Wild Sailfin Mollies

[trigiver01]

I don't know how common they are to north/central florida springs, but my wife and I were enjoying a day out today and found schools of sailfin mollies in the spring we were visiting. We managed to catch five and brought them home. They're acclimating well to their new environment. I hope to get a few good pictures of them when they settle in and let their colors fly.

One has a huge dorsal fin (wider than the fish's body) that's lined with gold, and his tail is a brilliant sky blue. His side scales are speckled with black and gold, but his "base color" is probably silver. He's probably a good 4" long.

We got another smaller one with the sky blue tail, but his body colors aren't developed yet.

The other three are silver with black specks on their sides. I hope to show them off soon!

 

[melissadotson]

pics pics!!!

 

[mykidsmylife]

WOW..that sounds so cool! I too would LOVE to see pictures!

Good find!!

 

[Khemul]

Not sure about North/Central Florida but they are pretty common down here. Down here they get more common the closer you get to the fresh/salt divide, and less common the further you get from it.

Very nice fish. Something about aquarium lighting that seems to turns them from dull colored to bright and beautiful.

 

[Ptrick125]

Someone who had to get rid of their fish may have dumped some a long time ago and they adapted and mated.


Sent from my iPod touch using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

 

[trigiver01]

Here are two pictures - they're really active swimmers so it's tough to get a good picture of them. You can see the blue in the tail and gold in the very top of the dorsal fin. When he extends his dorsal fin, it's height is greater than the height of his body, which is really neat. He looks like a sailfish, just a mini, freshwater version.

 

[mykidsmylife]

WOW. Gorgeous!! What a lucky find.

 

[Jannika]

How neat to be able to catch your own wild mollies! They're beautiful.

 

[trigiver01]

Thank you! We weren't even really planning on catching fish. We caught them with butterfly nets. There were a ton more, probably 50!

 

[finsNfur]

There is a member here who brought home some wild sailfin mollies she captured from the south somewhere, and I had the pleasure of seeing them in person (or fish so to speak lol) and they were beautiful! Enjoy your wonderful find.