Molly Loves Eating And Mating With Plants :s

[crawfish]

Hey everyone, I need abit of advice on my mollie he keeps chewing on the leaves of one of my plants not sure of plant species. Ive tried everything to try to stop him. Im feeding him twice a day including alge wafers and yet he still ruins my plants , also he keeps trying to mate with the leaves on another plant as theres no female mollies with him just female platies as i dont want any fry over loading my tank any ideas how to stop these or reduce these behaviours would be most welcome

 

[Gilli]

How odd! Usually they will just try to mate with any and every fish when there is a lack of females - are you sure hes not just rubbing himself on the plants which is a sign of irritation??

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to our forum crawfish.

If your molly male is frequently rubbing against plants, keep a close eye on him. He may be showing that he is being irritated by either water conditions or parasites. A chemical test of your water may be in order.

Mollies are incessant nibblers on the surface of plants but, contrary to what you may think you are seeing, they do not consume healthy plants. They do eat the decaying parts of dying plants and regularly eat microscopic organisms from the surface of healthy plants. They feed almost incessantly that way, but they never seem to eat healthy plants.

 

[crawfish]

I never knew mollies rubbed against leaves when stressed well you learn a new thing everyday. He could be irritated but i check my water on a daily basis for the last 2 weeks and its all fine its been cycled for about 8 months now. Although im over stocked thanks to aload of fry but once ive found a friend to take them I should be back to normal plus as a precaution im doing large water changes more often than usual i still think hes mating with the leaf as hes rubbings his you know on it and nothing else also im sure hes hurt his mouth eating the leaves as its gone swollen