Overstocked tank?

[CallMeIshmael95]

I have a 40 gallon tank. It has 2 guppies, 1 fancy guppy, 2 black mollies, 2 dalmatian mollies, two mickey mouse platys, 1 guppy fry, and 3 Mollie fry. I had to flush two guppies today, they had been fighting a lot. I was wondering if it was due to territorial purposes or if I have an overstocked tank. I already he to separate my crown tail betta because he would fight with the other fish.Help please. I hate losing fish.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Flushing a fish is an absolute terrible idea... as well as completely unethical. Doesn't sound like you're anywhere near your stocking limit to me. How were they 'fighting'?

 

[CallMeIshmael95]

Perhaps I should've clarified. I only flushed them because they were dead. Two of my guppies kept nipping at the other one, almost like they teamed up against him. I had my mom take care of them while I away for the weekend and when I came back one of guppies and the other that was being attacked were dead. At first I thought it was because the one getting attacked was my newest addition. But then the one doing the attacking was dead too.

 

[Fishy Smell]

You might have water quality issues, hence the dead fish, however;
Loads of male guppys kept together are a nightmare, constantly harrasing certain ones and generally spoiling the harmony of the tank. I've also found that a male platies are often aggressive. Mollys can also be agressive and really require a decent amount of aquarium salt in the water.
Best bet for keeping Platies is to keep females only if you want them just for colour and harmony, or 1 male to 3-4 females if you want fry, colour and harmony!
Guppy wise, keep 1 or 2 males with maybe 4-5 females.
Mollys i know less about.

 

[CallMeIshmael95]

I'm going to check the water quality today. But I had two female guppies and four males now I have two females and two males. That was probably the problem. I didn't think about the ratio when I bought the two male fancy guppies. That's frustrating... I'll get a few more females. Thanks for your help.

 

[emerald76]

You might have water quality issues, hence the dead fish, however;
Loads of male guppys kept together are a nightmare, constantly harrasing certain ones and generally spoiling the harmony of the tank. I've also found that a male platies are often aggressive. Mollys can also be agressive and really require a decent amount of aquarium salt in the water.
Best bet for keeping Platies is to keep females only if you want them just for colour and harmony, or 1 male to 3-4 females if you want fry, colour and harmony!
Guppy wise, keep 1 or 2 males with maybe 4-5 females.
Mollys i know less about.

Mollies do NOT require aquarium salt, or any type of salt for that matter

 

[CallMeIshmael95]

I didn't think they did. They've been fine in my tank without it for a few months.