Fancy molly

The origin of the fancy mollies is unclear, with P. sphenops, P. gillii, P. latipinna, and P. velifera commonly named as parent species.

Fancy mollies are widespread in pet stores across the world and commonly marketed as a good choice for aquarists, especially for beginners in the fishkeeping hobby.

[2] Arthur Rachow, a pioneering aquarist, recorded that he had received black-spotted mollies from Panama, and Charles Tate Regan identified them as Mollienesia formosa.

[1] Bill Allen, writing for the Tropical Fish Hobbyist, doubts that an aquarist named Crescenty ever existed, and suggests that the black molly was produced by several breeders who worked independently in the 1920s and 1930s.

Allen notes that one of the first breeders offering black mollies was Bill Schomberg of Crescent Fish Farm in New Orleans.

[1] Ichthyologist Eugene K. Balon attributed the creation of the black molly to the crossbreeding of the shortfin P. sphenops and the sailfin P. latipinna.