NEWS 100 E - page 12

AqualogNEWS100 12
NewsVeranstaltungstipps
Terraxotica-Germany (Terraristikbörse)
Am 13.11.2011 inderMesse Bremen
-Halle3 inBremen
Am 27.11.2011 imModecentrum Hannover
(TRADEMART) inHannover
Am 04.12.2011 indenEmslandhallen in Lingen
Am 17.12.2011 inder Rübekamphalle in Pinneberg
www.terraxotica-germany.de
Profi-Zoo-Pika
DerTV-Auftritt vonProfi-ZooPikabeiVOX,
anzusehenunterwww.profi-zoo.de
HeimtiermesseHannover
5.TheArt of thePlantedAquarium
4.NANO-Wettbewerbund
4. InternationalesGarnelen-Championat
27.01.–29.01.2012
10.00–18.00Uhr
www.tmsevent.de
Lexicon
SailfinMollies
Poecilia: fromAncientGreek,meaning“the colorful
one, themanifoldone”
latipinna:Latinmeaning“broad-finned”
petenensismeans“of Peten”, referring to the type
locality,LakePeten inCentral America
sphenops: fromAncientGreek,meaning“witha
pointedhead”
velifera:Latinmeaning“bearinga sail”
BlackMollies arebestnotbred together,butwithmottled specimens,as
this improves thevitalityof the fishes.
robust fish. However, when kept under
inappropriate conditions, they will often
waste away, contract disease and
eventuallydie.
Turning, more specifically, to the black
varieties, there are three main types: the
short-finnedblackmolly (P. sphenops), the
blackballoonmolly (of varyingparentage
and finnage, e.g. lyretail) and the sailfin
mollies which, again,may exhibit finnage
differences. Although all these black
mollies are sometimes referred to as
midnight mollies, owing to their dark
coloration, the term is more frequently
applied to black sailfins with
yellow/orange/reddorsal fin edges; these
fish are also – though much less
frequently – referred to as moonfish
mollies.
Among the pure wild-type (note the
emphasis) sailfins encountered in the
hobby, we mainly find specimens of P.
latipinna – thesailfinmolly,and P.velifera –
theYucatán, giant sailfin or (again) sailfin
molly. It is quite difficult to distinguish
between the two without a detailed
examination,though.Suchclosestudywill
reveal, for example, that P. velifera males
have18-19dorsal fin rays,while thoseof P.
latipinna have around 14.Most notably, P.
velifera malescanstretch theirdorsal finat
an angle of 100-110 o, while P. latipinna
males canonlymanage 60-70%. P.velifera
males can also grow larger (up to 15cm).
Both P. velifera and P. latipinna males can
exhibit the above-mentioned orange,
yellow,or redmargin to thedorsal, so this
can’tbeusedasadefinitivedistinguishing
characteristic.
The commercially-bred black (again, note
the emphasis) sailfins found in thehobby
canbelong toeither species, their hybrids
(in which case, they may exhibit
intermediate traits in terms of dorsal fin
raycountsandangle),orhybridsbetween
one or other of these species and other
mollies – usually P. sphenops, but also