Mollies hiding normal?

[eleckster]

Hi everyone, this is my first post here. Actually my first post in any aquarium forum.

My two kids each had a 2 gal aquarium with guppies. I recently upgraded both to a 10 gal. I took the filter foam out of the established tanks and put in in the filter of the new tanks and let them run for a few days. I then put all the guppies in one tank and they are doing fine.

In the other tank I put a male and female black mollie. The mollies just hide in the tank. One in the bottom in one corner in a plant, and the other on top in the other corner by the filter. Sometimes they will swim around a little bit together, but as soon as they see someone they hide. It has been 3 days and they have not eaten.

Is this normal or is their possibly something wrong?

[RobbieG]

They may be just getting used to their new home.

Have you tested your water - ammonia nitrite nitrate PH to make sure it is OK?

[eleckster]

Petsmart tested the water for me and said it was good to go.

[RobbieG]

If the waters OK then they may get a little bolder over the next few days or so. Some fish feel more comfortable with a few dither fish in the tank - are you adding salt to the water?

[eleckster]

I had to look dither fish up. Yes the water is salted. I was hesitant to add more fish if there was something up with the tank. I will have the water tested again this weekend and if all seems fine I will add some more fish.

I had done some research and I thought that mollies were more social. I guess that we all have different personalties.

Any suggestions on dither fish?

[RobbieG]

I'm not really sure with the with the salt in the water - I wouldn't give up on them coming out of their shells just yet. They've been through a lot the past few days and may surprise you!

[salman]

It takes a few days for the fish to get used to their new home. They might might scared for some reason, they will soon come out in a couple of days. Do they look sick?

[troy]

My when I got my cichlid it took about 2 weeks to get it used to everything without getting scared all the time.

[nanaglen2001]

The behaviour of your Mollies is absolutely NOT normal.

Normaly Mollies are very active and curious fish, who need maybe a day to get used to the new environment.

Maybe some more plants would help, and maybe 2 additional girls for your boy. One male and one female Molly is pretty hard for the Lady, cause the male will always try to mate her, and therefor will chase her around.

And then...uhum 10 gal is not really much for active fish, which love to swim. I noticed something, Mollies love a nice current, on which the practicaly love to surf or swim against it.

A healthy Molly should behave like this: You enter the room and the Molly almost jumps into your hands.

Question: how WARM is your water? Mollies like it warm.

[ChurchofAdam]

yeah, that's not really normal behaviour. tell us about your salt, I think...

then again, some of my swords go through periodic spells of hiding, only to become social again. my advice is to look for other visual clues. If they look healthy, but simply hiding, that's one thing. If their fins are clamped, or there is rapid gill movement, or shimmying, or gasping, etc... then they're definitely not comfortable with somethiing

[nanaglen2001]

My Mollies behave a bit like those 2 guys, described, when the water is too cold. Therefor I asked for the water temperature.

Of course take the very good advise of Adam, they can be sick, and sick fish almost always hide away.

[eleckster]

Thanks for all the replies. This morning the female came out of hiding and ate some food that floated to the bottom with people in the room. After the room was empty the male joined her. After awhile they both went back to hiding.

The fish appear to be healthy with none of the signs mentioned. You have to look close to watch the gills move. The salt is aquarium salt with 1 tbl per 5 gallons. The heater is set at 78 F. I will add a couple of more females after I am sure the tank is OK. I am thinking of the potbelly mollies. Sorry, but for now the 10-gallon will have to do. I am working on setting up a couple of bigger tanks to separate the males and females so they are not breeding all the time. Then I will let the fry be raised in the kid’s tanks.