Need to separate molly- advice please...

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oranda

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Hi there,
Here is the background information:
Approximately 4 months ago I purchased a silver male, a female sunset lyretail, and a female black molly. I added them to a tank that had 2 dalmatians, one of which was pregnant. I posted a few weeks later because I was having an issue with the silver acting somewhat aggressively toward the lyretail. He wouldn't display to her, but would chase her off anytime she was near. He was fine with the other females. The advise was to give it time, so I decided to wait it out.

A couple of months ago I moved everyone up to a larger tank, as the dalmatian and the black had some babies, and very few were eaten, for whatever reason. I hoped having more space and more fish would keep the silver from harassing the lyretail as much. He did seem to calm down a little bit for awhile.

Unfortunately he has recently started going into overdrive with his aggression toward the lyretail. Within the last week it's gotten to the point where he appears to be going out of his way to drive her out of her hiding places. She's looking very miserable and can't get much peace from him at all. She's very thin and pale, and spends as much time as she can trying to hide from him. To be clear: he's not displaying toward her or trying to mate with her; he is chasing and biting her. He acts normally toward the other females in the tank. He doesn't even treat the other males as badly as he does her.

I believe my only option is going to be to remove her.(Not certain what size tank she will go in. I'm debating either setting up the 30 gallon again, or buying a smaller desktop type tank- 10 or under. ) That's where my questions come in:

Can a molly be kept without other mollies? She's at the point where she runs from all of them. I can't tell if they are also aggressive toward her or if she's just so fearful from his behavior that she's trying to avoid all of them.

If I keep her without other mollies, what would be a good, peaceful fish for her to be with? She's had enough harassment, and I don't want to risk more problems.

Should I keep her completely alone for a bit to give her time to recover, or would that be even more stressful?

Any other advice?
Has anyone else ever experienced this kind of problem with mollies?
 
Hi there,
Here is the background information:
Approximately 4 months ago I purchased a silver male, a female sunset lyretail, and a female black molly. I added them to a tank that had 2 dalmatians, one of which was pregnant. I posted a few weeks later because I was having an issue with the silver acting somewhat aggressively toward the lyretail. He wouldn't display to her, but would chase her off anytime she was near. He was fine with the other females. The advise was to give it time, so I decided to wait it out.

A couple of months ago I moved everyone up to a larger tank, as the dalmatian and the black had some babies, and very few were eaten, for whatever reason. I hoped having more space and more fish would keep the silver from harassing the lyretail as much. He did seem to calm down a little bit for awhile.

Unfortunately he has recently started going into overdrive with his aggression toward the lyretail. Within the last week it's gotten to the point where he appears to be going out of his way to drive her out of her hiding places. She's looking very miserable and can't get much peace from him at all. She's very thin and pale, and spends as much time as she can trying to hide from him. To be clear: he's not displaying toward her or trying to mate with her; he is chasing and biting her. He acts normally toward the other females in the tank. He doesn't even treat the other males as badly as he does her.

I believe my only option is going to be to remove her.(Not certain what size tank she will go in. I'm debating either setting up the 30 gallon again, or buying a smaller desktop type tank- 10 or under. ) That's where my questions come in:

Can a molly be kept without other mollies? She's at the point where she runs from all of them. I can't tell if they are also aggressive toward her or if she's just so fearful from his behavior that she's trying to avoid all of them.

If I keep her without other mollies, what would be a good, peaceful fish for her to be with? She's had enough harassment, and I don't want to risk more problems.

Should I keep her completely alone for a bit to give her time to recover, or would that be even more stressful?

Any other advice?
Has anyone else ever experienced this kind of problem with mollies?
It is unusual for a male to be aggressive to one female but fine with others, unless he is mistaking her for a male. Or she is actually a he. Can you post a clear side picture of your lyretail molly please?
 
Hi ForFro,
Sorry, no pictures. My camera's batteries are dead and my phone's picture capability isn't worth it. I can assure you she is a female, though. She absolutely has the girly fins. Thankfully mollies are easy to tell apart in that area.
 

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