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The bullying only happens during feeding times,
I have 5 mollies, 1 male 4 females,
3 of the females have grown well are an inch long, The other female is about half a inch, The male is between Half a inch to an inch long, One of the bigger females is chasing and biting, the other mollies & fish away, from the area where I feed,(Between a Net breeder & Plastic breeder,The breeders are a foot apart,) My other fish are, Guppies, neons, glowlights, does not chase corys, or the angel,
The offending molly is now in fishy jail.
Why is she doing this?
She chases the male & small female molly mostly (Who I am trying to feed up!)


Thanks R_Boy

i've observed that behaviour regularly. If there are more than one of the same sex, one tries to be the dominant one and chases the other to misery. Can be avoided by having larger tank and extra hiding places. (well, for a moment i thought i was talking abt mbunas )

What sized tank do you have?

What you could do is feed at different area, such as two ends of the tank.
I do that with my discus.

I had a mollie that was aggressive, but only at feeding time. I tried everything - feeding at different ends of the tank, breaking feeding wafers into several pieces & scattering across the tank. Nothing worked. whoever else was eating something, she thought she should have it instead. In the end I returned her to LFS. I only had the one mollie, so I can't say if that is typical. It might just have been her particular personality.

Cheers
TW

Yeah Mollies are pigs when it comes to food. I had three males (all brothers) and they would push even Rams out of the way. So no worries they just like their food.

JQW, They are in a 29g,
Relieved that it is quite normal.
So she is the dominant one at the moment, So How long do I wait before introducing her back into the tank?(so she Lose her place on the pecking order) She is still in fishy Jail.

Thanks,
R_Boy

:Just an update, Let her go, she is leaving the other fish alone, will update you the next time I feed.

I agree with everyone else, mollies are "peaceful community fish" except when it comes to food! I had one female that was a pig. she would chase the angelfish even, who happen to be 4 times as big as her! anyway, im not sure if there is a way you can train them to not be food-aggressive, i think its just a thing that you have to deal with if you're gonna keep it. if it causes any type of damage to another fish while its being greedy, i would take it back and exchange it.

*Chelle*
_______________________________________________
I love the fishes cuz they're SOOO delicious...

Chelaine,As I live In the uk, you can't take a fish back after you bought it.
Fed them again, she seems to be leaving them alone.

R_Boy

Those are tough rules. I can think of situations where it is better for the buyer, the environment, the fish & the industry to take back unsuitable fish - even if you don't get any money for the returned fish.

I glad to hear though that she has settled down for you./:'

Cheers
TW

Thanks robyn

R_Boy

ive never had a mollie that wasnt aggressive all the time, not just at feeding. especially when there is more than one but even if there isnt.
btw around here many store dont like to take fish whether they are returns or not. exceptions for me is usually when the owner knows me enough to know when im not gonna introduce diseases to his tanks.

LFS I deal with says that one of reasons he does trade-ins is not only to look after customers he knows well, but because he knows that a small percentage of unscrupulous fish owners may release their unwanted fish into the local water ways, which can result in environmental issues. This in turn causes his industry problems & he says it's his small way of helping to prevent that.

I think that each LFS makes it's own decision, but without even looking hard, each one I've dealt with has taken the line of receiving returned fish. My aggressive mollie was one fish that I returned.

Cheers
TW

Has anyone experienced dalmation mollies hounding gold mollies to death? I had two dalmations (both female) and two gold mollies (one sailfin male and one female). One of the dalmation females in particular hounded the gold female until she died. I had the gold female in isolation for a time and fed her up as she was a slow feeder, but she jumped into the main tank when I was out and was dead when I got home. Three weeks later I found my sailfin male dead too . The two females left are healthy, and there are now about 50 babies swimming around my tank.

My boyfriend bought another gold male yesterday, and it wasn't long before he was being hounded too. Not sure why this is . There are platies in the tank also and they don't have a problem.

try cutting the feeding time and seperate them with a divider so they could get used to the other fishy!

10g Freshwater:
1-Albino Corydoras Catfish