Question about Molly behaviour

[contactpsb]

I have been worrying about my mollies for a couple days and wanted some opinions. I have 2 tanks and had them split up with 1m/2f in each tank. We decided to put them all in 1 tank, but the males immediately started fighting and seemed to be hurting each other (scales were becoming discolored from all the nipping) so I took 1 male out and put in back in our other tank with no other mollies. Now the male that is left has 4 Females in his tank but he is obsessed with 1 female in particular and she hasn't had 2 minutes rest in the past 3 days. He chases her non-stop and just wants to put his nose on her anus. She even started giving up and positioning herself vertically in the water so he could mate her but then he acted like he didn't know what she wanted and just sat there until she started swimming again and stuck his nose where it doesn't belong again. I am afraid she is going to get exhausted, and I don't know what his behavior is all about. Is he thinking she is pregnant and wanted to eat the babies she might release or what? Do you think I will ever be able to add the other male to the tank? I bought 2 new females last night thinking maybe if I added them with the other male, the 2 males might be distracted and not fight, but the 2 females I bought are very pregnant and for now I have tham in a 5gal isolation tank hoping they will give birth.

 

[TankGirl]

Well, this is pretty typical behavior, but you might have to remove that one particular female. I have one male in with 3 females and he seems to spread his attentions among them pretty evenly. You have 4 females in with one male? That sounds like a good mix, since the more females the better, just for this reason, but if he won't leave her be then she might have to be removed for a bit. I do not know what the chances are for having more males in there, as I have only one male, and have never tried adding more.

 

[contactpsb]

Ok I moved the female that was being harrassed so bad into the maternity ward (5gal with 2 preg Mollies in it already). We have never had babies but wanted some so when I went to the pet store to buy 2 more females we saw these two huge ones who looked ready to pop and I said I'll take them! But being that they are dalmations, I can't see any gravid spot (unless it just isn't there yet). Since I have no clue how soon they are going to give birth, is it wise to just keep them in this 5gal tank until it happens? Is 3 mollies in a tank that size overcrowded?

 

[TankGirl]

Is 3 mollies in a tank that size overcrowded?

For general purposes, yes, but as long as you have plans to move them once they drop their babies then it should be fine, just watch the water parameters on a daily basis to keep ammonia, nitrite and nitrate down. Things could turn sour very quickly in a small tank like that.

 

[contactpsb]

What can I do to control these things? It is starting to look cloudy already. Should I do a water change already? I took a sample to my LFS today and they said the PH was high and told me to put some buffer in there which I just did.

 

[TankGirl]

Cloudy water and pH are not really relative to each other, unless I am missing something here. Cloudy water in your case is likely to be due to either a bacterial bloom or just a mini-cycle. You need to test for ammonia and nitrite (I will bet one or the other will be something other than zero) and small frequent water changes will be the recommendation in any case, to get those to down to zero. It may take a week or two for this to happen and the cloudiness to clear up, so be patient.

Please read the very interesting thread about pH, because I don't think it is anything you need to worry about at all, and is not something you need to be trying to change. If you start adding chemicals to manipulate the pH you are likely to get pH swings, which is a very stressful thing for fish. As long as the pH is stable, you don't have to worry about it. Good luck, and keep us posted!