molly dead

[jimbooo]

Hi everyone,

just a quick one. last night i had 2 baloon molly's in my tank (both white, one male, one female) i noticed late last night that the female was ramming the male in the side and generally being a little ####e.. bearing in mind the male is about 3 times the size of the female i thought he'd just ignore it.

little did i know!!!!

woke up this morning to find the male in fishy heaven with not a lot of fins left.

do they normally attack each other?? they've been fine for 6 weeks or so.

the question is do i replace the male, i'm unsure if molly's are okay on their own.

 

[nutter]

wow, i dont know what to say never encounted this myself before so im not sure but maybe it was a reritorial thing ??? i wouldnt add another male yet, wait for more great people on here for more info

 

[Ravin]

Hi,


I used to have just a male and female molly - the male is always the bully - constantly harrassing her until she died. I was recommended to keep two females to keep him occupied. It did the trick, now for the last 8 months or so - hes just as boisteroius as ever but with there being two - hes got more on plate! I even have a third female born by the two which has nearly reached full size - hes now as happy as pig in s**t.

Good luck!

 

[jimbooo]

a reritorial thing ???

sorry to be thick, what does reritorial mean?

 

[Phantom Thief]

i think he means territorial

Anyway, this seems like something very strange to me. From what i know, in most livebearers, it is always the male who bothers the female, and not the other way round.

P.T.

 

[jimbooo]

Thats what i thought, unless she was nudging him but it seemed a bit fierce for that. and since elvis (the male) died she seems much happier. i have attached a pic of elvis, i'm sure he was a male but just in case please check it out.

rip my little buddy....

 

[tstenback]

I have often found that mature female mollies often rule the roost and if she was unhappy with the advances of the male she would put him in his place. The smaller the tank the more serious the abuse. I have found that if you put 2-3 females in the tank with a single male things often smooth over. Good luck

 

[jimbooo]

Thanks for all your help everyone.

to refer back to the original question can i leave the one remaining molly in the tank with no other molly's or do they prefer groups?

tank mates are 9 zebra danio's, 1 shark catfish, 2 pleco's, 2 dwarf gourami. 1 silver shark (2 inches long, will re house soon) 2 shrimp 1 crab and 2 african clawed frogs.

 

[nutter]

oops, teritorial i ment, i gota read through the posts before i post them

 

[jimbooo]

no problem nutter, i can't spel eithr

ha ha

 

[shadow]

you can keep them alone or in groups. i currenlty have a tank with 5 mollies in it and another with one mollie.

 

[jimbooo]

Thanks Shadow, i'll leave her on her own for a while then.

 

[shadow]

no problem, if she's happier on her own, then i would not subject another fish to her tourment