Hi,
Initially I started with 2 female Dalmation Mollies in early March. One of them showed a bit of aggression towards another (chasing around the tank, however no fin nipping that I saw). One week ago I got two small female Lyretail Mollies in order to try to reduce the stress on the bullied Molly. The four fish have been acting fine until yesterday. Both of the Dalmation Mollies are now hanging around the bottom of the tank. They do swim up to eat the food, but then swim back down to the bottom and stay there. Here is my tank and water parameters:
Size: 10 gal (fully cycled, filtered and heated, ~2 years old)
Ammonia, Nitries: 0 ppm
Nitrates: 5-10 ppm
PH: ~7.5
Some coral in the filter to increase hardness
Various plants (Anubias, Taiwan moss, rotundifolia, swords, crypts)
Other species: No other fish, 3 mystery snails, various pond snails
There's no exterior abnormalities I saw on the Dalmations, but I did dose paraguard to be sure. The tank could be overstocked and stressing the black Molly out, but the white Molly has some sort of vendetta against the black Molly. I have a theory that the two Lyretails I recently got are not both female and have impregnated the female Dalmations, so I posted pics of the Lyretails. I read to look for the fan shaped anal fin to identify a female, but maybe I messed up and a more experienced hobbyist can correct me. Thanks for any help you all can provide! Pics:
White Dalmation Molly (the bully):
https://imgur.com/SrKDwtm
https://imgur.com/YvkRfTD
Black Dalmation Molly (the bullied, GIF):
https://imgur.com/eTA1E0t
Lyretail Mollies:
https://imgur.com/Q72qF4f
https://imgur.com/bxdEvFf
Initially I started with 2 female Dalmation Mollies in early March. One of them showed a bit of aggression towards another (chasing around the tank, however no fin nipping that I saw). One week ago I got two small female Lyretail Mollies in order to try to reduce the stress on the bullied Molly. The four fish have been acting fine until yesterday. Both of the Dalmation Mollies are now hanging around the bottom of the tank. They do swim up to eat the food, but then swim back down to the bottom and stay there. Here is my tank and water parameters:
Size: 10 gal (fully cycled, filtered and heated, ~2 years old)
Ammonia, Nitries: 0 ppm
Nitrates: 5-10 ppm
PH: ~7.5
Some coral in the filter to increase hardness
Various plants (Anubias, Taiwan moss, rotundifolia, swords, crypts)
Other species: No other fish, 3 mystery snails, various pond snails
There's no exterior abnormalities I saw on the Dalmations, but I did dose paraguard to be sure. The tank could be overstocked and stressing the black Molly out, but the white Molly has some sort of vendetta against the black Molly. I have a theory that the two Lyretails I recently got are not both female and have impregnated the female Dalmations, so I posted pics of the Lyretails. I read to look for the fan shaped anal fin to identify a female, but maybe I messed up and a more experienced hobbyist can correct me. Thanks for any help you all can provide! Pics:
White Dalmation Molly (the bully):
https://imgur.com/SrKDwtm
https://imgur.com/YvkRfTD
Black Dalmation Molly (the bullied, GIF):
https://imgur.com/eTA1E0t
Lyretail Mollies:
https://imgur.com/Q72qF4f
https://imgur.com/bxdEvFf
