Spontaneous Aggression

[RobberyinCSharp]

Hello everyone,
I was hoping you all could help me out with a problem I'm having with my balloon Molly. She is in a 10gallon tank with 1 other balloon Molly, 2 platies and 2 sparkling gouramis.
Out of nowhere, she has become exceptiobally aggressive to her smaller counterpart, the other balloon Molly. I feed them twice a say and my tank is cycled.
She is mostly aggressive to only the other Molly. Occasionally she will chase and nip at the platies.
Does anyone know why this happened and how I can fix this?

 

[fidjet2]

what genders are they?

 

[RobberyinCSharp]

The aggressive Molly is female, the one being picked on is male. There is a big size difference though. The female is much bigger. The 2 platies are female. The sparkling gouramis and (I think) male.

 

[RobberyinCSharp]

I've noticed she becomes most aggressive during feeding times. I feed them twice a day, rotating through crisps, flakes and bloodworms. I feed them for 5 minutes worth of eating, as balloon mollies have large bellies and big appetites. As I watched her, it was the first time she had ever attacked my other fish who were nearby eating her food. She behaves like I starve her, but I don't! What do I do? She's so pretty, I'd like not to give her back to the store

 

[Jinty McGinty]

You need to look at the anal fins to sex them, size means nowt.

Rounded anal fin = female
Pointed anal fin = male

I have two females who behave like this and from what I can gather it seems to be pretty normal stuff.

 

[synodontismultipunctatus]

If you feed them less the aggression may stop, in the wild fish are often hungry so dont worry about skipping a few days. If you stop feeding them as much they might spend more time lookong for food and less time looking for trouble.

Also if 'she' is going after the anal area of the other one 'she' is probably a he, you might want to double check!

 

[the_lock_man]

SOunds normal dominant molly behaviour. I had a similar issue at one point, and have read countless similar threads as well.

 

[RobberyinCSharp]

If you feed them less the aggression may stop, in the wild fish are often hungry so dont worry about skipping a few days. If you stop feeding them as much they might spend more time lookong for food and less time looking for trouble.

Also if 'she' is going after the anal area of the other one 'she' is probably a he, you might want to double check!

I did try doing that, just for digestive health. The problem was when I began to feed them again, the molly went BALLISTIC as soon as food came in, and she started beating the heck out of the other fish while she devoured her food

You need to look at the anal fins to sex them, size means nowt.

Rounded anal fin = female
Pointed anal fin = male

I have two females who behave like this and from what I can gather it seems to be pretty normal stuff.

I am fairly confident that my fish is a she. Still, I will take a picture of her when I get home and upload it for everyone to take a look at.

 

[Jinty McGinty]

I did try doing that, just for digestive health. The problem was when I began to feed them again, the molly went BALLISTIC as soon as food came in, and she started beating the heck out of the other fish while she devoured her food

I am fairly confident that my fish is a she. Still, I will take a picture of her when I get home and upload it for everyone to take a look at.

Yep mine do the same, so I make sure to spread the food out along the length of the tank so everyone gets a fair amount. Take a picture of each of the mollys so we can sex both of them.

 

[synodontismultipunctatus]

I didnt say that... Loool, pictures would stop any doubt!

Most of the time there is a feasable explanation to a fish lashing out, sometimes though you just wonder if they're, like many humans, just plain arseholes.

 

[Jinty McGinty]

I didnt say that... Loool, pictures would stop any doubt!

Most of the time there is a feasable explanation to a fish lashing out, sometimes though you just wonder if they're, like many humans, just plain arseholes.

Ooops deleted wrong section of quotes! Fixed now sorry lol.

 

[RobberyinCSharp]

Here is the pic! I'm sorry if it's too blurry. I can take another one if it's too hard to sex the fish. Thanks again everyone!

http/s1118.photobucket.com/albums/k619/benardob1/?action=view&current=db4270bc.jpg&evt=user_media_share

 

[RobberyinCSharp]

Meh!!!! I just did a 70% water change ( just as a weekly routine ) and now my Molly is getting along with the other; or at least not attacking him. I'm not going to feed them until Wednesday, and hopefully the feeding won't instigate another fight....

What is going on???

 

[synodontismultipunctatus]

Ok youve definately got a female in there, one of your pictures is blurry so i cant really say for sure what the other one is.
Did u do a water test before you water changed?

 

[RobberyinCSharp]

The other one in the pics is female; she had fry
I normally don't do a water test right before changing the water, because I'll be changing the parameters afterward. I just gave the gravel a good vacuum, took out 70% of the water, and tested it afterwards.