Mollies attack my new killies

[chek]

just introduced 2 killies into my 1 ft tank. one's a nothobranchius rachovii and the other has a blackish body with red tail (the shop told me its chinese name is "black widow". My tank had mollies and lots of grass shrimps and i was hoping the killies will reduce the shrimp colony which is outgrowing like mad! Turn out my mollies started nibbling the 2 killies and i had to separate them. I thought the killies will be the ones attacking the mollies! Think the "black widow" is bitten quite bad and I've to incubate it, hope it survives. Never put mollies with any other fish!

[Emokidz]

From my experience with Killies, they do best in a species-only setup. Particularly for some of the more shy killies (eg. P. Annulatus)

Also, I think there's a post somewhere here about community types of killies which can be kept in community tanks.

I'm sure some of the more experienced killie keepers can share some of their knowledge on the topic. : )

[nohomeleave]

This sounds similiar with my experience with Mollies attaching my Leopard Corys. What kind of other small fish would be suitable to be placed with Mollies? Someone was telling me that Mollies are almost like what we call 'longkang fish' and are super hardy. Assuming that food and space is not an issue, what other possible causes are there for Mollies to attack?

[nohomeleave]

Sorry I meant attacking my Corys, not attaching.

[chek]

Thks. The black widow died the same night I posted this thread and the rachovvi died 2 days later, prob from stress. a sad event! Don't think will try Killies again for a while and have since replaced with a pair of cichlids, think its belongs to the Apisto family. have since introduced back 2 of the "tamer' mollies and the tank looks fine now.

[RonWill]

Don't think will try Killies again for a while and have since replaced with a pair of cichlids...

What??!! Giving up on killifishes just because of a set back? Come on, I know you guys can do better than that.

Yes, most killies do best in specie-dedicated tanks but they will also become less skittish if you complement with less gregarious tank-mates. Aphyosemions are, IMHO, better commune fishes while Nothobranchius species fair better with salt addition to ward off velvet infection.

If you can't decide what to do with the mollies, served hot in an omelet will taste pretty good too, I think

[nohomeleave]

I think I second that idea!

[TyroneGenade]

Livebearers are quite nippy fish and one has to be careful with them. I've watched platies take a Betta apart in a few minutes.

Aphyosemion and Fundulopanchax species would be much better to reduce shrimp numbers.

Best of luck