My Mollys Are Being Strange....

[Kairi]

I have a total of 4 mollys- but all day today, two of them are swimming side by side- well, one looks like it's trying to get away, but the other is keeping up pretty well and won't leave the first one alone. what are they doing?

 

[kris-b-]

Hi Kairi,

Are they male or female?

 

[Kairi]

i don't have any idea. how can i tell?

 

[kris-b-]

I have no idea when it comes to mollies sorry You are best posting this in the Livebearer section for better help

 

[WILDER]

You sex all livebearers the same even though this is a platy link.
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=46309

 

[Annastasia]

It sounds like a male is trying to mate with a female to me. Or perhaps, if she's pregnant, stress her out to make her abort her fry and give him a nice snack.

The link Wilder gave you is good for sexing. Once you figure out what sexes they are, could you tell us how many you have of each? As it's best for them to be at a ratio of 1 male per 2-3 females.

 

[Kairi]

wow... I think I have one female and three males! They were the only red tailed mollies in the tank- I don't guess I could add a few more females, hu? That would be too many fish in the tank.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Mollys are really too active for a 10gal, the most you could have in a 10gal is 2females, if you want to have more mollys you need to upgrade your tank to 15-25gals. The minimum amount of females per male is 2-3females per male, you do not have the space for your mollys though currently.
For 10 mollys you are looking at 50gallons unfortunatly, personally i would definatly rehome your mollys as the males will harrass the female to death and may even kill each other, its better to stick with some guppys or platys for your 10gal as those are the only common livebearers apart from endlers that can go in your tank .

 

[Kairi]

they'll kill each other? they haven't had problems yet- and they've lived there a week.... i'm hoping they'll just keep getting along. as for my count of males vs females- it's really hard to tell when they keep darting behind stuff, so i could be wrong. i know i have at least ONE female, that much i know.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Trust me they are barely settled in right now, and a 10gal doesn't offer much space to swim about in, your standard molly can grow up to 4inchs long so will obviously overstock your tank given time if they are still small, its only a matter of time before things start turning very negative- stress is a big issue for fish, when fish become stressed their imune systems don't work as effiiciently, this makes them much more prone to desease and will also make treating the tank successfully much more difficult if your fish do get ill.

 

[Kairi]

one of the mollys is starting to act a little funny. ya think i'd be ok w/ just the pristellas and the pleco for now? i'm making a run to the fish store tomorrow and can take them back if need be.