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Hi all, I recently went to a LFS and saw some livebearers I haven't come across before, being sold as mosquito fish, but they are not the same as the mosquito fish on fishbase.

The male has an extemely long gonapodium, easily 1/3rd of his body length, reaching about to the base of his tail, which is black. He has black markings along the length of his body, but I can't remember for sure if these are on the top or the bottom or both, his sides are a lovely silvery colour.

The female is like a wild guppy, but has a black blotch on her dorsal fin, and slight scale edge markings.

I don't know how old they were, but I would say probably not full grown as the male was only about 1cm or just over long, and the female was probably 1 1/2cm long. Somne of the females were obviously pregant.

I have searched the poecillidae pictures on fishbase, and they are definately not pictured. They do not look like the Gambosa(spelling?) as the male had a much longer gonopodium.

Any suggestions?

Hi there. I'm personally not familiar with which species of livebearer you may have and there are obviously numerous species with the common name of mosquito fish, however if you don't get a satisfactory reply here you may want to post a note in the forums at American Livebearer Assocation and see what responses you may get from them.

Here's the link:

http://www.livebearers.org/index.php

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Hi Jim,

Many thanks for the reply.

I have managed to identify these, and as normal, the LFS had made a slight mistake in the common name I think.

They are Black chinned livebearers, and don't appear to be related to mosquitofish.

I went back to the LFS in question last weekend, and couldn't resist buying a trio.

I have put them in with my Endlers, which I have also recently acquired, and they don't seem to be baby munchers like mosquitofish are reputed to be, as the Endler female had young yesterday, and they are now swimming around a little.

The females have a very pretty but subtle pattern along their sides, of a slight greenish row of markings, which really do catch the light.

Hopefully I won't have any trouble telling the Endlers youngsters from the black chinned young, when they arrive.

Best pictures I have seen of these so far is at http://www.jjphoto.dk/fish_archive/aquarium/girardinus_metallicus.htm.

Maureen

From the pic, they resemble the mesquito fish that is so commonly found in ditches here in the panhandle of Florida.
Hardly little livebarrers. The males are far smaller than females. The females seem to be less hardy than the males. I have several males and it has been well over a year that I have had them.
Good luck with your fish and hope you have hours of enjoyment watching them.

"There is also a Clown Pleco in this tank some where. I am telling you, HE IS IN HERE."