List of 40+ Molly Fish Species & Varieties

Species in Molly Fishes

Mollies had a wide range of species present nowadays. Today the most common and recognized species of mollies are approximately 40 which are as follows:

Different Varieties of Molly Fishes

Mollies have a lot of variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. The fact is they don’t actually have that much variety centuries ago.

Now you would be thinking of:

How They Have That Much Variety Now?

This is due to the processes of selective breeding.

In this process, different kinds of mollies breed with each other to produce totally new kinds of offspring adopting the nature, color, size, and features of both the parent mollies and hence producing an amazing new one.

Color Variations in Mollies

Molly fishes had a lot of beautiful and unique color variations especially coming out as a result of selective breeding.

But mollies usually have white, black and orange as their three primitive colors and all the other color combination coming out are from these three. Some of the variations are:

Some varieties of mollies are:

Depending on some other factors mollies can be categorized as follows:

1. Black Sailfin Molly

Black Sailfin Molly can also be known by the names of

• Giant Sailfin Molly,
• Mexican Sailfin Molly,
• and most commonly by Sailfin Molly.

It belongs to the family of Poecilia latipinna. They have a peaceful temperament and require moderate care level. They have a pure black color and an average size of 1.5 to 2.5 inches.

2. Gold Dust Molly

Gold Dust Molly belongs to the Poecilia sphenops. It’s a perfect option for the people who love colored fishes. They have a very beautiful color variation in black and gold.

I personally love Gold Dust Mollies the most.

They require hard and alkaline water conditions. They also require much space to swim easily. They have an approximate size of 1 to 5 inches.

3. Gold Doubloon Molly

Gold Doubloon Molly belongs to Poecilia latipinna, the Harlequin Sailfin Molly. They have an interesting color combination of gold and black.

Most of their habits belong to the Gold Dust Mollies. Approximate aquarium size of Gold Doubloon Molly is about 1-1/4 inches to 2 inches but they can grow as much as 5 inches in size.

4. Platinum Lyretail Molly

Platinum Lyretail Molly is also called as

• Giant Lyretail Molly,
• Mexican Lyretail Molly,
• Yucatan Molly,
• and most of the time only as Lyretail Molly.

They belong to the Poecilia velifera. They have a very unique color combination of platinum/gold just like the mixing of white and yellow colors. The approximate size for purchasing Platinum Lyretail Mollies is 1.5 to 2.5 inches while they can grow up to 5 inches.

5. Black Lyretail Molly

Black Lyretail Molly belongs to the Poecilia latipinna. It exists in black color with white highlights on their fins and a caudal fin of lyre-shaped. They prefer feeding on algae as well as meaty food, bloodworms, and brine shrimp. They exist in a size ranging from about 1 inch to 5 inches.

6. Dalmatian Molly

The Dalmatian Molly also knew by the name of Marbelled Molly belongs to the family of Poecilia latipinna. They have a beautiful hybrid combination of black and white body. They need a good filtration system. The maximum size to which they can grow is 5 inches.

7. Harlequin Sailfin Molly

Harlequin Sailfin Mollies belong to the family of Poecilia latipinna. Theses mollies have some amazing patches of black, gold, and white on their skin. They require very well-planted aquariums with the wide swimming space.

They also love to have frozen mosquito larvae and other aquatic invertebrates’ treats once in a while.

Their approximate size is from 2 to 3 inches and can grow up to the size of 6 inches.

8. Marble Lyretail Molly

Marble Lyretail Mollies are also known by the names of

• Giant Lyretail Molly,
• Mexican Lyretail Molly,
• Yucatan Molly,
• and mostly by Lyretail Molly simply.

Marble Lyretail Mollies belong to the family of Poecilia sphenops.

I consider this to be the most peaceful addition in my aquarium. I just love their marble textured black and white color combination.

Marble Lyretail Mollies are very sensitive towards their water conditions. They prefer to live in hard and alkaline conditions of water rather than acidic and soft water. The approximate size to purchase Marble Lyretail Mollies should be 1 to 1.5 inches.

That’s all…

These are some of the most popular molly types. Apart from this, they had a lot of varieties and species. But approximately all the mollies have the same temperaments and nature. Female mollies are a bit more peaceful than those of male mollies.

I suggest you put only 1 male molly against 4 mollies. Male mollies can easily breed with the other mollies and keeping less male mollies would actually make your aquariums temperament more peaceful.

Well, I didn’t mean to say that male mollies are very aggressive, but yeah they are aggressive than females. Actually, male mollies have a bossy nature so you can now imagine that as many bosses try to cover up the situation they will get even messier and can disturb the environment of your aquarium or tank.