Molly Wagging?

[RexDarr]

Hello everyone!

Yesterday I purchased two new mollies for my aquarium. Both fit in right away and swam with the others with no problem.
Today I fed them blood worms as a treat and one of the older mollies began nipping at one of the newer ones. I broke up their fights a few times with my scoopy net but now whenever they go near each other one wags it's body like a dog. It's head goes in one direction and the tail in the other. What does that mean?

 

[libertybelle]

google molly shimmies (i think there are videos on youtube) and see if that's what it's doing.

if so it's because mollys are nearly brackish fish and need harder warder. Aquarium salt in the tank will help, i'm sure you can find a lot of threads on how to do that.

i've never kept mollies so I don't know the details of how much but as with all changes in water chemistry, don't change anything rapidly or you risk making it worse!

 

[libertybelle]

oh wait it it ONLY after a confrontation? That could just be some kind of aggressive behavior or posturing. Hopefully someone who knows mollies will come by!

 

[RexDarr]

Yup! Only during their little scuffles. Other than that they're fine and swim around. Just when these two specific mollies cross paths they nip at each other and one or sometimes both "wag" slowly at each other then go on their merry way. Almost like a "good job" or something but then they start nipping at each other next time they p

 

[RexDarr]

They cross paths*

Trying to write a reply on a Samsung is terrible!

 

[jessipanda]

Yeah, that sounds like posturing. He's showing the other that he's willing to fight for dominance. That should slow down, if not stop, once they figure out the hierarchy, as long as you have more females than males or only one sex. If you have more males than females, you should fix it quick or they could eventually kill each other. You should have at LEAST 1 male to every 2 females, preferably 3-4.