Family – Xiphororus
Scientific Name - variatus (wild type)
Common Name – platy
Locality - Found in the lowland waterways along the Atlantic slopes of Central America
pH – moderately hard 6.8-7.6/adaptable
Temperature (in F) - 68-78F (70-74 best for breeding)
Max size (in inches) - 2-3"
Minimum tank size - can be kept in a 10g if care is taken but a 20g or larger is better
Sociability - peaceful ... a good fish for a colorful community
Breeding - Livebearer ... gestation period is approx 34 days ... Platies are not as inclined to fry snacking as swordtails but plenty of cover in the form of thick plantings (plastic is fine) and/or lots of jumbled rocky bottom cover as well as some floating material for fry cover is a good idea if you intend any of the fry to survive ... like most livebearers, the fry are born with no air in their swim bladder and must dart to the surface at the moment of birth for their fist sip of air to 'prime' their swim bladder... this is so they do not mess up the mother's equilibrum in the 'womb' prior to birth - but it also makes them extremely vulnerable to predation in those first few moments of life until they can get to the surface and then back down to cover
Temperament - Same as sociability
Comments – There are two basic species of platies ... X.variatus (as shown here) from which the sunset or marigold form has been selectively bred... and the slightly larger more robust X.maculatus from which the mickey mouse, comet, and wag strains have been developed ... Platies and swordtails readily cross - actually, most of the fancy swordtail strains have been created from platy color genes and the larger sizes on many platies are the result of swordtail genes ... in fact is is very difficult or rather almost impossible to find a 'pure' wild-type strain of either species in most LFS tanks or wholesaler lists ... also be aware that the fancier strains may be more prone to ick
Personal Experience - the quartet i have were obtained as contaminants in a shipment of wild feeder guppies ... these are my favorite color form of any livebearer - i call them 'blue-moonset' due to their relationship to sunset platies (the same yellow dorsal and red/orange tail but with a bluish body) ... i am hoping for them to breed and establish the strain in my tanks ... according to my one of my trusted sources, this "is a fixed strain developed by 5D in Florida a few years back...really good looking fish"
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