wild caught mollies?

Question
Hey Karen,

I have a quick question for you...I recently purchased 3 female chocolate mollies, they are very fearful of people (so much so that I can't place my hand in the tank even to clean the algae). I'm wondering if it's possible to find out how to know whether or not a fish is wild caught once you get it home. I'm currently working with these girls really slowly and feeding them extra special treats (mostly fresh frozen foods to help feel more comfortable if they are wild caught) in small amounts once daily. Any other suggestions for me?

Answer
Hi Ali,
Very interesting. While most mollies are bred in fish farms I do know of a type of molly I kept a long time ago that were wild caught in a local river here in texas. They were sailfin mollies. Lovely fish, they were fearful at first but soon adapted to humans and aquarium life with patience and hiding places to help them feel more comfortable.

Its hard to know whether or not a fish has been wild-caught but most likely yours are just scared little girls who need plenty of time to get use to you. Chocolate mollies are quite rare around here. In fact, I don't know if I've ever seen them available before.

I think you are doing a wonderful job with being good to them to let them get adjusted to you. I guess if you are still curious about them being wild-caught critters you could ask the place you got them from.

Give them some time. If you establish a feeding routine they will  come to know what end of the tank has the food and the most powerful thing they learn is You= treat time! So its kinda like positive training with fish. The presence of people means good things are coming! ;-)

Some fish take some time to realize this because at first they just imagine everything is out to get them one way or another. ;-)

Hope this helps and good luck with them!
Karen~