Well finally got some more live bearers...one of my wifes work mates was over run with black mollys and gave us around 30 fry of different sizes...
Wasnt too impressed when she got them and brought them home but I must say they grow on you especially when they come up and nibble your finger and follow you around wanting food lol

I've always had a thing for Black Mollies. I remember buying one at the shop, and by the time I got home I had three! I was very impressed - until the Angel ate them!

At the moment, we're over run with my Daughters Guppies.

yeah theyre growing on me too got another 30 or so coming later in the week,cant really grumble 60 or so molly for nothing

Now, I know you've got more than a few South American Catfish. Mollies are a brackish (ish) water fish. Do you do anything special to keep them?

Theyre in their own tank so the salt can be added no issues with compatability then lol

So what are they? Balloon Mollies? Lyre Tails?

Personally, I think Balloon Mollies are unattractive creatures.

Just regular black mollys,not them awful ugly ballon things , although I think the lyre tail ones look pretty neat

Yeah, my originals were lyre tails. They looked so regal.

I remember going into the shop and asking for Black Mollies. The girl showed me some. I made some comment about them looking very ordinary, and that mine at home were much nicer.

Well, She didn't have much of a look on her face at that comment! It never occurred to me to point out that my Mollies were from that same shop (which in fact they were).

Mollies are acutally hybrid type fish and not really pure but a cross between Sailfin Molly (Peocilia latipinna),
Yucatan Molly (P. velifera, or the P. spheops complex of Fishes
(the Shortfin Mollies) or all three. No fancy Molly is a Pure
species they are all mutts. and are unbelievably adaptable, mine are in a tank with plants and no salt, plants don't do so well with sodium. The logic behind adding salt seems to make sense, as Molly
are frequently found in Brackish water and it seems to be the
cure all for common Molly ailments,
But if you dig a bit and Study up on Mollies in the,
wild, you find, Mollies really are not that
often associated with brackish water as much a beleaved and in
the wild are masters of adaptation, seeming to be able to
survive in about any body of water, from a Rainwater catch basin to
the Gulf of Mexico. Most species in fact never experience salt
in their natural habitat.

the hybrid rears its head again

Watch out, Clunksters Mum has left the door to cellar unlocked again !!

Yes, the Hyrid book was recently read, but I did enjoy the new Appendix on Salt.

But wouldn't there be some sort of genetic disposition toward a salty environment, if that was the norm. Otherwise they be fighting their osmo-regulation all the time.

Or have we taken an interest in this fish, at a time that the species is undergoing an evolutionary transition?

[/quote]Otherwise they be fighting their osmo-regulation all the time.
Well there is two different typs of osmoregulation one that exist in fresh water species, where the fish will drink a crap load water will expell large amounts of diluted mostly water unrine and keep as much of the minerals and salt as possible, The reverse situation exists in marine fish; the environment contains more dissolved salts and ions than the fish's body so there is a net movement of water out of the fish's body into the stronger sea-water. To replace this constant loss of water, marine fish drink sea-water and excrete the excess salts. Special cells in the gills called chloride excretory cells are involved in this process. They say that if a fresh water fish moves into salt it dehydrates and dies, they say if a marine moves into fresh it gets stressed and causes a form a dropsy wich leads to death, but i know for a fact that this does not occur in all fish, take the bull shark, lives the majority of its life in marine conditions of course, but will travel great distances up the yellow river in Florida(fresh water) to breed and have babies, then the babies will travel from fresh water down to intercoastal and groweth up, wich is brackish , these are all sever changes in specific gravity, making it evident it can adjust its osmoregulation to suite its enviroment, so why can't the molly?
The molly may have adapted this interchanging form of osmoregulation thru evolution, we now know it is a hybrid, so adaptation thru mutation would suggest that such a thing is possible. Besides mine have no salt and are doing great!

as billy bones says there are indeed 2 types here is a link to a simple ( i think ) diagram and explanation

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I wanted to check out the diagram but i am on a buisness server, and the sight was blocked! Maybe they think osmoregulation is dirty.