# Molly Nipping Angelfish



## ianeberle (Aug 11, 2012)

I recently noticed that my Dalmatian molly is nipping at my black angelfish. My angel is about 5-10 times larger than my molly and he is still losing the fights. This has been going on for about three days now and I have noticed in areas where he was once black, he is silver.

I contacted my local fish specialists and they said it could be many things, but the common things are:

1. My angel has bacteria on him that my molly sees as food.
2. My molly is aggressive.

I got this molly about four months ago when she was VERY little. So little that I think she was less than $0.99 at the pet store. Now she has gotten a little bigger and recently started attacking my angelfish. I have also noticed that his fins sometimes look ratty on the end, like they have been nipped.

My angel is 3.5 to 4 inches from top fin to bottom and my molly is about 1 to 1.5 inches long.

Any suggestions? I currently have my molly separated, as I have read horror stories of nipping fish killing others.


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## goldie (Aug 4, 2012)

Hello ianeberle

Not sure whether you have another tank but IMP i wouldn't let the molly mix in with your Angel anymore. The Angel's fins could very easily become infected constantly being nipped and worst case scenario he could die from stress


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## Auban (Aug 8, 2010)

i would rehome your molly. either in another tank or with another hobbiest. sometimes they just get agressive.


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

The molly is hungry and bored (I notice you didn't mention other mollies) and has discovered a tasty food source - the protective slime on the angel. By nature, mollies endlessly graze on rocks covered in algae, picking out invertebrates, loose algae, bacteria etc. They eat all day long.
Your angel is a big flat surface covered in protein... and he/she is being grazed on. It will kill the angel.
In the wild, a molly will never meet a fish like an angel - the local cichlids will rip their faces off if they go near, and there are no placid, flat sided species where they come from. Mollies live in huge groups, endlessly feeding off anything that offers food.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

If you want fry from the Molly you'll want to separate anyway. Angels will decimate any plans you had for baby Mollies. I keep my Livebearers away from my Angels.


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## ianeberle (Aug 11, 2012)

Thanks for all of your help! I have a few options I can choose...

1. I am planning on picking up a 29 gallon tank from a guy on Craigslist today. In the 29 gallon, I planned on adding neon tetras and cherry red shrimp, but I could always do mollies and cherries as long as the mollies won't eat the shrimp (and the baby shrimp, as I want to breed them).

2. My girlfriend has a 10 gallon tank that I bought her for her birthday. When I got her the tank, I gave her 3 mollies and eventually they had fry and we made sure all of the fry survived... I believe she has about 10 or 11 mollies now and I don't want to offer mine to her because she is already overstocked. However, if I decide to start a molly and shrimp tank, she will give me 5 or 6 of hers.

3. My math professor has a 55 gallon fish tank with about 5 mollies in it. It's super empty and she could use some more fish.

Also, I noticed that somebody said that my molly was bored. I actually had three others in the tank shortly before my Dalmatian started nipping my angel. After my girlfriend's fish had babies, I took the parents until the babies grew large enough. After I removed the parents from my tank, my molly started nipping my angel. Never thought about it like that before!

Which option should I choose?


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## ianeberle (Aug 11, 2012)

jrman83 said:


> If you want fry from the Molly you'll want to separate anyway. Angels will decimate any plans you had for baby Mollies. I keep my Livebearers away from my Angels.


I only have one molly, so babies were not possible anyway. What about mollies and cherry red shrimp? My girlfriend and I have bred mollies before, so we know what to do, but I don't want my mollies eating my shrimp babies because I want to breed them too.


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## ianeberle (Aug 11, 2012)

I have been doing research lately and found that my angel may have an internal parasite because he's twitching a lot and has random spaz attacks. I have treated my water twice with Quick Cure that treats ick, parasites, protozoans, and much more. I started treating when I removed the molly and my angel is doing better. My only concern is that he is not eating. I have ordered some blood worms and dried shrimp that people said angels like to eat. I thought he could just be bored with the plain flake food. I also ordered the master water testing kit from Dr. Foster and Smith along with some vitamin chemicals and the two different foods that I mentioned before. I have never tested my water before, so I thought now would finally be a good time to spend the money on the kit. Is there anything else I can do?

An update on my molly: She jumped out of her container in the middle of the night and died. I assumed she was just stressed from moving to a 36 gallon tank to a small container all by herself. Also, I checked the fish in my professor's room and she has goldfish, so it would not have worked out anyway.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Go to petsmart, petco or lfs and get frozen bloodworm and brine shrimp. The angel will prefer fozen over dried and is healthier for them


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## goldie (Aug 4, 2012)

ianeberle said:


> I have been doing research lately and found that my angel may have an internal parasite because he's twitching a lot and has random spaz attacks. I have treated my water twice with Quick Cure that treats ick, parasites, protozoans, and much more. I started treating when I removed the molly and my angel is doing better. My only concern is that he is not eating. I have ordered some blood worms and dried shrimp that people said angels like to eat. I thought he could just be bored with the plain flake food. I also ordered the master water testing kit from Dr. Foster and Smith along with some vitamin chemicals and the two different foods that I mentioned before. I have never tested my water before, so I thought now would finally be a good time to spend the money on the kit. Is there anything else I can do?
> 
> An update on my molly: She jumped out of her container in the middle of the night and died. I assumed she was just stressed from moving to a 36 gallon tank to a small container all by herself. Also, I checked the fish in my professor's room and she has goldfish, so it would not have worked out anyway.


Hello ianeberie

I was just wondering what size is the tank (how many gallons) . I'm glad to hear youare purchasing a test kit. If that was my tank I would do a water change


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## goldie (Aug 4, 2012)

ianeberle said:


> I have been doing research lately and found that my angel may have an internal parasite because he's twitching a lot and has random spaz attacks. I have treated my water twice with Quick Cure that treats ick, parasites, protozoans, and much more. I started treating when I removed the molly and my angel is doing better. My only concern is that he is not eating. I have ordered some blood worms and dried shrimp that people said angels like to eat. I thought he could just be bored with the plain flake food. I also ordered the master water testing kit from Dr. Foster and Smith along with some vitamin chemicals and the two different foods that I mentioned before. I have never tested my water before, so I thought now would finally be a good time to spend the money on the kit. Is there anything else I can do?
> 
> An update on my molly: She jumped out of her container in the middle of the night and died. I assumed she was just stressed from moving to a 36 gallon tank to a small container all by herself. Also, I checked the fish in my professor's room and she has goldfish, so it would not have worked out anyway.


Oh i hadn't read the last part of your post properly about the Molly
That's sad to hear that(


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## goldie (Aug 4, 2012)

goldie said:


> Oh i hadn't read the last part of your post properly about the Molly
> That's sad to hear that(


oops I'm not reading posts properly here. It's 36 gallons i 'now' see. I would deffo do a water change as you've never tested the water and hope you don't mind me suggesting that if you have to transfer fish into a container I would cover the container.


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

The twitching might be the angel being irritated from its wounds, although if the molly was stripping skin slime off, there could be an external parasite that got through the first line of defence. If nothing else, the med will have irritated the irritated skin differently, causing it to produce protective slime in response - always a first step to healing in a fish.


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