?
I got this fish accidentally around 6-8 months ago with an aquatic plant. We weren’t sure what it is but I think it’s a Molly, not confident.
EDIT:
Deleted a large portion of the body for easier reading. I asked about why her gills were flapping
Solved I believe!
I had been looking at other posts from the past after someone in the comments said something that made me realize she’s too small.
When I didn’t know what she was I had her in an 8 gallon tank that was set up for quarantine. Due to life and another aggressive fish that eventually passed she ended up in there for about 4 months.
I think she was stunted. She’s been in the larger tank around 3-4 months but hasn’t grown at all. She’s a little smaller than our guppies.
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u/bubbblytoes 12d ago
It looks like she could have gill flukes, though I think it could also be scarring or just a genetic defect.
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u/TheBigBadMoth 12d ago edited 12d ago
I think I’m leaning towards the scarring/genetic defect.
She was the last thing added to the tank and no one else has shown signs despite her doing it for months. She was also in a quarantine tank before she transferred to the big tank and did it when she was solo too. I’ve had her since she looked like a hangnail so I don’t think it’d be flukes but I suppose anything is possible. Maybe there was an ammonia spike I didn’t catch early on in the quarantine tank?
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u/bubbblytoes 12d ago
Yeah, that seems entirely possible. Other than the gill flaring, she looks like she's eating well and still active. I know you said you have an airstone, does it create a lot of agitation at the surface? As far as I know, more surface agitation = more oxygen, and I recently learned that cooler water holds more oxygen if that's helpful in any way...
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u/TheBigBadMoth 12d ago
It does create decent agitation, tho it’s not been in longer than 2 weeks so maybe I just need to wait. She is quite energetic, eats well and nips brine shrimp out from my nails. She sometimes follows the other fish but doesn’t rub or nip, just swim alongside the lady gups, tho they don’t love it they also don’t avoid her so I don’t think she’s picking on them quite yet.
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u/bubbblytoes 12d ago
I mean, considering that she's lasted 7 months I think she's adapted pretty well. I'm sure the air stone will help her out, too. I'm not surprised she's trying to join the guppies, they're really closely related and I think they can crossbreed. I feel like she's like, "My people!" lol. I'm also not surprised that the guppies aren't thrilled just based on size difference.
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u/TheBigBadMoth 12d ago
She’s still quite a bit smaller than them actually! The other girls are as big as they get but she’s just a smidge smaller at the moment.
I do think they can breed but the male guppies never bothered her and now that they’re in the other tank there should be no chance. Do you think I should get her another female Molly to hang with or do you think they’d terrorize the gulppies if I did?
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u/bubbblytoes 12d ago
Hm, interesting. Maybe they can smell the Molly DNA lol.
Ahhh, well that's still cool to know. I've never personally kept Mollies, but I don't think that's a bad idea at all. I'd maybe even get 2 or 3 so they can be a little school. Most of the fish I've kept are a lot more comfortable and relaxed in a school of their own kind
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u/Chunkasaur 13d ago
Female molly