Molly fish is Bossy Queen Cookie

[MissNoodle]

Cookie the molly is bossy. Never physically damaging but shes traumatized other fish pretty good. She is currently in this 20gal. The skirts run from her and she changes targets all the time so its never one fish all the time, but I still worry about their happiness too.

I tried getting another female molly for her but that one was much smaller and hid all the time and was scared of her.

My options:

I can move cookie to her own tank by herself, swapping her with the platy, guppy, and molly who currently reside in it. Downside is cookie is a big fish, and the tank she would have to herself (plus 1 mystery snail and some ghost shrimp) is 10gal. Is a solo molly a bad thing? One molly may be okay with the bioload but ehhh. The current molly in this tank is tiny and very timid, hence why shes with them.

Or

I can try to locate a larger molly companion and hope it works out... only mollies I can find her size are sailfins. Downside: if this doesn't work out, there's nowhere to put another large molly. And what if BOTH mollies are psycho? Then there's 2 chasing the poor skirts around.

OR

Leave her to it, as shes not harming the skirts and they dart at one another anyways without any harm.


Rehoming isn't an option. Cookie is family and has been with us from the beginning.

Hmmm.

 

[PascalKrypt]

Have you considered filled your tank with hides, things that break the line of sight, etc? That is a somewhat smallish tank for the stocking and fish may be getting in each other's way which can bring out more aggression with fish that already have that tendency. I would suggest getting copious amounts of easy, fast-growing live plants that reach all the way to the surface and just planting them all over the place in bundles so everyone has somewhere to hide. Examples are bacopa, creeping jenny, ludwigia, anacharis, hornwort, cabomba, etc.
If you really don't want live plants get a whole bunch more of long plastic ones and try to make curtains with them to separate sections of the tank.

Won't solve the problem entirely but might make a serious difference.

 

[MissNoodle]

Have you considered filled your tank with hides, things that break the line of sight, etc? That is a somewhat smallish tank for the stocking and fish may be getting in each other's way which can bring out more aggression with fish that already have that tendency. I would suggest getting copious amounts of easy, fast-growing live plants that reach all the way to the surface and just planting them all over the place in bundles so everyone has somewhere to hide. Examples are bacopa, creeping jenny, ludwigia, anacharis, hornwort, cabomba, etc.
If you really don't want live plants get a whole bunch more of long plastic ones and try to make curtains with them to separate sections of the tank.

Won't solve the problem entirely but might make a serious difference.

Ive got hornwort right in the middle, diagonally cutting across the tank from the back to the front making a curtain. I have moneywort in the back, starting to grow.
I replaced two silks with the moneywort

Some potamogeton in the corner that isn't deciding whether it wants to melt or grow.

I am working on live plants for this tank, just slowly acquiring them. My next day off I may head to the store for more, depending what they have.

Theyre in a 20 gallon in this video.

 

[PascalKrypt]

Ive got hornwort right in the middle, diagonally cutting across the tank from the back to the front making a curtain. I have moneywort in the back, starting to grow.
I replaced two silks with the moneywort

Some potamogeton in the corner that isn't deciding whether it wants to melt or grow.

I am working on live plants for this tank, just slowly acquiring them. My next day off I may head to the store for more, depending what they have.

Theyre in a 20 gallon in this video.

Oh I'm sorry. Yes, I watched the video, twice. The blueish lighting colour and the couple silk plants somehow made them all appear fake to me! Sorry xD haha.
The way those plants are planted isn't really helping though, the are either in corners (so the fish can't swim behind) or too low/not full enough to actually break the line of sight. It needs to be a bit more heavy-handed for it to work.
Here is a picture of the sort of cover I was referring to.

Though there is obviously no guarantee that it will work. I guess these kind of situations are really a dilemma. You may have no choice but to put her in the smaller tank by herself. Obviously she doesn't seem to appreciate company

 

[MissNoodle]

Ah yeah, but its also hard not to plant it so dense as to not hinder swim space

I got a call from my husband, my aunt has a tank for us, I'm gonna see what size it is. If its larger than 10gal ill upgrade the 10gal and let cookie have that to herself lol

 

[kallililly1973]

WOW what a super brat!!! hahahaha... I had a Dalmation molly ( mama whippy ) that was the sweetest thing ever she used to sit at the top at feeding time with her mouth just inhaling every flake that went by like a Whale pulling in plankton... It appears cookie owns every millimeter of the tank. I think she should be in a species only 125 with just her hahahhahaa...Thanks for the vid n the laugh

 

[MissNoodle]

WOW what a super brat!!! hahahaha... I had a Dalmation molly ( mama whippy ) that was the sweetest thing ever she used to sit at the top at feeding time with her mouth just inhaling every flake that went by like a Whale pulling in plankton... It appears cookie owns every millimeter of the tank. I think she should be in a species only 125 with just her hahahhahaa...Thanks for the vid n the laugh

Cookie does that too, she will even nibble your hand looking for food lol
Hilariously, I tried a male betta in this tank. He and cookie got along perfect. But tetras not at all.

 

[PascalKrypt]

Cookie does that too, she will even nibble your hand looking for food lol
Hilariously, I tried a male betta in this tank. He and cookie got along perfect. But tetras not at all.

Hahaha. FIsh can be so temperamental sometimes. There is a typical 'type' for each species but there will always be those individuals that strive to be something different at heart.
Cookies mission in life is to be an oscar.

 

[kallililly1973]

Cookie does that too, she will even nibble your hand looking for food lol
Hilariously, I tried a male betta in this tank. He and cookie got along perfect. But tetras not at all.

Awww that's awesome I miss my mollies I had a white black and a dalmation. No room for them atm but ya never know what the future holds

 

[Debbie1986]

My female Kio Betta acted that way until I put her in a tank were every other female was her exact size! she changed her attitude fast!

 

[MissNoodle]

Hahaha. FIsh can be so temperamental sometimes. There is a typical 'type' for each species but there will always be those individuals that strive to be something different at heart.
Cookies mission in life is to be an oscar.

This made me laugh lol thanks! I adore cookie, shes one of our most personable fish and has sold me on mollies (I used to not like them)

Awww that's awesome I miss my mollies I had a white black and a dalmation. No room for them atm but ya never know what the future holds

I have a 46gal id love a sailfin but my DG is racist against mollies lol and cookie can't be switched with the DG because cookie hates cories too

My female Kio Betta acted that way until I put her in a tank were every other female was her exact size! she changed her attitude fast!

That was my thought process with adding a larger molly. I got Dumpling, a balloon molly and shes very skittish and didnt start exploring anything until I put her in the 10 gallon with our female platy and male guppy. She was absolutely horrified with cookie. Wouldnt come out from behind the heater for weeks.

 

[PascalKrypt]

I have a 46gal id love a sailfin but my DG is racist against mollies lol and cookie can't be switched with the DG because cookie hates cories too

Hahaha. Predictable So she likes bettas, but not all the peaceful fish.... how about the dwarf, or have you been to scared to try that?

I actually have two balloon mollies, platinum like yours, with enough attitude to fill a room. You can come and pick them up right now for free... guessing you like across the ocean though =# I got them when I bought a pristine, stocked and well-planted tank for a ludicrously low price. So I didn't ask questions about the exact stocking aside from the tetras that were visible on the picture and just went and got it. Now I've got these horrifying things bobbing around and stealing all the food from the cardinals and the glowlights, hahaha. They are so not my style I'll leave them for now and the next time a buyer comes for some fry I'll try and tempt them into taking the boisterous pair. Yours is way, way smaller than my pair though, is she a fully grown adult?

 

[Elkwatcher]

And this is how we end up getting more tanks lol! Bad fishy!

 

[MissNoodle]

Hahaha. Predictable So she likes bettas, but not all the peaceful fish.... how about the dwarf, or have you been to scared to try that?

I actually have two balloon mollies, platinum like yours, with enough attitude to fill a room. You can come and pick them up right now for free... guessing you like across the ocean though =# I got them when I bought a pristine, stocked and well-planted tank for a ludicrously low price. So I didn't ask questions about the exact stocking aside from the tetras that were visible on the picture and just went and got it. Now I've got these horrifying things bobbing around and stealing all the food from the cardinals and the glowlights, hahaha. They are so not my style I'll leave them for now and the next time a buyer comes for some fry I'll try and tempt them into taking the boisterous pair. Yours is way, way smaller than my pair though, is she a fully grown adult?

Originally we bought the 10 gallon for our son, we started with cookie, a female betta, the dwarf gourami and two java loaches. We cycled with these, and they were all babies. Cookie and the DG got along at first... then once DG hit maturity they became mortal enemies and physically tried to kill one another. Now the DG hates EVERY molly he meets, even Dumpling the tiny little thing. So its not even an option to put cookie and the DG back together

If you are asking about my balloon molly, I don't know if shes full size or not. Her head is the same size as Cookie's head, but shes super small. Cookie is 4 inches. Dumpling is just barely over 1 inch, but her proportions are adult and shes dropped fry before. She has not grown at all in the amount of time we have had her either. So I don't know. Shes about the same size as most balloons I see at the stores. I'm not the biggest fan of balloon mollies either, but Dumpling was pretty darn cute lol I fell in love with her.

Besides the male sailfin mollies, ive yet to find any molly as big as cookie. Shes pretty big.

And this is how we end up getting more tanks lol! Bad fishy!

Shhhh lol we are picking up a 2nd 20H I think it is, gonna move cookie to that and the residents of the 10 gallon to the other 20H. Maybe ill pick up a couple other mollies for cookie and see how it goes from there lol

 

[PascalKrypt]

Shhhh lol we are picking up a 2nd 20H I think it is, gonna move cookie to that and the residents of the 10 gallon to the other 20H. Maybe ill pick up a couple other mollies for cookie and see how it goes from there lol

I seriously hope for your sake you don't end up with more cookies andevenmoretanksCOUGH.

The pair of balloons bobbing here are not that long, but they look much ... fuller? than dumpling. At least on the photos. They have pitbull faces. I think they could swallow a neon tetra if they planned on it. I'll see if I can get a picture of them with something to compare for size.