Poecilia chica - Dwarf Molly

Poecilia chica

Synonyms: None

Meaning of Name: chica -small. This comes from the fact that this species has a very small dorsal fin.

Common Name: Dwarf Molly

Family: Poeciliidae

Sub Family: Poeciliinae

Distribution: Ríos Cuetzmala, Purificación and Cihualtán in Jalisco, Mexico, Rio Maravasco, Central America.

First Introduced: 1979 into Germany.

Size: males around 3 cm (1.2 inches) and females 5 cm.

Sexing: Females are basically a grey fish with a faint horizontal line on the back half of their body. They show a gravid spot. Several areas of metallic coloured scales are also on the body. There are a few black spots in the dorsal. Males are more colourful (more metallic scales) and has the characteristic gonopodium of most livebearing fish. The dominant male can be almost black.

Breeding: Is a livebearing fish. The female can produce 30-50 fry every 4-5 weeks.

Requirements: Neutral to slightly alkaline water is recommended (pH 6.5-7.5). Can take a wide range of temperatures. 70-90°F (21-32°C). The recommended temp should not be over 80°F however. They seem to prefer tanks with some plant cover. This fish is mainly herbivorous.

I received these fish from a fellow hobbyist. I was given 6 fish; 2 females and 4 males. They were placed into a 20 gallon tank. This tank was a barebottomed tank with a lot of Hornwort in it. It's filtered by a sponge filter. The temperature in the tank is approximately 78°F. Within days I had a few fry swimming around in the tank. I was slightly worried that the parents would try to eat the fry. However the fry seemed to be ignored completely. Once I saw that the parents would not become cannibalistic I left the fry in with them. Within a few more weeks I had a lot of fry in that tank. They seem to produce a lot of fry fairly quickly. It could be become very easy to be overrun with these fish, at least in a species tank. I never fed the fry any special food. The parents are fed basic flake as a general diet and spirulina flake as an occasional treat. The fry ate the small pieces of flake. This is an extremely easy fish to do.