Mollies and Platys

[pandapops001]

Ok so i've added 2 mollies(one black & one white with black spots) and 2 platys(silverish with blue tint)

They all swam round quite happily for about 30 mins, then the black one starting hiding behind the rock ornament, and hasnt come out since, and the white molly hasnt stopped eating from the rocks and gravel, how do i know if he is over eating??

The lady in the shop said that i would know if my water was not right cos the fish would swim manically round in circles or stay at the surface of the water, however neither of this is happening, is it safe to assume that everything is okay (touch wood)

Its great finally seeing some fish in the tank,

 

[pandapops001]

plus how do i know what type of platy's and mollies i have, as the fish store is closed now - Doh!!

 

[tstenback]

To tell the sex here is a link the one in the top right with the full anal fin (one on the bottom at back) is the female. The one on the very bottom is the male anal fin is stick like (called a gonopodium). This is the same for platies, mollies, guppies, swords etc.

Let us know the sex of the fish and perhaps that will give us a clue as to why your fish is hiding. Sometimes its just being in a new environment, other times it could be 2 males and one is the dominant one. Often they will not physically hurt each other but make sure there is lots of places to hide if one has to get away quick. Also with livebearers it is pretty much law that you need 2 females per male otherwise the females get really stress by all the attention and can get sick. HTH

 

[wolfie33]

Its normal for live bearers to eat off the rocks gravel and glass in search of algae as for hiding behind plant's livebearers are very cowardly near any other types of fish,i have a few XL mollies and when my rosy barbs go anywhere near them they play dead so i'd say any behaviour like yours are showing is normal.

if there i'll they always seem to hang just under the surface and in the corner.

 

[pandapops001]

looking at that, if i'm doing it right, the black molly is male
and the rest are female, also when i added food earlier, whenever the black molly tried to get some, the white molly was nudging him and he swam away. Plus the white molly tries to swim around with the platys

Sorry about the pics it was the best i could get, they are soooo evasive lol
hope this helps

 

[boozybears]

Hey pandaspop!! I love mollies and platies!!!! They're both great fish. I can share with you my own personal experience. Originally I had three platies (1 male and 2 females) . One of the females died early on and suddenly the remaining female hid all day... everyday. She hid so well I didn't see her for 3 days and thought the others had eaten her lol. So.....after posting on this forum i went out and bought three more female platies. What a difference!!! Suddenly everyone was out playing and happy all day long!! You definetely need at least 2 females for every male to prevent the male from harrassing them too much.

Now that said... if I understand properly it's your male molly that's hiding? Is the white one bigger? I also had this problem with my mollies. Orginally I had one male and one female molly. Based on what happened to my platies I bought 2 more female mollies to keep him happy too. Well..... turned out that one of the new white dalmation females was larger and more aggressive than my male molly. She kept attacking him and he died within a few weeks of her joining the tank. I went out and got another male but made sure he was bigger than her... now all is well again

Sorry this is getting so long... bottom line... if you have room see if you can pick up one or two more females. If the white one keeps after the male ensure he has lots of hiding spots (plants, decorations, rocks etc) so he doesn't get too stressed.

Otherwise, they're both great fish... when they're happy they are soooo peaceful and active. Mine swim up to the front of the tank if I'm even in the room looking for more food. (and yes... it's quite normal and ok for them to eat the algae off of the gravel and decorations). Be careful not to feed them too much... they'll eat the whole bottle if you give it too them... piggies!!!

Good luck! hope this helps

Val

 

[pandapops001]

Ok, trouble is i've already added the 4 as mentioned, and as this is the first fish since my fishless cycle, i dont know whether it would be okay to get any more fish to add just yet?? i have a 27.5gal tank, would this be safe??

The dalmation certainly wears the trousers in there, anyway, i'll await your reply
And thanks for all your help, they are beautiful fish

 

[pandapops001]

the lady at the lfs just told me to get 2 males to put her in her place, she was trying to tell me that it was just new tank that was causing him to hide, until i mentioned the nudging at food times when he finally comes out, then she said about the two males.

i said i was thinking of getting two more females (male female ratio), and she said that i'd been reading too many books and that wasnt always a good thing.

Totally confused now please help, my poor molly, i wish i had another tank now to put him in

 

[boozybears]

I'm no expert but from my own experience and from what everyone on this forum says (who, btw I'll trust waaaayyyy more than the lfs people) you really need more females than males. I'm not sure what will happen if you put a few male mollies together.... my male is quite dominant and i'd be worried there could be territorial issues. Having three males after the dalmation all day long would put her in her place but she'd quickly go into hiding and you'd never see her again.

anyone else have some ideas???

Good luck Pandaspop!

Val

 

[pandapops001]

I took your advice and bought another female molly, black like the male, and he has really livened up and keeps swimming around her, plus i think the new molly has taken leadership, as the bossy dalmation one seems more calm and doesnt even attempt to bully the new black molly.

I'm so pleased they are getting along, just need to get my levels back down some how now.

How long after adding fish is it safe to do a water change??

Thanks again for your help Val, i really appreciate it

 

[tstenback]

You can do a water chnage as soon as you want. I usually give the new fish a couple of hours to settle in a bit and then i do my change. HTH

 

[pandapops001]

Ok, thank you tstenback, for both your advice on the forum and to the queries through personal messenger.

Any suggestions on what i can use to extract and add the water back in, as i havent got a syphon yet??

cheers

 

[tstenback]

any clean hose will do. I have even used jars, small buckets etc. Basically anything that can hold water that is clean can be used. HTH

 

[pandapops001]

excellent, i'll go raid the kitchen, how about a washing up bowl, if i wash it with boiling water, and a pint glass to extract the water from the tank

 

[boozybears]

Glad your fish are all settling down... it's amazing how adding just one fish can make such a difference!!

Keep us posted on how they're doing!

Val