4 months and still small

[PhilMar]

I have a well populated (20+ assorted fish) 40 gal tank, and I have one black molly, that refuses to grow. He/she was part of a brood of 6 out of 11 that survived being eaten and are about 4 to 5 months old. All have grown quite well, and all are doing fine. Yet this one will not grow. It is still quite small ( 1/5 the size of the others), but seems to be doing fine, and hangs with his brothers and sisters doing what happy fish do.

Question: Is this normal or is there something I should be taking notice of. :?

 

[TankGirl]

It might be worth it to determine the ratio of males to females when it comes to mollies. If you have too many males they can harrass the females endlessly and the females can actually die from all of the attention. The males have a modified anal fin that is called a gonopodium and looks more like a, um, body part than a fin. The females have a normal looking anal fin.

All things being equal, if the fish is eating and swimming around normally then I guess you just have a runt, but it is generally not a good thing.

 

[tkos]

My platies were born about 7 months ago or so. They are all different sizes. But they all eat well and there is no fighting in the tank so I am just happy to see them each day.

 

[PhilMar]

I have more females then males.....What a world!...... ....Any way, It is to small to really tell if it is a male or female just yet. I put him or her in with 4 baby sunset platies and a baby black molly, they're all happy in their 20 gal tank.

I'm not really worried, I was just curious. As Tkos said, they are all sizes, this one was just really small. Now that I really look at it, I think It might be a female. Like you said TankGirl, she's just a runt......a cute runt

 

[Guest]

Some fish grow at a different rate then others. And some will always be smaller than others.