i think my molly is racist....

[Csilover]

Ok... I got a new tank, I was really excited, and I got 2 mollies to go along with it, they were really cool, a black one and a white one (Yin and Yang) and they were fine for a while.... Then Yang (the black one) would chase Yin around the tank! For no reason! At first I didn't think anything of it, but he won't stop, he's being mean to Yin. So today I get two new mollies, a black/white one (Cow) and an orange one (no name yet) and Yang does the exact same thig to Cow as he does to Yin, he even chases both of them around at the same time! What is happening? And I think Cow might become a parent sometime soon, how do I tell if it's a boy or a girl, and if it's pregnant?

Anyway, the orange one isn't a problem, he/she just swims lazily around the tank.

And can mollies even see color?

 

[FroggyFox]

Why dont you read this... http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?t=17554

Its more likely that Yang is a male and the ones you've gotten that Yang is chasing are females...that is a common thing with livebearers.

 

[Csilover]

Ok, I'm a bit new with fishtanks, sorry if I ask a lot of questions about your answers, but I understand what you said there.

 

[FroggyFox]

Hey thats totally ok thats what we're here for. Of course for beginners its good to read around the board a lot. Your mollies are livebearers so you would find helpful information about them in the livebearer forum. Then attached to the top of each forum are helpful threads that have been "stickied" that you might want to read through

 

[Csilover]

Ok, cool. What does a gonopodium look like?

 

[FroggyFox]

It looks like a little pointy fin...they can hold it up against themselves. The difference is when you see a female that fin is fanned out.

 

[Csilover]

If I understand you correctly... Then from what I saw... Yang is a female, and Cow, Yin, and the orange fish are males..........

Oh, and now the orange fish has taken up the horrible habbit of chasing Cow around.....

 

[FroggyFox]

well...then you may want to re-evaluate the fish you have. Generally its best to keep at least 2 females per male with livebearers...

Sometimes though one or two fish will be really dominant and pick on the other fish and there's not a whole lot you can do about it...you can try trading them in at your fish store?

 

[Csilover]

But Cow might be a female, because it isn't that slim, and the thing said that males are generally slimmer.

 

[go_dawgs]

i agree with froggy

 

[love_fish]

Theres a pic on how to sex platys, but its the same for mollies.

 

[Csilover]

Ok, I have two girls: Yang and Cow, and two guys: Yin and the orange fish

 

[love_fish]

I say you trade in one male and get another female. Livebearers like to be in a ratio of 1 male: at least 2 females, preferably more.

 

[Csilover]

Could i get 2 more females? Then i'd have 2 males and 6 females, because i've grown attached to them..... Or would that be overcrowded? I have a 10g.

 

[Lotus]

I wouldn't put any more in that tank. I think you have enough in there already. You could try to return a male for another female, which should reduce the aggression.

 

[Csilover]

What if i got a 20g, and got 2 female mollies, then moved all 6 into it...? Then got some guppies or something for my 10g?