Male mollies won't leave each other alone (gay fish??)

[GrayTeall]

I have a tall (torso-length) 55 gallon with mostly mollies and guppies of all ages. For around a month now, my male orange molly has been chasing my slender black molly who I think is also male and showing breeding behavior. I was worried at first, but the black molly hasn't shown signs of exhaustion or frustration or anything abnormal so I left them be. Eventually the black one learned that he can chase the orange one off by doing the same thing, and last night I caught him actually trying to breed with the orange one, swimming up really fast to his anal fin and turning sideways. But today I noticed one of my ex-baby mollies is now sexually mature and following the black fish around too, and now the black fish is constantly moving and can't catch a break even among the tank decorations. He can't lose them. I have other mollies but they hang out at the bottom of the tank, where it's slow and calm, and these 3 problem bachelors hang out near the top where there's nowhere to hide. They keep flaring their fins at each other and quickly spinning in circles around each other. I'd be mesmerized if I weren't worried about the black fish having no time to rest. Feeding them only distracts them for a few minutes and then they're right back at it. I've tried putting live plants at the top to give them more hiding places but I can't keep them alive. They get pushed around by the filter flow and fish snack at them and then they're dead and gone within like 3 weeks, and the only suction-cup decorations I've found at the store are betta leaves, which don't provide hardly enough cover. Is the only solution where I get to keep my fish buying multiple females? There's technically room but that'd be putting the tank at maximum capacity and then I'd have to worry about breeding.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

It's normal for male mollies to display at and sometimes pick on each other. Sometimes a gay fish happens, but usually, people are mistaking the display behaviours for courting behaviour, when it's actually more "intimidate rival males" is also programmed into their DNA, and they will establish a pecking order among themselves, even with no females around. The other males hanging near the bottom isn't a good sign either, mollies usually use the whole tank space, and like to eat from the surface, bottom and middle layers of the tank, so ones hanging only near the bottom is concerning to me. How many mollies do you have?

No, getting females isn't the solution, especially when you're not set up to handle fry.

But the tank dimensions worry me. Can you give us the H/W/D of the tank, please? Bear in mind that footprint of the tank is even more important than the water volume itself. Mollies can get large when given the space and time to grow, active strong swimmers, and vertical space is pretty useless to most fish, when it's horizontal space they really need. Live plants might struggle in a tall tank if the tank light doesn't penetrate very far, which can happen in tall tanks.

Can you give us the tank dimensions then please, ideally, photos of the tank and fish too, and tell us the complete stocking of fish in there? If you're able to test the water parameters, letting us know what those numbers are can be helpful too.

 

[emeraldking]

Males amongst males tend to impress one another to show who's the better one. That's not fighting. It's just an alpha thing between those males.

 

[Sgooosh]

i have guppies, and i found that the smallest male in the group will always be picked on.

 

[emeraldking]

i have guppies, and i found that the smallest male in the group will always be picked on.

That's a dominance thing of the others towards the small one.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

i have guppies, and i found that the smallest male in the group will always be picked on.

Also bear in mind that if all of the fish target and start harrassing one specific fish, sometimes that means there's something wrong with that fish that we haven't discovered yet. Like, even generally peaceful community tank fish can relentlessly harass a fish that is sickly or dying. Seems mean, but from their point of view, a sick or dying fish is a beacon for predators, and they don't want the sickly fish around them, drawing in predators. But in a tank, there's no escape.

It's one reason it's useful to have a hospital tank and a breeder box handy. I've moved dying (from old age or dropsy or similar) fish to a breeder box just so they can pass away peacefully without being bullied and chased, or the body eaten and potentially making any contagious illness spread.

It's not always the case. Yours might just be at the bottom of the pecking order. But worth keeping a closer eye on him in case there's something there the fish are sensing that you aren't yet.

 

[Sgooosh]

Also bear in mind that if all of the fish target and start harrassing one specific fish, sometimes that means there's something wrong with that fish that we haven't discovered yet. Like, even generally peaceful community tank fish can relentlessly harass a fish that is sickly or dying. Seems mean, but from their point of view, a sick or dying fish is a beacon for predators, and they don't want the sickly fish around them, drawing in predators. But in a tank, there's no escape.

It's one reason it's useful to have a hospital tank and a breeder box handy. I've moved dying (from old age or dropsy or similar) fish to a breeder box just so they can pass away peacefully without being bullied and chased, or the body eaten and potentially making any contagious illness spread.

It's not always the case. Yours might just be at the bottom of the pecking order. But worth keeping a closer eye on him in case there's something there the fish are sensing that you aren't yet.

yes i agree, that is why i always separate a fish others are nipping it a lot. it probably has some underlying problems anyway