Fish being bullied

[trinity_lee1]

Hi, I really hope someone can help me, we have recently purchased a heater and some troipcal fish for our old 35 litre tank, we have had the tank up and running for a few months now and fish seem happy with the set up (We have the heater set to 25 degrees). I feed them twice a day with a large ish pinch each time.

We have 1 x Dwarf Gourami (Mr Grumpy), 4 x Guppies all male, 4 neon tetras and 2 x Mollies, also one sucky fish to clean the bottom (cant remember what it is called). The fish are all still small, we will upgrade tank later.

My problem is one of the mollies is constantly getting picked on by the guppies, so much so that he now hides in a little cave we have in the tank. They dont seem to bother much with the other mollie although on occasion they will chase him. We are amateurs when it comes to fish and before we purchased we sought advice and thought we did everything correctly but it seems something isnt right?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Trinity

 

[Smcoyle87]

If my calculations are correct, you have a 10 gallonish tank. Too small for all those fish. Your Mollys will eventually surpass the guppies in size and will be the aggressors.
But the main point is that the tank is too small. Good luck though!

 

[trinity_lee1]

Thanks for your response....

We asked more than one 'professional' in the shop before we purchased the fish, we stressed we did not want over crouding and to be honest, it doesnt look overcrouded?? The fish are apparently all at early stages in their lives, I know they will grow and we will need a larger tank but we were told for now that the tank was sufficient and we wouldnt need to upgrade quite yet.

Are you saying they are bullying him because our tank is too small? What size tank would you say we needed?

When you say the Mollies will surpass the guppies in size, they are the same length roughly but their bodies are already much bigger as their shape is so different so Im not sure that is the cause of the issue now?

Any thoughts?
Trinity

 

[Ziggs180]

Never trust LFS Store ''Professionals''. Always look at the internet for second opinions. You would probably need to upgrade to a larger tank, since its very likely the ''sucking fish you have'', is a normal Pleco, which can grow to almost 2 Feet long!

 

[trinity_lee1]

I am going to go back today and check the tanks in the shop, I really am very surprised to hear this as the people we spoke to seemed to know their stuff and they werent just 'young saturday staff' (No offense meant). On each tank where they hold their fish it also says the 'usual maximum size' the fish grows to and we checked all these before we purchased, if we have been given incorrect information I will be complaining. I rehomed two goldfish that I had for years to a friends pond because they outgrew my tank and so I stressed on more than one occasion I didnt want to have to do that again!!

In the meantime, thank you for your responses and help but it would be great to know roughly what size tank we would need to hopefully stop the molly being picked on, I understand the Pleco's (if it is that) can grown very large but I think as its only 2cm long we have time on our side for that. Would doubling the tank size for now be suffiecient? 60+ litre? 60 being the minimum?

 

[Fishy Aston]

You are the best judge if the fish are crowded or not.

Sucker Fish = Pleco - They clean algae

Until the fish do look crowded then it is time to get another tank

Maybe if you take a few guppies out and buy another molly it will even things out.

The pleco should grow the size of the tank and if he does get too big then swap him at the LFS for a smaller one.
Will take a while for that to happen though!

Have you got a water testing kit?
If so whats the name of it?

Do you do water changes?

Thanks
Aston

 

[Fishy Aston]

If you would like to get a bigger tank then buy a biggest one possible then there is more room for error. And you can have more space for other different types of fish

 

[maestromad]

Hello! People in the lfs often get things wrong I'm afraid. @fishyaston fish do not grow to the size of the tank, you should generally buy then planning for their adult size.
@OP if your fish is stressed its not good for them, they will just continue to bully them to death, I find different species need space to keep away form each other. Do you have plants and things to break the line of sight? good luck

 

[trinity_lee1]

Hi everyone, thanks for your responses. I have taken everything on board and my husband is on his way to collect a Fluval 120 litre tank this evening, I now have the task of figuring out where we are going to put it!!

To answer a couple of questions, I dont have a water testing kit? But I do do regular water changes and we have plastic plants and a rock with hidy hole, the tank has plenty of places for fish to use as cover.

Anyone got any advice on how to set up a tank of such a size? All of this because one little molly isnt happy, I must love my fish...!

 

[maestromad]

I would advise you get a liquid test kit. Most recommend api master - its been my life line with my tank trials.
You could move all filter media, substrate and water over to help with the good bb

 

[trinity_lee1]

Thanks maestromad, The move was successful and all fish seem to be OK, we will purchase a testing kit today

Now back to my original question of how I stop my molly fish being bullied by 4 guppies, its mainly 1 bully and the others follow suit. Do I remove guppies and risk them starting on the other one or do I remove my 2 mollies? Or do I buy more mollies for 'safety in numbers'?

Please help, we now have a lovely big tank but it hasnt helped the problem at all....

 

[maestromad]

Hmm that is a problem - I personally ony keep guppies. As mentioned previously lots of hiding places and plants may help

 

[Ziggs180]

You need enough decorations to break the line of sight. If you arent using real plants, and dont plan to, just get some ornaments or silk plants. There will still be bullying whenever the fish see eachother, but there are places to hide.

 

[trinity_lee1]

Thanks everyone, I took the guppies back and got some more neons and a female dwarf guerami for my male one, all fish seem v happy now!