Pls Help Fish Being Bullied :-(

[trinity_lee1]

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum and new to keeping tropical fish, a few months ago we set up a tropical tank with the following in... 4 neon tetras, 1 dwarf guerami, 2 mollys, 4 guppies and 1 pleco. Our tank was 35 litre and we were 'promised' by more than one professional in the shop that the tank would not be over crouded, this was very important to me because I did not want to have to spend out more money on a new one (we already had this tank empty as I previously rehomed some goldfish to a friends pond due to out growing the tank).

So, I joined another fish forum for advice.... my molly is being bullied by the guppies, its mainly 1 guppy but the other 3 follow suit, they mostly go for one of my mollys but sometimes they have a go at the other one aswell. We were advised on the other forum that the tank was over crowded and we should upgrade. £160 later we had upgraded to a 120 litre tank and we are back to square one, the guppies are still bullying this molly. If I do take some fish out I will need to replace them with something as now we have a huge tank with very little to look at, I also have no idea where the fish would go to either!?

What can I do?? I wanted tropical fish to enjoy them but its impossible to look in the tank and feel tranquility when I see this poor molly being harrassed. We were told that all these fish would be fine together (they are all male as far as we have been told).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I want to learn and enjoy this hobbie but all its causing me so far is a pain!

Thanks for your help
Trinity

 

[minnnt]

Hi Lee, welcome to the forum.

Guppies can actually be very aggressive, but i would have thought that the Mollies could handle themselves. What sex are all the fish?

If it were my tank i would be looking at maybe rehoming the Guppies and massively increasing the Neons to something like 12-15.

Also, what kind of Pleco is it?

Cheers.

 

[shelaghfishface]

maybe take the molly back to the shop and swap it for more guppies

 

[trinity_lee1]

Hi minnt, all the fish are male apparently. So you think we should rehome the guppies and purchase 10ish more neons? Would we still be able to get some other fish later? Would you reccommend any to avoid this problem again?

The pleco is a hypostomus plecostomus judging by the photos online, but the thing we are unsure about is that he is only 2.5cm (barely) in size now and we were told by more than one person in the shop that the pleco we were buying would not grow above something like 10cm, but looking online it says he can grow to a huge size. The shop we got them all from is a proper aquatic shop and the guys that work in there are all full timers, not hugely young etc and really did seem to know their stuff (hope I havent offended anyone by stereotyping here) but the point I am trying to make is I am astonished that they could have got such fundimental things wrong...

 

[sadguppy]

If the Molly is a female and the guppies are male, that is your answer. They are horny little blighters and can interbreed and will try all day every day, they can harass ladies to death! I woulf say re-home either the Molly or guppies, maybe get more tetras as they are stunning I'm big groups and far happier.

Then go to your lfs and see what takes your fancy, come back and post here to get some advice on compatability.

Congrats on taking the advice and moving to a bigger tank. I am interested to know what kind of plec you have?

Edit:must have posted at the same time! Yes you should be able to get mote tetras and some other fish if you re-home the guppies as long as it is done slowly to allow the bacteria to catch up.

 

[trinity_lee1]

Hi sadguppy, thanks for your response. We were told the mollys were male, but im guessing that as they also told us our pleco would only grow to 10cm max that its quite possible our molly is female, is there any way we can tell?

Ive just posted above re the pleco question you asked.

Great advise on checking here first before we add more fish, thanks

 

[minnnt]

Hi Lee, if you do have a common plec then he/she has the ability to reach 2ft. So that will need to go back to the shop aswell. If the Guppies are all males then i would say that is the reason behind the harassing/bullying, and like sadguppy says, if the Molles are female then that won't be helping matters.

What dimensions are the tank? That will help us help you with a stock list that suits both you and your tank. Also what kind of filtration are you running?

The experience you have encountered is quite common. The shop, whilst they should have the obligation to ensure the tank you have is suitable for the fish you want, they often see pound signs first before the needs of the fish. Shops often sell fish that people fall in love with such as the big Plec you have and Oscars etc. They take on a character that their owners fall in love with, then the owner needs a bigger tank because the fish is now a foot long and the tank is only 2ft long, so you go back to the shop and buy a bigger tank from them, then you want more fish as the new tank looks empty etc etc etc. It's a vicious circle. lol.

 

[sadguppy]

If you head over to the livebearers forum there are stickies at the top on how to sex mollies, guppies, platies and other livebearers. It's very easy and comes down the the shape of the fins on the underside of the fish.

Any fish shop employee worth their salt will know this however if they are very young it can be harder to tell. Take a look and report back. If it is female you need to swap her out or get her another female friend and ditch the bully guppies.

 

[minnnt]

Males have a gonopodium which is a modified anal fin. Looks like a penis basically. lol. The females have a normal full anal fin. This goes for most livebearers.

 

[trinity_lee1]

Hi minnt, the tank is 80cm wide by 35cm depth by 40cm high

Everything in there is supposedly male, they told us that all males would be best. The shop wont take back any of the fish as we have had them for a couple of months now, I will try and rehome the guppies myself and perhaps keep the pleco until it gets much bigger then rehome?

The filter we have got is a fluval U3 filter, we need to upgrade our heater, any reccommendations while we are talking? Maybe we will get something right!! lol

 

[trinity_lee1]

Looking side on the mollys, both of them have two large ish fish underneath so I am guessing by your post they are females?

 

[lloyd]

this link will help you tell if your mollies are males orm females. it sounds to me like you have a female. http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/392696-help-male-or-female-mollies/page__p__3299262__fromsearch__1#entry3299262


if you where set on keeping mollys and guppys it can be done but you need to keep the ratio of males to females to something like 1:4 or 2:6 males to females. the trouble is if you brought a load of female uppys you would have to buy loads and loads (Like 10-12) because you already have four males and if you did this you will soon find your tank will be filled with guppy fry in there hundreds as they breed like mad. i would sugeest chosing between mollys and guppys and sticking to one type but keeping numbers down due to the breeding habits. if only one molly is getting chased and you have 2 then you may have a male and female so why not get a few more females. you can even get a different colour variety

you really need to take the plec back as it will mess your tank up in terms of waste and it will grow huge and you should up the numbers of neons to 4. i would be very cross with your lfs if i was you....... but on the plus side a 120l with a small group of mollys and a nice big shoal of neons would look stunning.

You may want to look at buldog plecs and bristle nose plecs. they are very attractive and nonly stay small

 

[minnnt]

Any LFS should take back fish if you're willing to give them to them. What makes you think the heater needs replacing? How many watts is it? A rough guide is 1w per litre, so anything above 120 will be fine.

I would rehome the Pleco now. You could replace him with a pair of Bristlenose Plecs. They're very hardy Plecs and accept a wide range of parameters. Do you have any idea's on what your water chemistry is? PH and hard/soft water etc? If not then you should be able to find out by visiting you local water suppliers website.

 

[lloyd]

Any LFS should take back fish if you're willing to give them to them. What makes you think the heater needs replacing? How many watts is it? A rough guide is 1w per litre, so anything above 120 will be fine.

I would rehome the Pleco now. You could replace him with a pair of Bristlenose Plecs. They're very hardy Plecs and accept a wide range of parameters. Do you have any idea's on what your water chemistry is? PH and hard/soft water etc? If not then you should be able to find out by visiting you local water suppliers website.

Or taking a water sample to you fish shop.

 

[minnnt]

Any LFS should take back fish if you're willing to give them to them. What makes you think the heater needs replacing? How many watts is it? A rough guide is 1w per litre, so anything above 120 will be fine.

I would rehome the Pleco now. You could replace him with a pair of Bristlenose Plecs. They're very hardy Plecs and accept a wide range of parameters. Do you have any idea's on what your water chemistry is? PH and hard/soft water etc? If not then you should be able to find out by visiting you local water suppliers website.

Or taking a water sample to you fish shop.

As long as it isn't the same one you brought the fish from...

Also, they won't check the hardness and very rarely check for ph...