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October 25th, 2007
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| | Fish Master
| Male swordtail without a swordtail?
Hi guys
I have this male livebearer and I really wonder if it's a swordtail. He looks exactly like them, except that he does not have a sword. He has exactly the same coloration and morphology.
He was sold to me as a male sailfin molly, but he also does not have a sailfin. Because he was constantly bullied by the other mollies, I isolated him and put him in a tank with two female platies. And... surprise, surprise, the platies have given birth twice now. And one of the fry I could recupperate on time is the male's exact spitting image.
So am starting to suspect that the male molly is actually, well, a swordtail!
What do you reckon? Photo 1 is him on his own, photo 2 is him with a sailfin molly male. | 
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October 25th, 2007
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| | King of Curt
| He looks like a molly to me... Are you sure your girls were not pregnant before you got them? How long have you had them without male interaction? | |
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October 25th, 2007
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| | Fish Mentor
| Looks like young male sailfinned molly to me. | |
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October 25th, 2007
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| | ID master
| I would have to say that that looks like a molly and not a swordtail at all. Sorry.
Tom  | |
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October 25th, 2007
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| | Fish Keeper
| His nose is too long for a swortail, IMO, so I would go with molly too. | |
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October 26th, 2007
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| | Fish Master
| OK, you guys obviously have a consensus going there. I'll bow to your communal expertise, LOL.
But he's not that young I don't think. I've had him 6 months, and he was already this size when I got him.
The female platys haven't had any male interaction in 3 months. So it could be that they arrived pregnant, held it in for a month, allowed the babies to develop for a month, and popped last week.
Ooooh, that means they're pure platys (the fry), and I'd better really really really treasure them as athat was likely the last ones I'll get. | |
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October 26th, 2007
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| | Fish Master
| So here's the crowd I was talking about (male 'molly', 2 female platys).
And also a couple of pix of the fry I found (only 2). | |
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October 26th, 2007
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| | ID master
| The lowest pic is invalid, could you retry it?
Tom | |
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October 26th, 2007
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| | Fish Master
| How many pix have you got? I added 5 by accident. One was unrelated so I deleted it. It could be that if you refresh, you'll only see 4. Could that be it? | |
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October 26th, 2007
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| | ID master
| Quote:
Originally Posted by armadillo  How many pix have you got? I added 5 by accident. One was unrelated so I deleted it. It could be that if you refresh, you'll only see 4. Could that be it? | Now there is 4 pics.
Tom | |
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October 26th, 2007
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| | Fish Master
| And your problem was with pic #5? | |
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October 26th, 2007
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| | Fish Keeper
| Seeing the pictures above, it does seem a tad small for a fully grown molly, but it doesn't look like a platty either. You can see the nose clearly and it is too long, much more like the molly than a swordtail.
It could be either stunted or a hybrid perhaps. It's not unknown for platty/molly hybrids. | |
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October 26th, 2007
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| | Fish Keeper
| This is the best I can get of the nose of a swordtail, they wouldn't keep still long enough! But it does show what I am talking about with the length of the nose, I hope:
Last edited by timg; October 26th, 2007 at 05:23 PM.
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October 26th, 2007
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| | King of Curt
| Quote:
Originally Posted by timandkaren hybrid perhaps. It's not unknown for platty/molly hybrids. | Um.. Do you have a reputable source for your claim of platty/molly hybrids? They are different genera with different chromosome counts which would make it theoretically impossible for them to have viable offspring together. | |
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October 27th, 2007
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| | Fish Keeper
| No, I don't have authoritive sources for this claim, but it has been made before by others and it is not impossible IMO.
I have not looked that closely at the genera of them, but look and size similarity. If it is not possible, I bow to your superior knowledge on this. | |
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October 27th, 2007
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| | Fish Master
| Thanks, Tim. Very very very useful (the juxtaposition of the pictures for the nose). I totally see what you mean now. Indeed, mine doesn't have that slightly upturned 'snubnose' that the swordtail does.
So a molly/swordtail hybrid could exist?
I love the shot of the swortail's tails, LOL. Was that to show me the difference between a swortail tail and a molly tail?  Quote:
Originally Posted by timandkaren This is the best I can get of the nose of a swordtail, they wouldn't keep still long enough! But it does show what I am talking about with the length of the nose, I hope: | | |
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October 27th, 2007
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| | Fish Master
| That ole platy/molly discussion.  Quote:
Originally Posted by Chief_waterchanger Um.. Do you have a reputable source for your claim of platty/molly hybrids? They are different genera with different chromosome counts which would make it theoretically impossible for them to have viable offspring together. | | |
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October 27th, 2007
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| | Fish Master
| To continue on the investigation: 
My other sailfin (as opposed to mexican sailfins) molly males are also this small. And I've seen this male chase female mollys, but never female platys. And he's got some molly markings on his sailfin (those irridescent greenish spots). But I am wondering why he could never integrate socially with the other mollies, and where his sailfin is? Oh, and to state the obvious: there is not a doubt in the world that he's a male, IMO. Quote:
Originally Posted by timandkaren Seeing the pictures above, it does seem a tad small for a fully grown molly, but it doesn't look like a platty either. You can see the nose clearly and it is too long, much more like the molly than a swordtail.
It could be either stunted or a hybrid perhaps. It's not unknown for platty/molly hybrids. | | |
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November 3rd, 2007
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| | Fish Keeper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by armadillo Hi guys
I have this male livebearer and I really wonder if it's a swordtail. He looks exactly like them, except that he does not have a sword. He has exactly the same coloration and morphology.
He was sold to me as a male sailfin molly, but he also does not have a sailfin. Because he was constantly bullied by the other mollies, I isolated him and put him in a tank with two female platies. And... surprise, surprise, the platies have given birth twice now. And one of the fry I could recupperate on time is the male's exact spitting image.
So am starting to suspect that the male molly is actually, well, a swordtail!
What do you reckon? Photo 1 is him on his own, photo 2 is him with a sailfin molly male. | its definately a molly
the body shape is like a molly
ive never seen a sword with that coloration.
since he is that big and doesnt have a sword, then its a molly | |
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