FAQs on the Livebearing Toothed Carps,
Poeciliid Fishes Identification
Related Articles: Poeciliids: Guppies, Platies, Swordtails,
Mollies by Neale Monks, Livebearing
Fishes by Bob Fenner,
Related FAQs: Poeciliids 1, Poeciliids 2, Guppies, Platies,
Swordtails, Mollies, Livebearer Behavior, Livebearer Compatibility, Livebearer Selection, Livebearer Systems, Livebearer Feeding, Livebearer Disease, Livebearer Reproduction,
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Has Limia sp. "Americana" been properly
described/identified/named 11/4/11
This was a fish, I believe first mentioned in TFH in February 2001 TFH;
has this been identified yet?
Regards,
<Not according to Fishbase. Do a genus search there, and there
don't seem to be any new Limia species. Cheers, Neale.>
Platy or Molly? --
08/06/10
Thank you in advance for answering my question. I recently
purchased a fish from my LFS that they said was a Molly. I had
never seen this particular coloration on a Molly before, but I am
not an expert, so I took them at
their word. After introduction into our 120 Gallon brackish
(1.010 SG) tank, I was watching her interaction with the other
Mollies, and noticed that NONE of the males came to
'welcome' her....This seemed a bit strange,
as new additions usually receive almost immediate male attention.
I then began to look at her body shape and features a bit closer,
and wonder if she might be a platy instead? This would explain
the lack of male interest. I believe the amount of salt in this
system is too high for platies, is that correct? I would like to
have a positive identification, so that if she is a platy I can
move her to my FW system. Thanks again!
<Erin, this looks like a Platy to me. I admit it's an odd
shape, and possibly a hybrid of some sort. Mollies have distinct
jaws that fold open to rasp away at algae. Platies have more
normal-looking jaws that don't do this in quite the same way.
Mollies also tend to come to the surface now and again to breathe
the air/water mixture. Platies don't do that. For what
it's worth, Platies will tolerate brackish water for a while,
but it isn't good for them, at least not above SG 1.005.
I'd move this young lady across to the freshwater tank,
particularly if she shows any signs of distress.
Now, please, do note that on the page where you got our e-mail we
do specifically ask for images to be 500 KB in size, or
thereabouts. Your two images weighed in at 14 MB! Apart from
taking forever to download, we only have a certain amount of
e-mail space, and your message nearly gummed up the entire
system. That would mean other people would have their messages
bounced back. Usually, when someone sends messages with big
attachments we simply send a reply telling them we deleted their
message, and if they want another try, they should send a new
message with smaller attachments. I'm feeling nice today, so
I didn't do that. But please, next time around, do take a
quick review of the House Rules. They're not there because we
want to be annoying, but because we're trying to create a
system that's fair to everyone. Cheers, Neale.>
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Re: Platy or Molly?
8/6/10
Thank you very much for your reply. I have moved her to my
freshwater tank, and am awaiting further confirmation of her
'platiness' from the resident male platy.
<Should do the trick!>
I apologize for the picture size, it was due to technical
ineptness on my part. I tried re-sizing them, but obviously
failed!
<Indeed.>
My apologies!
<Consider your knuckles rapped. Moving on now. Have a good
weekend, Neale.>
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'Linia', unusual Poeciliid, sys.
4/15/2009
Dear WWW Crew
I have a pair of new fish that I bought marked up as 'Linia' I
was told they originate in Haiti and wanted to find out more
information on them so as to keep them in the best conditions possible.
Unfortunately Google
searches etc. are coming up blank. They are small fish about the size
and shape of a Platy with pale fawn coloured bodies and slightly darker
brown lateral bars. They are a livebearing species, definitely
cannibalistic when babies are born, freshwater and very similar in
appearance in both sexes.
The male however has a black 'laced' dorsal fin that he holds
erect whilst courting the female. They are good community fish as have
a very calm placid nature but that's about all I know about them
and I would appreciate any help you could give me on identifying them
properly
Many thanks
Emma B
<Hello Emma, these are likely Limia nigrofasciata or Limia
melanogaster, the two species of Limia that are regularly traded. My
money would be on Limia nigrofasciata, given your description. I have
kept these fish for a while, and consider them to be wonderful fish.
They aren't at all difficult to keep. Mine are in moderately hard,
slightly basic water, but you can also keep them in brackish water as
well. They are primarily herbivores, and do well on algae flake, algae
wafers, and periodic feedings of things like frozen bloodworms. The
males are not especially aggressive, but I'd still keep more
females than males, just as with any other livebearer. Mine don't
eat their babies; in fact I have far too many babies than I want!
My
tanks are thickly planted with floating plants and tall stems of
Hygrophila and Vallisneria; that probably helps. Maximum size is
comparable to a smallish Platy, and they seem to do well in tanks as
small as 15 US
gallons. The males remind me of scaled-down Mollies because of their
mini-Sailfins. Very pretty animals, despite lacking bright colours. I
have no idea why they aren't more popular, especially when compared
to some of the really poor quality fancy livebearers on the market.
Lovely, hardy little fish; enjoy. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: 'Linia' 4/18/09
Dear Neale
<Hello again, Emma,>
Many thanks for your reply I've had a look and your absolutely
right.
<Mystery solved!>
Though I've only had them a couple of days I'm very impressed
with them already and hoping to produce more as the female is
suspiciously plump!
<The females do indeed become very round prior to giving birth; they
also tend to hide a bit more among the floating plants.>
We are in Cornwall in the UK and the supplier I got them from is the
only one with this species in the county.
<Not sure this is completely true, though they are very uncommon,
I'll admit. I've recently taken some specimens out to Wildwoods
in Enfield, and the Aquatic Design Store in London often seems to have
them in stock. I suspect that as more people keep this species (and
they are) we'll see them a lot more frequently in the shops. I do
hope so.>
I totally agree with you, already I can't see why I've only
just discovered them despite having tropicals for many years, they are
an enchanting little fish and should have a much bigger fan base.
<Quite so; I highly recommend them to anyone keeping community fish
in at-least moderately hard water.>
Warmest regards
Emma
<Cheers, Neale.>
Mystery fish! Fish ID, FW 12/18/07 I
recently "rescued" a fish from work that arrived at some
point with a shipment of aquatic plants (these are shipped slightly
moist, in butcher paper). I don't know what form it arrived in, and
I've seen others appear before - they simply appear as fish
approximately 1 inch in length - and they've later vanished from
the system, but this little guy was so crowded that he had no room left
to swim, so I brought him home and stuck him in the aquatic portion of
my frog tank with some harlequin Rasboras, guppies, a small tadpole,
and a Cory. I have NO idea what he is, and I'm not sure where to
look for help with ID. <Mmm, perhaps the origin/source site of the
plants that were shipped> As far as markings go, he looks like a
flying fox. The yellow band above the black isn't as bold (more
like the Siamese Flying Fox) - it's more like he's translucent
on top - and the black isn't quite true black, but otherwise he
looks just like one, with some exceptions. His caudal fin is rounded
rather than forked, his mouth is slightly upturned, without barbels,
and he appears to have a gonopodium, <Oh, this is a good clue>
quite long, and held close to his body, with a single clear anal fin
behind it rather than paired pelvic fins. My tank is quite dark, and he
hides well among the plants, so getting a photo for ID purposes has
been a fruitless task so far. Looking at his anatomy, I started off
searching the images online and in books for uncommon livebearers. Then
I considered how he came to be with us, and looked among the Killies.
Of these, he most closely resembles a Bluefin, but lacks the blue fins.
He also resembles a Pencilfish, but there is no red in his fins, and
the tail is the wrong shape. Any ideas what I should be looking for?
<Mmm, not directly, but I would resume your search... on
Fishbase.org, under the list of species by country... try Malaysia (for
Singapore, the likely source country of the plants shipment)... and
sort by family... look at the species in the livebearing toothed carp
families... Bob Fenner>
Mystery fish! Fish ID, FW 12/18/07 I recently
"rescued" a fish from work that arrived at some point with a
shipment of aquatic plants (these are shipped slightly moist, in
butcher paper). I don't know what form it arrived in, and I've
seen others appear before - they simply appear as fish approximately 1
inch in length - and they've later vanished from the system, but
this little guy was so crowded that he had no room left to swim, so I
brought him home and stuck him in the aquatic portion of my frog tank
with some harlequin Rasboras, guppies, a small tadpole, and a Cory. I
have NO idea what he is, and I'm not sure where to look for help
with ID. <Mmm, perhaps the origin/source site of the plants that
were shipped> As far as markings go, he looks like a flying fox. The
yellow band above the black isn't as bold (more like the Siamese
Flying Fox) - it's more like he's translucent on top - and the
black isn't quite true black, but otherwise he looks just like one,
with some exceptions. His caudal fin is rounded rather than forked, his
mouth is slightly upturned, without barbels, and he appears to have a
gonopodium, <Oh, this is a good clue> quite long, and held close
to his body, with a single clear anal fin behind it rather than paired
pelvic fins. My tank is quite dark, and he hides well among the plants,
so getting a photo for ID purposes has been a fruitless task so far.
Looking at his anatomy, I started off searching the images online and
in books for uncommon livebearers. Then I considered how he came to be
with us, and looked among the Killies. Of these, he most closely
resembles a Bluefin, but lacks the blue fins. He also resembles a
Pencilfish, but there is no red in his fins, and the tail is the wrong
shape. Any ideas what I should be looking for? <Mmm, not directly,
but I would resume your search... on Fishbase.org, under the list of
species by country... try Malaysia (for Singapore, the likely source
country of the plants shipment)... and sort by family... look at the
species in the livebearing toothed carp families... Bob Fenner>
Can't ID these things molly? platy?
9/20/07 Hello WetWeb question answering gods! I'll spare
you all the details of my last email and give you the short story
(Neale answered the last one) mollies have fungus, treating the
tank. Course the fungus seemed to have disappeared on it's own
before treatment! Didn't realize I shouldn't be keeping the
mollies with the platys, goldfish, angels, parrots, Balas, tetras.
etc. in the same tank. <Yeeikes!> Though I've had only 1
other problem. (Ich, or some sort of parasite also starting with
the mollies) I'm going to move my Mollies to a more suitable
environment. (where they can stop causing trouble, or biological
death threats, to my more expensive, and adored critters) I have
other fresh and marine tanks and think it's best to move the
mollies to the marine nursery/sick tank after the fungus treatment
is done. <Agreed> While spending hours online researching to
be sure I will be moving the correct fish, none of them look like
mine. See... a while back these were "dumps" from a
friend who ended up with too many fry. She housed guppies, platys,
and mollies all together. so I got a "net full" of
whatever was to slow to avoid the net. Maybe they're inbreeds!
<Could be crosses> So I'm sending you 3 pictures to make
sure I've ID'd them correctly. I'd hate to move the
platys by mistake into an environment they may suffocate in. I can
ID many different kinds of fish by looking at them, but I can't
seem to get these little buggers straight. I labeled them 1,2,3 for
easy reference. if I'm correct..... pic #1 is a molly? pic #2
is a platy? (maybe a sunset? don't think it's a female
swordtail) pic #3 is also a platy? <I think your IDs are
correct> the 4th fish that wouldn't sit still (not pictured)
I think is a molly. It has the same orange color with black
freckles, except there are lots less freckles on the bodies and the
tails are almost all black. assuming this is the same type of fish,
same body shape. I've trained them how to recognize their
yellow and brown flake food can, versus the red and blue marine
food can. They only react to their own. But I have yet to teach
them how to sit and stay so I can take their picture! thanks a
million. <Welcome! Bob Fenner> |
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Livebearers and The Houston Livebearers
Association - 0713/2006 I read your article: Livebearing
Fishes for Aquariums and Not. I am building a livebearers club and I
would like to know who they are. It seems like the president of a
livebearers club would at least know which fish are livebearers.
<Easy to find out... there are a few books on this topic...> I am
trying to make a list of threatened livebearers and I found the IUCN
Red List of Threatened Species so if I knew which fish I could search
the list. Do you have a list of the fish that you would share with me?
<Wish I did, but no... not as of yet> The Houston Livebearers
Association is a new club with a small diverse membership that charges
no fees or dues to join: http://maxsmi.100webspace.net/phpBB2/< http://maxsmi.100webspace.net/phpBB2/>
<Outstanding.
Thank you for your efforts. I would have to do the same as you are...
query folks in the field. Best to make a few visits to a large/college
library with a Biology dept., and ask a reference librarian to help you
with a search here. Bob Fenner>
Kingdom ANIMALIA
Phylum Chordata
Class ACTINOPTERYGII
Order CYPRINODONTIFORMS
Family ANABLEPIDAE
( missing - anableps? )
Family APLOCHEILIDAE
<These are not livebearers...>
Genus Campellolebias
Cynolebias
Leptolebias
Nothobranchius
Pachypanchax
Rivulus
Family CYPRINODONTIDAE
<Nor this family...>
Genius Aphanius
Crenichthys
Cualac
Cyprinodon
Empetrichthys
Fundulus
Kosswigichthys
Lucania
Megupsilon
Orestias
Valencia
Family GOODEIDAE
Genius Allotoca
Ameca
Ataeniobius
Characodin
Girardinichthys
Goodea
Hubbsina
llyodon
Skiffia
Xenophorus
Family POECILIIDAE
Genius Aplocheilichthys
Gambusia
Hypsopanchax
Laciris
Lamprichithys
Pantanodon
Poecilia
Priapella
Xiphophorus
Order BELONIFORMES
Family HEMIRAMPHIDAE
sp? HEMIRHAMPHIDAE sp?
Genius Dermogenys
Nomorhampus
Tondanichithys
Zenarchopterus
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Mystery Guppy Theater - 10/27/2005 Hi Crew!
<Good morning to yah!> GREAT!!! site MANY thanks! <Thank
you for these kind words!!> Two issues today. First I was hoping
you could help me identify the fish in the photos I attached!
<Can't tell from the photos which fish I am to
identify....> He/she/it is SUPPOSED to be a feeder guppy.
<Okay.> From my limited experience it seems that this fish
has male anal fins, and a female gravid spot??? I figure that since
the fish were all off food for three days (as advised by LFS owner)
the dark spot on my mystery fish wasn't likely to be food?
<Could be just coloration.> I bought the fish in a group of
feeders. (BIG mistake!) I ended up with a fungus that I was told to
use Binox on, and I am now battling high nitrates. (I assume it is
because the Binox killed the good bacteria??) <Entirely
possible.> I managed to catch the owner of the fish store the
day my water conditions were checked and he advised that I should
not have used Binox in a new tank (I guess his employees should
have been told this!) <Best to reserve medications for
quarantine/hospital tanks only, if in any way possible.> and
told me to cut food for 3 days, and do daily 5 gal water changes. I
have a 15 gallon. <Sounds great.> This tank is only a month
old to begin with so I am concerned about the large daily water
changes. <Not a concern. Bacteria reside in the substrate,
filter, on decor.... not in the water column itself.> From what
I have picked up both from your site, and a "fish only"
store over a hundred miles away I have decided on adding plants,
<Excellent!> 1 gallon changes every other day, an air stone
and using salt. <Sounds good.> The only fish in the
tank are guppies and a Cory cat. <Mm, you might want to omit the
salt.... and get a couple pals for the Cory.> So the second
question is am I doing the right thing to lower nitrates?
<Yes.... just test/observe as you go.> All my other levels
are fine. The LFS owner tells me the high nitrates are the end of
my cycle period and to keep my fingers crossed that I don't
lose any fish before it completes. <Just keep testing,
changing water. You should be okay.> HELP!! :o) Thanks so much!
-Doug Alley Cat <Wishing you well, -Sabrina "Bruno"
Fullhart, who will probably never live it down once it's
posted.... Still, it's older and better than "Tiny
Bladder".... Yikes....> <<Bruno...??? Yes,
it is better than "Tiny Bladder", or "The
Piddler". MH>> |
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Mystery Guppy - Just a Sweet Transvestite From
Guppselvania? - II - 10/29/2005 Hi again! <Hello!> Thanks
for your prompt response! Sorry I forgot to point out the fish I
needed help with! He/she/it is the all orange one. <I
see....> I hope these pictures are a little more helpful.
<Um. Well. Confusing, for certain.> I am sorry for the
quality, but my digital cam is new to me, as are my aquarium
photography skills. I would REALLY like to know what is up with
this fish! <Me, too. I would name this fish "Dr.
Frankenfurter".> Is it just a unique colored guppy?
<Mm, I've seen plenty of gold-colored guppies, have a couple
myself. Though this fish does look somewhat more like a small
swordtail.> Is it male or female? <Uhh.... Yes? I make
the same observations as you on this - the animal has a rounded,
robust belly common in females, a "gravid spot", does NOT
have the slender body shape of a male, but very distinctly has a
gonopodium. I think this fish's genes are a little
confused.> I have observed that it is the most shy fish in the
tank. <I would be, too, if I were so confused on my
gender! But I don't think fish are so picky about such
things.> It often likes to sit in the Java Moss that is rooted
in the driftwood and sometimes vanishes completely for hours. It
seems to show no mating behavior, and is not aggressive at all. The
dark spot in the belly NEVER goes away or varies. I sent a pic to a
fish store owner an hour away from me, and he agrees that it seems
to have both male/female characteristics, and feels that it may be
a swordtail because they are known to change sexes(!?!).
<Mm, I agree with the observation that it might be a swordtail,
but I think the idea that they "change sexes" has been
discredited; late-developing males may look like females for a
while, but not so very much so as this fish, I think.> I found
an article where somebody thought they had a wild platy, and it was
suggested that they had a Gambusia, but I looked at the available
pictures posted on http://www.fishbase.org/search.cfm
and I don't really think that is the fish I have. <No,
this is not at all a Gambusia. I have quite a bit of experience in
dealing with mosquito fish.... have seen/handled thousands.... your
fish is not one, I assure you.> Is it a mystery to me to be
sure! <And to me. I honestly think this fish is exhibiting
both male and female characteristics. It can happen in other
animals, why not fish?> Also, you suggested I get my Cory cat a
couple of pals. <Yes - they're schoolers.> I have
always been told that too many cats in a tank could lead to one of
them starving? <I've never seen/heard such a
conviction.... To give you a bit of an idea how much of a schooling
fish this really is, they live in groups of hundreds or *thousands*
in the wild. Really. I like to see them in groups of six or more,
with three being an absolute minimum.... You'll see much more
active, happy behaviour out of them if you choose to do this.>
The one I have is doing a GREAT job keeping up with the uneaten
food, and I assume he is the one eating the snail eggs.(?)
<Could be.> Are these neat little cats the kind of fish that
prefer uneven numbers in their "school"? <The
uneven numbers thing is kinda bunk, in my mind.... I promise you,
they don't count each other in the wild and kick someone out if
there's an even number of fish. They don't really care how
many there are, as long as there are "several".> And
should I just add extra flake food if I get 2 more cats?
<That'd be just fine.> I read what I could find about
hospital tanks, and I have one set up. 5 gal. No gravel, no light,
large clump of Java Moss, external biofilter, heat between 76/78f.
The tank has been up just under a week. No fish. When/if I need to
medicate fish, should I put only the visibly ill in the hospital/QT
tank, or all of 'em, and then do a water change on the main
tank? <It really depends on what disease you're
medicating. If it's a disease that might be isolated to a
single fish, then just the single fish would need to be medicated.
If it's a disease that may have spread to everyone else, like
Ich, then everyone would need to be treated.> Thanks for your
help, and thanks most of all for this GREAT resource! <And thank
you, again, for these kind words!> Doug Alley Cat #89
<Wishing you well, -Sabrina.... It's just a jump to the
left!> |
Mollies Dear Robert, could you please tell me the difference
between Poecilia latipinna and Poecilia velifera? Can you actually have
male mollies without Sailfins? >> <You mean, whether these are
two distinct species? Yes, they are... take a look at the ref.s on
FishBase (.com) for more... and yes, there are male mollies w/o Sailfin
dorsals. Bob Fenner>
Modified Mollienesia Hi Bob, I was wondering if you could
tell me anything about balloon belly mollies? I can't seem to find
much info on-line. What I want to know is are they naturally like that
or are they like that because of selective breeding? Are they some kind
of mutation? Thanks, Terri <Selective breeding after some
"regular" Mollies were observed to be "irregularly
shaped" if memory serves... Will delve into (on schedule, yikes)
and post about this genus and other Poeciliids on www.WetWebMedia.com
soon... Bob Fenner>
Fish ID Went to my LFS today- bought 10 Zebra Danios for the
community tank (already had 7, wanted a true schooling effect. And,
besides, I had space available... anyway, when I was netting the Zebras
out of the float bag, I noticed that the smallest wasn't a Zebra,
or even a Danio. It was a small (approx. 0.75 inch), colorless (kinda
white, looked like the silvery ZD background color) guppy. I said to
myself "well, I could leave him in here, or I could put him in my
guppy tank". Figured he was a guppy, or guppy-like anyway, so off
he went into the guppy tank. Since he's been in there, (about two
hours now) he's... well... changed. The silvery clear color has
been accented with three pronounced spots on each side, and an
iridescent blue on and near his tail. Is this common, or do I have a
freak fish? And, yes, I know I should have a QT... it's a question
of cost right now. That, and space. My wife says that we can't add
another tank until we have a place to put it. >>Hello :D
Congratulations on finding a "contaminant"! I am unsure of ID
of the new fish, it could be a guppy, or an Endler's, or any other
livebearer. Is the tail long and flowing? If not, it might not be a
guppy, though it could be a guppy normally sold as a Feeder. Or it
might simply be a female, in which case it should have a gravid spot,
(a black area under her belly near the tail) Otherwise, it could be
anything, most likely a tetra. If you have access to a Baensch atlas,
simply peruse the pictures and see if you can find it. There are
websites also, like http://fins.actwin.com/species/index.php?t=3&f=1.
Good luck! -Gwen<<
Platy Identification Question Hello fish Gurus!
<Morning> After reading many, many questions and answers, you
guys seem very knowledgeable and extremely helpful about Platies and
Livebearers in general. We were hoping you could help us answer a
question we can't seem to find the answer to no matter how many
pictures of fish we look at and fish sites we go to. <Okay> Is
there a good way to identify if a fish is a Platy, distinctively?
<Mmm, yes... there are distinctive differences in "hard body
parts" like fin-ray counts, branchiostegals...> It seems like
there are so many different kinds, and Platys look so similar to other
fish such as Guppies and Mollies. We recently caught (with drinking
cups!) some mystery fish which look more like Platies than any other
fish but we're not sure. Based on other sites, Platies come from
Central America, <Yes, originally... they're now in many other
places> but we caught them in Georgia (USA) -- thus the
confusion. Our fish are pale peach to transparent in color and
the stronger colored fish have curved lines on their tailfins. Are
these platies? <Maybe> We've taken a lot of pictures of the
fish and picked the five best pictures, showing the shape and fins if
you'd like to see (don't worry, the pictures are cropped down
to be small): http://greensand.sytes.net/fish/
<Oh, nice pix... these appear to be other livebearers... used in
vector control (to eat mosquitoes). Please see Fishbase: http://www.fishbase.org/search.cfm
Put in the term: Gambusia affinis in the search for scientific name or
"Mosquitofish" in the common name tray... click on the
resultant image... to see others... or look on the Google Pix link
there...> We would love to find out what our mystery fish are, and
if not, at least learn more about what it would mean to have a
"wild Platy" or if they exist. Thank you, -- Dawn :)
<Could be... but my guess is on the Gambusia. Thank you for writing.
Bob
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