White female dalmation molly dead

So I get up this morning and one of my favorite fish is dead at the bottom of the tank. I believe she may
have been too stressed out by being harassed by one of the male dalmation mollies. We've been having major
aggression problems. with this one. He chases all the other mollies in the tank and so we put him in a little breeding
contraption to see if that would calm him down at all. ANd as soon as we put him in it, the other male dalmation molly
went nuts!! Started chasing all the mollies also. So we took the one back out of the breeder thing and he seemed
calmer.. For a day or two. Then I wake up this morning to find the female dead. Could it have been from stress from all
the aggression going on in the tank? All the other fish are fine. I have 2 male dalmation mollies, had 2, now 1 female
dalmation mollies, 1 black male molly, and 1 black female molly. The water is perfect so that's not an issue. Do I not have
enough females to male ratio? I really cannot add more fish to the tank and my 10 gallon is being used as a grow out tank for baby mollies right now. Please help!!!

 

Hello! Sorry about your fish. What is your tank size? What are your water paramters out of curiosity? Since you have different types of mollies, I think you should have a 1 male: 2 females for each type of molly to even-out agression.

 

I have a 20 gallon tank with 2 tiny guppies, 3 platys, 6 tetras, 2 black mollies, 2 black dalmation mollies,
1 female dalmation molly. and 2 little ones, not sure what they are. The reason for the overcrowding is
due to 1 of the female mollies had babies and we put the4 that were in a 10 gallon tank into the 20 gallon one. We are using the 10 gallon one now to grow out the babies. This morning my husband took the aggressive male molly out and put him in a bowl. He jumped out of the bowl, so he grabbed a small garbage can and put him in there. THe other male molly did not go crazy like before and is
now cozying up to the 1 female molly (dalmation) . I really don't know what to do with the aggressive one. Maybe we could take him back to Petsmart?? Will the overcrowding stress out the fish? How long before the babies can be with adults without getting eaten?? and I thank you for your help.

 

The males were probably fighting form dominance over the female. You could always get another tank; Petco has them at a dollar per gallon. Or you could take the fish back for store credit.

 

Can you tell me how long before the babies can be with the adults? Then I can move some adults into
the 10 gallon tank? And how many fish is too many for a 10 gallon tank? And I think my female platy is pregnant now. It's just crazy right now

 

If the fry can fit in the molly's mouth then they are at risk of getting eaten. The maximum number of adults you can have in a 10 gallon is 5 (according to aquadvisor.com). Try split the males and females if you can to stop breeding until you have space. I would move the fry into the 20 gallon with a sponge filter, add a divider, and out your pregnant platy on the other side with another sponge filter. Then more the males to the 10g.

 

Ok I will try this. Thanks for all your help.

 

No problem! Post if you need more help!

 

If the fry can fit in the molly's mouth then they are at risk of getting eaten. The maximum number of adults you can have in a 10 gallon is 5 (according to aquadvisor.com). Try split the males and females if you can to stop breeding until you have space. I would move the fry into the 20 gallon with a sponge filter, add a divider, and out your pregnant platy on the other side with another sponge filter. Then more the males to the 10g.

The maximum adult mollies that can go in a 10 gallon is zero. AQadvisor uses the 1" per gallon rule which is useless in determining the correct space for a fish, it should never be used as a basis for advice. The tank is woefully overstocked and will only get worse when the "Babies" are added to the 20 gallon. If your going to breed the mollies, you need to look at your tank sizes and how you are going to raise and sell them. Mollies produce a ton of babies really quickly and if you are not selling/giving them away on a regular basis, you will need a pool within a year to maintain all them. 5-6 adult mollies should be in a 30 gallon minimum, with only cleaner fish(otoclinclus) added. Additional fish, would require more space or you will deal with heightened aggression and deaths. The females need space in order to get away from the males, as well as live/fake plants to hide within. Without these and in confined spaces, sub-dominant males and females will be harassed to the point of death.