Need Advice On Mollies!

[jordan1231]

Hi,
I have a 10 gallon tank with a few plants and some corral and a fake octopus that the fish can hide inside and I have 3 mollies and 1 otto cat in it. The larger female mollie has it in for the smaller female and won't leave her alone! The male just keeps to himself usually. I got the advice to keep the mollie in a breeder pen for a few days to calm her down but I feel bad she is insuch a small space. Everybody has gotten along great since I out her in there this morning. I really don't want to get rid of her but is she ever going to stop chasing the other fish? She will also chase the otto cat and the male during feeding. Any advice would be great. Thanks

 

[Annastasia]

Territorial aggression, methinks. 10g is fairly small for 3 adult Mollies. Is there any chance of upgrading?

Also, 'time-outs' sometimes work, but with large fish like Mollies, breeder nets and traps are just too small for them to stay in there for a while. It will stress them out, which can do more harm then good overall.

Good luck, and welcome to the forum.

 

[jordan1231]

Thanks for the fast advice!!! I actually felt really bad for the other fish and for putting her in time out so I just took her back to the store and now the tank is in much better spirits!!! I have another question though and that is how do you tell if a black molly is pregnant??? And in the yellow platys? Thanks

 

[Annastasia]

Well, that's good to hear. Just be aware you may need to upgrade the tank, as you could continue to run in to aggression problems.

Black Mollies are hard, since you cannot see the gravid spot getting darker. You just have to look for them getting fatter, basically. And on yellow Platies, you should be able to see a red or brownish spot near where the stomach meets the tail. This is the gravid spot. Fry grow in there. The color is usually caused by the fry's eyes, so as they grow, the color of the gravid spot usually gets darker. If you look in the FAQ Topics under Livebearers, I believe there is a picture of a Guppy with a gravid spot. It's basically the same for Platies.