Food aggressive molly?

[Tala]

Hi, I have a 20 gallon tank with 3 balloon belly mollies... All are female and quite happy, they get along nicely. That is until I put food in. One female will chase the others away and nip at them. However this is USUALLY the only time I see any aggression.

Others times the bully will nip and chase them, but briefly and not often.

Is some aggression normal and safe for mollies?

Also, I'm positive they are all female just in case anyone suspects the bully may in fact be male.

I am thinking the aggressive one may just be alpha/dominant? Or possibly pregnant?

Interestingly, she used to be bullied a little when I first introduced her with the others.

Also, they have plenty of hiding places. For whatever reason they all like to hang out together even though they sometimes get chased.

Any advice?
Thanks in advance!

 

[plantnoob]

Mollies form small groups that are strictly hierarchical. Within the group, display of power by chasing or some nipping is not uncommon. My experience is that it's pretty harmless. Male against male aggression is usually a bit more severe than what you're seeing, assuming they are indeed all females. I'd say don't worry, but keep an eye out for signs of stress or in more severe cases damaged fins.


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[plantnoob]

P.S. The fact that they all still hang out together means no signs of stress. If one of them goes into hiding and does not come out, then maybe you need to consider a different approach.


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[Autumnsky]

Sometimes there is a fish sneaker male, one that seems like a female but ends up developing late and is a male. Keep an eye one the dominant one just in case, so you know.

One person here, I think it was jlk who mentioned putting an aggressive fish into a big net any time it was acting bad and keep it away from the other fish for a time. Time out Training. Up to you. I tried it out with a fish and it seemed to help - long ago.