Black Molly Losing Weight?

So I have two black mollies, Sherlock and John. Pretty sure Sherlock is the female and John is the male (I thought they were both female because neither had the pointed analfin, but that was thrown out the window when I found a fry lol), and Sherlock is bullying John to the point where he's losing weight. Sherlock was naturally bigger than John, but now Sherlock is getting fatter and John is getting slimmer and I don't know what to do. Is this the molly hierarchy I've heard of, and would adding in another molly help? If so, should I get a bigger or smaller sized one, if that even matters.

I'm just really worried and have been trying my best to give John food, but Sherlock keeps chasing him away from it (but no other fish - I have a sparkling gourami and bristlenose pleco and she doesn't chase them off food at all). He's going after the food, for a bit at least, but then Sherlock chases him away and he'll stay in the bottom corner, and I don't know what to do. Please help

Here's the best pictures I could get of them, first John then Sherlock.

 

They both look like females. They were probably pregnant when you got them. Males have a thin pointy analfin and females have the triangular analfin.


In small tanks aggression is more common. How big is the tank?
However if it is plenty big enough you may just have to add more or remove one.

 

Even though you're seeing fry, both fish could still be female because a molly female can store sperm for up to 3 monthes waiting for optimal conditions before giving birth. They both look female to me.

What you're describing is molly hierarchy. The alpha molly likes showing off that they are the alpha which is why it is advised to always have mollies alone or with 2 others of their gender. When there's 2 betta mollies, the alpha will split their attention between the 2 giving each betta molly time to rest and recover.

I would suggest getting another female molly close in size to these 2. Before you add her, though, take both mollies out and keep them in bags while you rearrange your tank. That helps break up the molly's concept of territory so it puts them all on a more even field because the tank seems new to the old ones and is new to the new one. Then acclimate them back to the tank at the same time and in the same way. They should reconfigure their hierarchy and give John a break.

In the meantime, at mealtime, you might start scooping john out and feeding her in a cup so she can eat in peace. That's what I have to do for my betta because she's a slow eater and my 4 mollies will eat everything before she has a chance.

If you're worried the stress of being removed may be too much for john then you might want to remove sherlock during feeding time so john can remain in the tank and eat and sherlock isn't starving and unhappy when she returns the tank.

If John and Sherloxj is anything like my mollies, she'll happily gobble up the food in the cup without a problem. And getting her in the cup will be easier once she relates it to food. When I put my betta fish back in the aquarium, I let her and her uneaten food both float out of the cup. My mollies have figured out that the cup sometimes means betta food so they've been make it more difficult for me to get her out because when I dip the cup in the water to try to remove her, I have to wait for 1 or 2 mollies to swim in and swim out.

 

Wow, I didn't know they could wait that long before giving birth! That makes a lot of sense, thanks for letting me know.

I will for sure try out the cup method thank you for answering

 

You're welcome. I hope it works for John and she recovers quickly.

 

They both look like females. They were probably pregnant when you got them. Males have a thin pointy analfin and females have the triangular analfin.


In small tanks aggression is more common. How big is the tank?
However if it is plenty big enough you may just have to add more or remove one.

So sorry for the late reply! My phone is messing up and somehow I didn't see your response!

I have a 20 gallon tank, and was planning on moving my sparkling gourami into a 10 gallon tank and getting a couple more mollies soon to help with the hierarchy problem and keep it from getting overstocked

 

How are Sherlock and John doing?

 

How are Sherlock and John doing?

Hello! Sorry for the very late reply! I just added two more mollies to the tank (gold panda mollies I named Markus and Simon) and now Sherlock is working harder to assert her dominance, so John was able to eat a little more. Hopefully this continues so she can gain some weight, but for right now, it's looking good for them

 

Hello! Sorry for the very late reply! I just added two more mollies to the tank (gold panda mollies I named Markus and Simon) and now Sherlock is working harder to assert her dominance, so John was able to eat a little more. Hopefully this continues so she can gain some weight, but for right now, it's looking good for them

I'm glad things are doing better. Gold panda mollies sound really pretty.