Molly nipping Platy

[henry1245]

Morning All,

I have had 2 mollys for a couple of weeks and intriduced 2 platies this weekend, however one of the Mollies keeps chasing and nipping the platies (the other Molly couln't care less about the new additions).

The molly is a female, so i ruled out that it was trying to mate the Platies, however one of the male Platies does seem to linger around her a lot (so she could be fending off the unwated suitor), however she also chases the other Platy which is female.

Is this simply a case of the Molly establishing her territory, or is she fending off an unwated suitor, or something else?

I'm concerned she's stressing the new Platies and they might kick the bucket!!

Thanks
Henry

 

[AquaOne]

Aggresive 'molly' ! Well who'd have thought it.
What tank size ? It does sound like just a 'personal space' type of problem.
I recently added 2x golden gourami's to my 36g tank and although they had been okay at the lfs in a typical 10g stock tank (with no cover or plants), they suddenly got all territorial even though they had stacks more room !
I reckon they could be brother & sister, and from experience that can get nasty !! (TiC)

 

[henry1245]

Thats what i thought, it was popping babies out a couple of days ago, now it's turned evil!

It's a 20 gallon tank... the Molly is a bigger than the Platies and it doesn't bother the other fish... if its a 'personal space' thing, will it calm down or do i need to do something?

it's been 3 days now of constant mayhem!

 

[AquaOne]

Are the young still in-tank or have they been moved to a new location ?
Chances are 'mum' is feeling the need to protect her babies (even if they are elsewhere), or it's just how females get (hmmm, better stop there, wife watching what I type !!). I'm told that adding new fish to an established tank can sometimes be 'trouble', a bit like having a new neighbour that seems to be in your garden more than their own (not necessarily speaking from experience, but if I catch the little scr#%e, I can't be responsible for what I might do to him !!). So you see, maybe the platies are 'playing ball' in the molly's back yard. Do you have another tank that the molly could go in for a week ? I would try that, also in the main tank move the scenery around a bit so when molly comes back, she will be the new-comer

 

[henry1245]

i don't have another tank unfortunately, theres one baby left that i can see... i think mum & dad ate the rest!

hopefully things will calm down after a week or so... might have to buy a bigger bouncer molly to keep things under control! haha!