Topic: My male Molly always chasing my male Balloon Molly. I don’t know why? My Balloon Molly is to tired and weak.. What can I do at this stage? I feel like the fish might die if I don’t do something. I need help!

*Awarded Answer
Posted by Chris W: I have had issues in the past with aggression between mollies. There are a couple of ways to fix these issues. I’ve been keeping these fish for around a decade now and feel I can talk on keeping these effectively. Now lets answer your question.

Molly Fish Fighting and Chasing

When keeping molly fish that are fighting and chasing each other you need to be careful because your fish will die if it becomes too stressed. This is why watching your fish and keeping an eye on them on a daily basis is important. When aquarium fish become stressed out, their immune systems weaken. This makes it easier for them to catch illnesses and possibly die.

So here are your options:

You can just remove the fish that’s chasing the other fish. Put the aggressive fish in a different fish aquarium. This is very simple if you have other fish tanks to utilize.
Try to deter the aggression in different ways. You can add a lot more hiding spots for the fish to hide. Fake plants, caves, and spots where the fish can hide instead of being stressed out all the time. You can also add other fish that may help deter the stress in other areas. You can also completely re-arrange the tank decorations and this may help.

Hopefully these couple suggestions help figure out your aggression issue.

So my sons balloon molly died. I did a big water change and service yesterday. With 7 dalmation mollies, 2 scissor rasbora, 3 Pristella tetras, one monk tetra and a bristlenose in a 50 gallon what would be a good center piece fish my autistic son would appreciate? I have a petco in town and a petsmart 30 minutes away for resources . Thanks for the ideas!

Yeah, I got them in this 50 1 1/2 months ago . I was going to get the two more after I had my tank dialed in. They were in a smaller tank before this one. I thought about a gourami , I do love them quite a bit.

I have a gourami tanks mixed with randomness in a 75. But gouramis are awesome. They aren’t to aggressive (only aggressive with each other) and they are beautiful to look at.

Could your son go with and pick out a fish? Or if that is too much for him, maybe he could look at pictures you find online and pick one. Otherwise I think going with a gourami, maybe on in a color he likes if that works out, would be great.

he can go he likes animals since he goes with me to work a lot, I’m a vet tech. I was just trying to think in advance since I feel bad his fish died.

Understood. That is very difficult for anyone! Great idea to think ahead. You need to know what will work for your size tank, with who currently resides in the tank, your water chemistry, etc. Hopefully your son enjoys a trip to the pet store and finds a wonderful new fish!

I would pick up 6 Corydoras catfish! They are great cleaners always active and fun to watch, they are like little dogs running around the bottom the the tank. Smaller fish big personality. I say 6 because they like to be in groups (shoals)

Could always get a male betta as well, they usually get along with everyone else (at least the several I’ve had did). They may flash at the other fish from time to time but I’ve never had one fight in my community tanks with them.

I was thinking about that too a betta , the one I have stayed with the baby mollies for a few weeks when they were a month old as a sitter til I got the big tank.

If you have a sand substrate… How about looking into golden dojo loaches. They stay out and about. Wouldn’t hurt other fish. Are entertaining to watch, especially at feeding time.

I would take him if you can to the pet store and see if he likes anything there

My son has autism and I cannot express the way he sees the things he would like but if it was up to him it would be mario themed as he loves his Nintendo style game but sponge bob and Gary is in my shrimp tank which comes a close second both very colourful.

He called our tarantula cupcake which makes me smile and as he named it he seems more interested in it than me saying here’s Tara the tarantula he would just not want anything more to do with it but as he names stuff he thinks its his he even talks to all the pets like they are people.

A dinosaur centred around those castles would be great but I would ask him if he would like that or a meltdown and him saying you ruined the tank trust me I would get that from my boy but if he chose the centre piece it probably would be bowser from mario lol

Opaline gourami lots of personality an there easy to keep i had one with platys tetras a golden algae eater an bn pleco.

What the previous comments said- depends on the fish. Some bettas are very chill, like my long finned boy, and others are rage made flesh, like my plakat. Longfin betta Lazuli sometimes sleeps on my mystery snail- plakat Starscream has murdered and devoured every snail in his tank that he can find. I wouldn’t ever trust him with other fish. Basically, give it a try but be ready to separate the betta if he’s not adjusting to his tank mates.

I would recommend no because Betta’s can be aggressive towards other fish, but then some are completely fine.

I have a single female in with 3 mollies. Mind you this is a very passive beta. It’s hit and miss. Some will do good and some will not. if you do prepare for the worse you may lose a fish.

Aquarium Mollies are Fighting and Nipping

You can. But I would suggest not. Not because of the betta, but because of the mollies. I had a betta in with my mollies before and ended up rehoming her.

Mollies are aggressive eaters. Feeding her was a nightmare. She couldn’t compete with the better swimmers and bigger-bodied mollies for food, even if they didn’t like the betta food and would immediately spit it out. Even trying to get her into her own corner after feeding everyone else was a pain.

It can be done, but prepare a separate tank for the betta.

I didn’t have platies at the time. My platies now blend in with the mollies while I feed. All livebearers are pretty aggressive eaters when they’re healthy. Male livebearers live for food and females. Female livebearers live for food.

My koi Betts is in with 6 cardinal tetras and three male guppies. No issues… but, it really depends on the betta’s temperment.. some can be nasty little guys.

My current Betta I recon would be ok with anything that left him alone, he is in a 64l with some harlequin rasbora 8 Endlers and a small breeding group of emerald dwarf rasbora, the last time I did a clean and WC I pulled 30+ endler fry from the tank, I even added a few colour culled shrimp last week to see if he left them alone, his only reaction so far has been to build a bubble nest 🙂 I have had around a dozen over the years, some have been absolute killers of anything put with them, as she said above Betta can easily be kept in the right community but you really need a plan B incase things get fighty, it also helps to buy your Betta from a shop that has them swimming in tanks with fish rather than kept in cups or small single cell betta blocks.

I have a 29 tall planted tank. A rescue betta was first fish. Now have 6tetras,4 platys, 3 corys plus 1 young angel. No problems. A and B hang out together. B has a little pot he sleeps in alot. I feed two different foods at each meal. Spreads the crowd out.

Following. I have a 46 gallon with gold and neon tetras and a few Molly’s and shrimp. But I have a 1gallon betta tank with a lonely betta. I’m building my big tank for Discus and that may freak out my Betta.