# Molly Size



## FishBreeding (Aug 13, 2010)

i know mollys are supposed to get big around 3 inches but what is the biggest molly you have ever heard of or seen?


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## noahhill (Jul 31, 2010)

From what I have read wild Mollies can grow to 5 or 6 inches . But the biggest one I have ever seen was around 4 inches .


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## Black Orchid (Sep 24, 2010)

my oldest female molly is about 4 inches. She is huge. The others in the same tank are about 3 inches. I was quite surprised to see how big these gals got. I hope they don't get any bigger. She is quite a bully too.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I've seen wild-type green sailfin mollies that were 6" easy. But black mollies never get that big.


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## Black Orchid (Sep 24, 2010)

FishBreeding said:


> i know mollys are supposed to get big around 3 inches but what is the biggest molly you have ever heard of or seen?


I tried taking a few pics of my humungous molly. She is very shy but I got a few. Let me know what you think.


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## Peeps (May 24, 2010)

At this LSF I was at I saw one that was 6", I wanted to get it but I had no space for it.


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## FishBreeding (Aug 13, 2010)

sorry for posting on such an old thread but went to new LFS and they had like 5 or 6 sailfin mollies that were 5-6 inches they were amazing!


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Yes, that's the thing-- some molly species get huge but you usually don't see them in shops. Instead you almost always find only hybrids which are much smaller. The True velifera and the kykesis can break the six inch mark with ease, but you really have to search long and hard to find them. The latipinna sailfins hit around 4' max, and they're not so uncommonly seen since they're native to florida. 
I have some black sailfins around 3-4", and they're nice wildcaught specimens. I have some kykesis, too, and they positively dwarf the florida fish.
Kykesis is often considered the largest molly, but is rarely seen because :
A- it only comes from one single little lake in Guatemala which is hard to reach
&
B- that little lake, Lake Peten, is home to some VERY nasty diseases which are thankfully very rare because they're practically incurable. You almost never see any lake Peten fish on the market because collectors and shippers don't want them in their systems.
My own fish have given me absolute fits for the nearly three years I've had them. I'm on generation five now, and am only just now finally getting them cleaned up. I plop a ready-to-pop female into a clean new birthing tank, let her drop the fry, and then yank her out again. THEN, I move the fry to another new tank for rearing. This has ALMOST worked several times, but so far, the disease always catches back up to them. This latest generation has done a LOT better than the previous ones, and I almost thought I had it licked this time, but no. Still, I think it shouldn't take too many more cycles of this to finally rid them of this mess for good, and then I can distribute this awesome fish to the whole hobby at large. It'll be worth it, too; this molly is also a swordtail! Yes, that's right- the swordtailed molly will be a big hit once it's no longer the bringer of doom.


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