Male molly is a really big jerk.

iamgray

I've got a 67g tank with 12 harlequin rasboras, 5 angelfish, 3 mollies (1m, 2f), and 1 Dwarf Gourami (named Cedric). The tank is lightly planted, with rock piles/caves on opposite ends of the tank and also a bit of a hiding spot made from a couple rocks with a piece of (fake) driftwood in the back of the tank, in between those rock piles.

The male molly is, as stated in the subject, a really big jerk. From this point on, I will refer to him as Molly-o (think Mario...), because that's his name. I had 2 dwarf gouramis, and Molly-o would pester both of them incessantly. The one Dwarf Gourami died a couple weeks ago, and I thought maybe he died as a result of being pestered so much (it seemed Molly-o always targeted one more than the other). After that, Molly-o left Cedric alone a bit, but I have still seen him pestering him occasionally. Chasing, pecking/nipping, just being overall annoying.

All of a sudden this morning I spotted Molly-o chasing and pestering one of my angelfish, which is something I'd never seen before. There have been a couple times where Molly-o has started to approach the angels, but they've always managed to stare him down until he turns and goes away. This morning though, he targeted one of them and for whatever reason, wouldn't back down so then he was chasing and nipping at that one... now that angel look like it's on the verge of death. It's just lying on the gravel and looks to be panting.

The question is... if I add more female mollies, will that alleviate the situation a bit? Or at this point, do I take him back to the store in exchange for another male molly? Or is this behaviour typical of male mollies (in which case, I'll just take him back to the store and not get another male)?

And a side question... what do I do about the dying angelfish? Leave it there and hope it gets back up again? I don't have another tank at home that I can move it to...

iamgray

Additional note... I just went to look at the angelfish, and Molly-o was STILL pestering it... nipping/pecking at it while it's lying on the gravel. So I scooped him in the net and closed the lid on it to seal it off at the top... so right now he is inside the net, but still in the tank... where he will remain for the time being i guess...

editing to avoid a triple post... the angelfish died within a few minutes of me separating the molly from the others. :(

small fry

That sure is sad. You might need to remove the molly from your tank. It sounds like its your molly or the rest. Do you have any more fish alive that he keeps pestering? I love mollies but maybe this one is worth letting go (spare tank, petstore, friend).

iamgray

I feel awful... but Molly-o is no more.

I went to the store to exchange the dead angelfish, and picked up a couple more female mollies hoping that they would be enough of a distraction for the male that he'd stop picking on the other fish. I put them in the tank... and he completely ignored the new female mollies, and within 2 minutes he was chasing the new angelfish, along with the other angelfish... and picking on Cedric as well. I started to think about it and thought that if he's that much of a bully, I don't want to breed him with the females, and I wouldn't want to pass that fish on to someone else who may end up having the same issues, or end up breeding him as well... so he has been euthanized.

small fry

Sorry for your loss.

Chicklet

That's normal of Some male mollies, especially towards other males,
usually happens more so with maturity and age.

It's a Shame you had to euthanized him, He was only acting the way nature built him.

iamgray

Yeah, I know that, hence me feeling awful about doing it... When I returned to the store where I bought him (in order to exchange the dead angelfish), I asked about bringing him back to the store, and they said they have a 14 day return policy, with receipt, but it's been more than 14 days (and I threw the receipt out once the 14 days was up).

Maybe I could have found someone eventually to take him, but I have lost 2 fish already because of him, and saw that he was instantly targeting the other fish once that angelfish died, and so I felt it was necessary to get him out of there ASAP rather than feel overly bad for him and allow him to remain in there and kill who knows how many of the other fish. I regret not having a separate smaller tank that I could move him to so that I could have taken more time to find a store or a friend that would take him, but aside from that, I feel like I did the right thing just based on the necessity of acting quickly to avoid other fish losses.