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Pregnant Mollie Being Harassed

21K views 8 replies 9 participants last post by  riellebright 
#1 ·
I have 2 dalmatian mollies, one of which is pregnant and she is being constantly harassed by my male...he just wants to mate constantly and that's been the case since I got them. It's been about 2 months now and the female is very very pregnant. I don't know the how long the gestation cycle is, or when she should be popping them out, but as of today the female just wants to hang out by the heater and the male is still constantly harassing her...pushing her around the tank at times. Yesterday I bought another female dalmatian to try and curb the problem...but I don't think my male really gets the point. I'm worried he's going to stress her to the point of killing her, and I'm fairly fond of the fish...is it time to separate her? I have a breeder cage but it is currently occupied in my girlfriends tank with a guppy that's squirting out babies. My mollie really seems weak...please help me!
 
#2 ·
I'm sorry that you are having problems with your male molly. I have 1 blk. balloon molly in my 55 gal tank. I was given a female baby dalmation molly that is grown now. The male balloon discovered the female and chased her everywhere. She kept hiding and only came out for food. She was so stressed out that she had Ich really bad and I had to get rid of her as it was really bad. I did not wamt the whole tank to get it. I found the male balloon the next day with it and I'am treating it with Quick Cure. He's doing much better and is almost well. I would think that getting more females would curb the chasing of just the one. Mollies take along time to give birth then other livebearers so putting her in a breeder will stress her out more. I would seperate the male if you can. How big is your tank? Bigger tanks are better because their is more places to hide. Have alot of plants and stuff so that they can hide and not be harrassed by the male. Mollies get big if you have a Dalmation Molly 3-4" big when full grown.Alot of times male will chase pregnate mollies so that they can eat the babies and be the first to father her new litter of frys. Keep us posted.
 
#4 ·
If you still have space in your tank, then try adding another female molly. Livebearers should have a ration of 1:2 male:female to avoid the fmeale getting stressed out due to constant mating advances by the male. a 1:3 ratio would be even better.

My male molly has 3 females to choose from, so he's quite distracted and the females don't get stressed much.
 
#9 ·
I had a male just like tht!! He even injured other species, bullied all my fish except the cichlids. I had to put him n a tank wITH ONLY 2FEMALE mollies & all was well! Now hes in the main 55 gallon & with the current better, ratio of female to male he bothers no one, never did bother any females tho
 
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