Molly Colours

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Tank Mate

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
May 9, 2017
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For those of you who may remember, I wrote a post a few weeks ago about a possible case of fin rot on my male molly.

I followed the advice I was given and did much more regular (every day/other day) 20% water changes for around a week. Once this had finished, I went on holiday for 10 days.

I've recently got back and although the fish are still happy and healthy, the black rim on my molly's tail fin is still there.

However, I've now started to notice a few bluish flecks in his tail too. We've had him for around 2 months at this point and early on we noticed a few orange flecks around his gills and on the edge of his dorsal fin.

Having looked at some pictures online, some times of mollies/sailfin mollies do have these colour patterns but a lot stronger, including the black edge on the tail.

So, my question is, do mollies change colour as they age? If so, will this continue indefinitely?

Thanks in advance! Pictures of my molly are below:

IMG_9003.jpgIMG_9019.jpgIMG_9012.jpg
 
For those curious, attached is the picture I found online for comparison. Image1496841883.263598.jpg
 
You see this often with betta fish. Once you've got them in a much better and more stable environment, they usually start developing colors. Feeding a higher quality food can also trigger this. I'm documenting a current color change for one of my betta. He was silver and black when I got him, now he's developing a crimson red and some spots!

My other betta started out with mostly white fins, but now his blue/teal is slowly growing through the white.

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I knew that could happen with bettas but would this happen with other fish such as mollies? Also, at what speed do betta colours change?

Gorgeous betta btw!
 
You see this often with betta fish. Once you've got them in a much better and more stable environment, they usually start developing colors. Feeding a higher quality food can also trigger this. I'm documenting a current color change for one of my betta. He was silver and black when I got him, now he's developing a crimson red and some spots!

My other betta started out with mostly white fins, but now his blue/teal is slowly growing through the white.

View attachment 300197
Wow! Insanely beautiful!

Sent from my XT1585 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
I knew that could happen with bettas but would this happen with other fish such as mollies? Also, at what speed do betta colours change?

Gorgeous betta btw!
These pictures are about a week apart. It seems slow, but everyone I check on him, the blue has spread just a little further. And I'm basically assuming here since a lot of fish will lose color when they are stressed. I'm sure diet plays a role as well.
 
What RetiredJedi says is also correct with mollies. This has happened to me a few times in different ways. When I got my black Molly, he was solid black. Since then he has developed a pretty line of reflective blue along the edge of his back fin. When I had a large group of their babies, they were all wild colored, brown spotting on their top half, but after I donated them to the pet store and saw them a week later they were almost white again like when they were tiny.
 
Thanks for this! I'll keep an eye out for any new colour changes. Although I have to say, I'm relieved it's not fin rot!
 
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