2 kinds · tap one for a closer look
Peaceful, but males harass females, so keep one male to three females or more.
126 species in our list are a good match.
Peaceful, but males harass females, so keep one male to three females or more. Needs plenty of swimming room and hard, warm water.
Algae, spirulina flakes and wafers, blanched vegetables, with some frozen foods; a heavy algae grazer.
Tap a food to see what it is.
The male is slightly smaller, with a gonopodium and a large, long sail-like dorsal fin; the female is larger with a small dorsal fin.
Common problems. Tap one to see the signs. This is a guide, not a diagnosis.
Livebearer · Moderate
Livebearer, relatively harder to breed than other mollies; gestation 4-8 weeks. Broods are usually 20-60, occasionally up to 200; fry are large and take brine shrimp nauplii or powdered flake from birth.
A male and 3-4 females in a 200 L+ tank.
Planted tank with floating plants; very hard alkaline water with a little marine salt, warm and heavily filtered.
Stable warm 26-28 C water, plenty of algae and vegetables.
Usually 20-60 young per brood, up to 200; gestation 4-8 weeks.
Feed baby brine shrimp, crushed spirulina flake and keep fry in warm hard water until about 3 cm.
A large sailfin molly endemic to the northern Yucatán Peninsula, living in fresh and brackish water. Males grow a huge sail-like dorsal fin with 18-19 rays (P. latipinna has 14), which needs hard, clean water and space to develop.
Charles Tate Regan described this molly in 1914. It has the largest dorsal fin of any molly, and its genes are behind many big-finned aquarium mollies.
First described by C. Tate Regan in 1914. Named for 'Velifera' means sail-bearing.
16 facts checked with sources
Formerly Mollienesia velifera. Young fish are hard to tell from P. latipinna; count dorsal rays (18-19 vs 14). Many shop "giant sailfin" mollies are hybrids or P. latipinna.
Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Poecilia velifera · Seriously Fish: Poecilia velifera · Wikipedia: Fancy molly (cites Balon 2006, Aqua 11(2): 47-87, and Schäfer 2022)Legacy has no family; sourced value recorded.
FishBase: Poecilia velifera summarySeriously Fish 15 cm SL (larger; used); FishBase 15 cm TL.
Seriously Fish: Poecilia velifera · FishBase: Poecilia velifera summarySeriously Fish (preferred) 22-28; legacy upper 29 is above both sources.
Seriously Fish: Poecilia velifera · FishBase: Poecilia velifera summaryLegacy 7.5-8.5 inside Seriously Fish 7.0-8.5.
Seriously Fish: Poecilia velifera · FishBase: Poecilia velifera summaryLegacy has no hardness. Seriously Fish (preferred) 15-35; FishBase 13-19.
Seriously Fish: Poecilia velifera · FishBase: Poecilia velifera summary91 x 38 cm base x 30 cm height = 103.7 L. Seriously Fish adds that the tank should be as large as possible, as males' sails may not develop in small or crowded tanks; legacy 200 L is a generous recommendation.
Seriously Fish: Poecilia velifera · FishBase: Poecilia velifera summaryTrio of 1 male + 2 females.
Seriously Fish: Poecilia veliferaAvoid other mollies, as they crossbreed.
Seriously Fish: Poecilia veliferaNo source names a swimming level.
FishBase: Poecilia velifera summarySeriously Fish summary box says Easy, but its text says it is harder than other mollies; legacy 2 (moderate) fits the text.
Seriously Fish: Poecilia veliferaLegacy has no range field. Seriously Fish lists introductions in Colombia, Israel, Singapore and Taiwan.
Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Poecilia velifera · FishBase: Poecilia velifera summaryLegacy 30-100 per brood is higher than the usual 20-60.
Seriously Fish: Poecilia veliferaLegacy: 30-100 fry about every 5-6 weeks.
Seriously Fish: Poecilia veliferaLegacy "up to 18 fin rays" corrected to 18-19. "Largest molly" is not stated by the sources (its 15 cm SL tops P. latipinna's 12.5 cm SL per Seriously Fish).
Seriously Fish: Poecilia velifera · Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Poecilia velifera