Having said that, it is a little surprising that your black female is more fragile than its Dalmation sibling. It may be that black somehow has a genetic influence on the genes guiding the immune system. I know that sounds preposterous. But the all - black angelfish, as a general rule, are more delicate than other domestic strains of angels. Black Bettas are found, but they seem to be a bit more of a challenge to raise and keep consistent in terms of their color. So maybe too, maybe the velvety black the mollies are touchy. (Though when netted out of Florida or Louisiana ditches they seem just fine.).

I recall reading, when perhaps near Markfish's and Josh's ages, that mollies needed a little more heat (76-77-78 F / 25 C) than the other livebearers. They also needed hard water - though not necessarily sodium chloride. Water, hard in the way that our water departments define it (calcium, magnesium...), will be fine, though a little sodium chloride type salt doesn't hurt them.

We've talked here about their need for a good percentage of their diet in veggie flakes. That old Washington Square Press paperback, which was a 7th grade Christmas present, also mentioned that they don't like to be crowded. That surprised me because I could haul 20 at a time out of my 10 gallon tank and haul them off to a LFS.

Maybe the explanation was that my tank was well established by the time the mollies arrived via a five-mile bicycle ride to a feed store in the neighboring town of Lombard, IL. (Zitts Feed Store was not a name modern advertising people would recommend.)

They did not use plastic bags for fish in the late 50s-early 60s. They put a wonderful pair of sail-fin black mollies in one of those coated cardboard boxes like we use for Chinese take-out today. "They" probably brought those fish to the stores in cans much like those old milk cans once used to ship milk from farms. The female mollie was very round. A pair of those "brick-red" swordtails was also purchased. (That was serious paper route money for me back then.)

More recently wondered if they were raised by a guy by the name of Brino Sliz, who cranked out many youngsters and show specimens from a strain of those brick-reds from before World War II up until his passing about 2000! A major part of their diet were ordinary dog biscuits, ground up, (which maybe were a lot better than the rice flakes)!

The day was mild and sunny, but the old two lane, semi-country road, with very nominal shoulders, was pretty beat up and it was a little like riding on a golf ball surface might be. By the time we got home all of the water had bounced out of the boxes! The fish were still wet and stuck to the bottom of the glistening boxes. I noticed that the female mollie must have dropped because she was thinner and one fry remained in the box with her.

Acclimating the fish consisted of getting them out of the box and into the tank ASAP. Amazingly none of the adults were any the worse for wear. Arranged to bum a ride with my folks or walk to and from a local shop for future purchases.

I'm sure many of you can remember your parents carrying on about walking 200 miles to school each day. It was uphill both ways. And that was with snow whirling around them and wolverines nipping at their heels. And if on;y we had shoes! ;)

The mollies did stay a little smaller when jammed into a tank with a pair of swordtails, their fry, several zillion guppies and too many mollies. So more space could have benefited them. The literature didn't emphasize changing water as much, though we knew to do a change if disease broke out.

The temperature stayed steady despite neglecting to unplug the heater, one day, while cleaning up the tank. My folks were surprisingly mellow about that burn mark on their desk blotter. I think a second burn mark would have been too much.

I appreciate your observation, in the log section Maggie, about initially not knowing what to add to a discussion. I can identify with your delight in then having things to add as you grow in the aquarist's craft. I remember that first time feeling too. There are still a lot of aquarists on the net and in person and increasingly on GL, whom I'm delighted just to be able to listen to and to try and pick their brains.