Female Swordtail/platy --how To Tell The Difference

[eskcarr]

How can I tell the differene between a female swordtail and a female platy?


ESKCarr

 

[prosp]

How can I tell the differene between a female swordtail and a female platy?


ESKCarr

I think this thread may help:

http/www.fishforums.net/content/Common-L...es-Swordtails-/

 

[eskcarr]

How can I tell the differene between a female swordtail and a female platy?


ESKCarr

I think this thread may help:

[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/content/Common-L...es-Swordtails-/"]http/www.fishforums.net/content/Common-L...es-Swordtails-/[/URL]

aaahhhh thanx but mine look so alike.......pics to follow then mayby you can help!!

 

[eskcarr]

How can I tell the differene between a female swordtail and a female platy?


ESKCarr

I think this thread may help:

<a href="http/www.fishforums.net/content/Common-L...es-Swordtails-/" target="_blank">http/www.fishforums.net/content/Common-L...es-Swordtails-/</a>

aaahhhh thanx but mine look so alike.......pics to follow then mayby you can help!!

helpi need more!!!

 

[5teady_2012]

Female swrods are longer than platys, platys are shorther and stockier than swords.

 

[eskcarr]

Female swrods are longer than platys, platys are shorther and stockier than swords.

were they all originally one type of fish?? all of them platys,swords,mollies,guppies?

 

[dunchp]

Female swrods are longer than platys, platys are shorther and stockier than swords.

were they all originally one type of fish?? all of them platys,swords,mollies,guppies?

Ermm, it depends how far back you go I guess (millions of years??), but the simple answer is no.

They all belong to the family Poeciliidae but Platies and Swordtails belong to the genus Xiphophorus and Mollies and Guppies belong to the genus Poecilia, so they are all related, but they were not all one type.

 

[eskcarr]

Female swrods are longer than platys, platys are shorther and stockier than swords.

were they all originally one type of fish?? all of them platys,swords,mollies,guppies?

Ermm, it depends how far back you go I guess (millions of years??), but the simple answer is no.

They all belong to the family Poeciliidae but Platies and Swordtails belong to the genus Xiphophorus and Mollies and Guppies belong to the genus Poecilia, so they are all related, but they were not all one type.

do you think they an get mixed up in pet stores(when they are still fry) and this is why my sword and platy femels look identical??

 

[BlackSwords11]

Yes they get mixed alot. I am amazi ng at telling them apart. I found female mickey mouse swords mixed with platys once when there were no males in the tank.

Anyway, they don't originate the same, but swords and platies have been known to cross. That is why we have different strains of swords like red wagtail swords and black swords.

Platys are shorter and more compact like a hamburger shape. Swords are longer like a hot dog shape.

 

[OldMan47]

All the mollies are not even the same species, the ones we keep in aquariums started out as shenops, lattipina and velifera at least. There are quite literally dozens of wild fish that normally are considered separate species that are called mollies. The xiphoporus are similarly diverse. They make up what we call platies and swords but come from quite a large number of different species. They are called platies if they don't have a sword on a mature male and are called swords if they do but two separate sword species are no closer related than a sword and a platy. The hobby has lumped well over a hundred different fish into mollies, platies and swords. It is the reason that you will run into people that insist on calling everything by its scientific name. It helps them be more precise about what they really mean by a fish's identity. Cories are in a similar situation to swords and platies but most people realize that they are a large number of separate species so they are not surprised when they get different names. Many but not all of the cories we keep are only known by their scientific name. Some cories are only known by a commercial code because they have not been well enough researched to even assign them a scientific name.