Agressive Molly

[skimpy]

Hi guys.

I have 3 black molly's (one male and two female) very happy and peaceful.

I have 3 Silver molly's (one male and two female). The male is fine most of the time but when i feed the fish he gets VERY VERY agressive. He seems to leave most of the other fish alone but he will not let the other two female silver molly's near the food. He will chase, nip and even bash into them.

If I put in an algae wafer, which is supposed to be for my bristlenose catfish the silver molly (known as Razor) will get totally obsessive over the wafer and will not allow the females any at all and will stay eating it until its all gone.

Am I unlucky and just got one agressive fish or has anyone else had an experience like this with Molly's. (I think they are Lyretail Molly's).

 

[tuffers]

I had a similar experience with a black molly, he got verry agressive to the other mollys and someof the other fish in my tank... unfortunately, he was just too agressive and had to go... hope your's turns out okay.

 

[skimpy]

Hi tuffers, was your Molly only agressive at feeding time or was it all the time.

I have just fed the fish and the Male Molly is getting worse and the two females inturn are starting to take it out on the other fish. It's jus not on

I am worried I might have to take all three back to the lfs (if they will have them) and exchange them.

They seemed to be OK for the first week, its only now in week two that they have got to be more agressive. Do they get worse as time goes on.??

 

[noglet]

One of my black females behaves like yours does with the algae wafers but over peas that I feed. Tis quite funny at times but not nice for the other fish. It's my silver molly that causes the most problems with constantly abusing my other silver female though. Don't really think I can do much about it unless anyone has any good suggestions? I hope all of her babies won't be so bad when they grow up!

 

[Paul Gale]

I've a marbled molly who is just the same .. she has stressed most of my surviving fish to death .. Down to four fish

Paul never ever going to get a mollies again .. they SUCK. IMHO (b4 flaming me !!!)

 

[ger87410]

I got my 2 mollies in a brackish setup with some catfish and inverts. They don't seem to bother anyone since everyone eats different foods. The catfish eats pellets, the mollies eats flakes, and the inverts eat whatever.

 

[tuffers]

my molly was always agressive, however, at feeding time it got even worse. It definately had a problem with the smaller mollies, and within a couple of weeks, the mollies had died (3 of them) and the agressive one remained. I had to get rid of the agressive molly. A bad experience really that has put me off mollies for a while!

 

[abe]

I have one molly (my dalmation) that is really aggressive, and the yellow one is peaceful as can be.

She (dalmation) loves to chase EVERYONE around, and goes nuts at feeding time. I had her in my 2 gallon for a little while, so she wouldnt kill everyone. I was planning to take her to a lfs, but I suddenly felt bad for her & put her back in the big tank, and she appears to be a bit nicer. Still chasing every now & then & acting like the food on top is the last bit in the world, but it's ok for now.

So maybe just give the meanie a time out? i dunno.

 

[tstenback]

Hi guys.

I have 3 black molly's (one male and two female) very happy and peaceful.

I have 3 Silver molly's (one male and two female). The male is fine most of the time but when i feed the fish he gets VERY VERY agressive. He seems to leave most of the other fish alone but he will not let the other two female silver molly's near the food. He will chase, nip and even bash into them.

If I put in an algae wafer, which is supposed to be for my bristlenose catfish the silver molly (known as Razor) will get totally obsessive over the wafer and will not allow the females any at all and will stay eating it until its all gone.

Am I unlucky and just got one agressive fish or has anyone else had an experience like this with Molly's. (I think they are Lyretail Molly's).

Put 2 wafers in at opposite ends of the tank. This should allow the others to eat while the piglet is consuming his wafer (the old cant be in 2 places at once principle). Also for your pleco, these guys work hard at night so after the lights go out drop in a wafer and i will bet the pleco will find it and devour it. with the lights out most other fish dont tend to eat. HTH

 

[skimpy]

Thanks for all your replies guys.

Put 2 wafers in at opposite ends of the tank. This should allow the others to eat while the piglet is consuming his wafer (the old cant be in 2 places at once principle). Also for your pleco, these guys work hard at night so after the lights go out drop in a wafer and i will bet the pleco will find it and devour it. with the lights out most other fish dont tend to eat.

I have tried wafer at different ends and even though the bully is only eating at one he still attacks anyone who comes near.

With regard to poor Harry the Bristlenose, even when I put in a wafer after lights out I sneak back and can just about make out 3 silver shadows, scoffing on the algae wafer. I am sure they can smell it.

I have noticed tonight that the very placid black molly must have had enough of the silver one because they was an all out fight - going round and round together in circles. This cant go on or someone will get hurt.

If I had my way I would tell him off and make him stay in the corner for a few hours, but somehow I don't think he will listen

I will be speaking to lfs tomorrow, I will let you know how I get on.