Mr. Bad-Attitude LOL

**LD_Sorel** · 03-28-2007, 10:20 PM

My male Sailfin Molly is absolutely gorgeous to look at, but he is a holy terror in the aquarium. He chases and nips and right out ambushes everyone else in the tank. And seems to have no interest in mating with the females.
I am fairly new to livebearer fish keeping but I can clearly see no matter which of my tanks I put him in he is stressing all the fish out and therefore stressing me out as well! LOL
Is there anyway to help this kind of behavior and is this common for Sailfins?
All my other mollies, swordtails and guppies, male or female, are much more pleasant with each other. I don't know what is up with his attitude problem.
I am prepping a small 7 gallon tank to keep him in, but I wish it didn't have to come to this.....I don't want to put him in "isolation"...LOL....although I guess that may be all I can do.
Can any one give me some tips on what may be wrong or what I can do to improve this behavior?
Much appreciated!! :) :)

**xoolooxunny** · 03-28-2007, 11:04 PM

How big is your tank? A couple of things I can suggest are...

-hiding places for him
-decorations creating barriers keeping other fish out of site for the most part
-a bigger tank??(i dont know how big yours is)

when a fish is acting aggressive or territorial, it could be due to the fact that he/she doesn't have enough room for themselves.

**LD_Sorel** · 03-29-2007, 12:10 AM

He was originally in a 10 Gallon with 2 female mollies and guppies. Then he was in another 10 gallon with just 2 female mollies. Now he is in there with 1 female mollie, 3 Swordtails....he terrorized the one other female molly so bad I had to move her to another tank because she wouldn't leave the corner. He has been with all different combinations of "companions" in my quest to make aquatic peace....the swordtails seem to do the best as they seem to tolerate him more than the poor guppies and mollies who quiver in fright.
I have lots of plants and things for the fish to use as buffers against him and create natural sections of tank for inhabitants....but the sailfin seems to not take heed to any boundries.
Thanks for your ideas, I need all the help I can.
If he is territorial then well he will soon be isolated to his own territory....won't he be pleased! LOL :)

**xoolooxunny** · 03-29-2007, 12:18 AM

I'm reading online that they need about 30 gallons and a teaspoon of salt per gallon for optimum health. So perhaps he's just a little stressed out with the limited swimming space available? They also prefer algae to munch on and lots of plants to swim thru.

**LD_Sorel** · 03-29-2007, 11:30 PM

Wow 30 Gallons really? Well then be might be right pissed off with a 10 gallon...LOL
I actually went in yesterday to the aquarium store and spoke to the clerk about my unruly fish and he offered to let me return him for another fish (not necessarily the same breed) since i had bought him from there 3 weeks ago. I didn't have any intentions of returning him before, but since he made the offer I may take him up. He asked me about the size of my tank and he said that it shouldn't be lack of space. Said sometimes male sailfins can be aggressive but it's not very common. He thought maybe I was mistaking the breeding for fighting LOL I was like....nooooooo definitly not....or else this would surely be spousal abuse! And its with males AND females...unless he swings...LOL
Anyways if its recommended they have 30 gallon tanks that would make a little more sense. I have another sailfin male in another 10 Gallon and he's quite peachy, so I guess just like people some can cope and adapt while some can't. :)

Thanks for your help!

**LD_Sorel** · 03-29-2007, 11:31 PM

Oh and yes I do add salt to my water and have plentiful fake and live plants.

**kimmers318** · 03-30-2007, 02:42 AM

Each fish has it's own personality, as you have been learning!

I once had a german blue ram who wouldn't even tolerate females of his own kind, terrorized a bolivian 3 X his size and was aptly named "Demon"

**LD_Sorel** · 03-30-2007, 04:16 PM

Haha Demon! :)

Yes our rogue fish has been named "Leo the Jerk" (i know its not very nice LOL)
It WAS "Leo the King of the Jungle" Because he was golden and had a flowing sail fin (like a lion's mane almost lol) but he is been renamed "Leo the Jerk of the Jungle"
Even though I have actually grown fond of Mr. Evil....I think I may take him back to the store for a more community minded fishy.

**Livebearer** · 04-07-2007, 12:52 AM

Sailfins require more space, although a 15G would do it I'm sure. A 10G is pushing it though. Smaller tanks either make them extremely shy or very pushy, it seems. Mollies also require very clean conditions which are more difficult to maintain in a small tank.

The good news is that although they make a big show, they rarely do any damage. They should have at least 2 females/male though.

If he's not making you happy then probably the best thing for both of you is to trade him in. With all of those Livebearers you'll be full to the brim soon anyway ;-).