Please help me ID this fish

[Mizz_MayDK]

I have 3 of these - they came with an aquarium I bought - but are they Platys ... and what kind?

 

[Falconwithaboxon]

Definitely a Platy. Possibly a Gold Red Platy. Very pretty fish. I have a few Black Hamburg Platy and I love them. They should be great in your tank. Very active and peaceful fish.

 

[Mizz_MayDK]

Definitely a Platy. Possibly a Gold Red Platy. Very pretty fish. I have a few Black Hamburg Platy and I love them. They should be great in your tank. Very active and peaceful fish.

Well - I'm sticking to the species that I already have and will try to sell these

 

[UnknownFishies]

Yeah those are plates.

Edit: PLATYS!! I meant platys. I hate autocorrect.

 

[Colin_T]

swordtails, they are too long for platies.

 

[UnknownFishies]

swordtails, they are too long for platies.

but don’t swordtails have like “swords” on their back fin.

 

[UnknownFishies]

but don’t swordtails have like “swords” on their back fin.

i am just now realizing that’s a female.......

 

[Colin_T]

but don’t swordtails have like “swords” on their back fin.

adult males do. young males and females don't

 

[UnknownFishies]

adult males do. young males and females don't

yeah, figured that out. glad i did research?

 

[emeraldking]

Absolutely no platy, it's a female swordtail.

All adult males of fancy swordtails, carry a sword. But in the wild there are also swordtail species where males don't develop a sword. The name " swordtail" doesn't refer to and isn't derived from the sword-like tail. The name "swordtail" refers to the gonopodium of the male.

 

[Colin_T]

The name "swordtail" refers to the gonopodium of the male.

Hey baby, wanna see my swordtail

 

[Ichthys]

Yours is a red swordtail. There's a thin line between being orange and red in swordtails and platies. It comes don to the intensity of the coloration wether it's an orange or red specimen. From your photos, we'd determine them as being red.

There's a lot of info about the fancy swordtails. But most of the time if you'd google fancy swordtails, you should just google "swordtails". For most info are focused on fancy swordtails. Fancy swordtails are all the swordtails that have been specifically captive bred for the aquarium scene. The fancy strains of swordtails were derived from the Xiphophorus hellerii. The Xiphophorus hellerii is only one kind of a large number of wild swordtails that are totally not Xiphophorus hellerii. But the Xiphophorus hellerii is the most wide spread wild swordtail species of all of them.
The first steps to breed fancy swordtails were with natural mutations of the Xiphophorus helleri. Later on, they were also mixed up with Xiphophorus maculatus to create more color variaties. People should know that depending on the location of collection in te wild, both Xiphophorus hellerii and Xiphophorus maculatus show different coloration and pattern. But in the wild there are also plain looking specimens of both species.
Does the color red occur in the wild in swordtails? Yes, depending on the strain and/or location. But I do have to say that such specimens are not born red but they are born as green swordtails. In certain strains of wild ones, males can turn red as being green swordtails. This has got to do with the pecking order. Very dominant males of certain swordtail spcies show their visible dominance by turning red (partially or total coverage). One of those wild swordtails species, is the Yucatan swordtail (Xiphophorus yucatan).
Although, we determine wild swordtails as green swordtail, there aren't that many wild swordtails that are actually green as a base color. They differ from yellow, green, brown, grey and bluish. But for most wild ones we call the green swordtail with the exception of some smaller wild swordtail species. With a number of those, we call the wild coloration blue (they're not actually blue).
So, it's not that all fancy swordtails are a result of crossing swordtail with platy. But most strains we know nowadays are.
And do you know that a Mickey Mouse swordtail or platy, that the Mickey Mouse mark on the caudal penducle ain't a fancy trait but actually wild trait.

There isn’t a species called Xiphophorus yucatan. These fish are simply populations of X. helleri living in Yucatan.

The domestic strains of Swordtails and Platies are all hybrids. X.helleri was the starting point. It was soon crossed with the platies X. maculatus and X. variatus to produce different colours, and with X. montezumae to make the sword longer.

 

[anewbie]

swordtails, they are too long for platies.

Are you sure; I keep a lot of swordtails and they don't quite look right; even if not quite mature. Perhaps they are some sort of hybrid ?

 

[Ichthys]

Are you sure; I keep a lot of swordtails and they don't quite look right; even if not quite mature. Perhaps they are some sort of hybrid ?

They’re domestic Swordtails, which are hybrids (as are domestic platies).

 

[emeraldking]

There isn’t a species called Xiphophorus yucatan. These fish are simply populations of X. helleri living in Yucatan.

The domestic strains of Swordtails and Platies are all hybrids. X.helleri was the starting point. It was soon crossed with the platies X. maculatus and X. variatus to produce different colours, and with X. montezumae to make the sword longer.

True! This one is a hellerii. But I'm so used to (like many others) to put "Yucatan" behind "Xiphophorus". It's actually Xiphophorus hellerii yucatan. Among other wild swordtail breeders that I connect with, we hardly use the name "Hellerii" with this strain. But yes, it's not arguable that you're correct in this case.

But how the fancy swordtails started off, is correct how I've put it. So, with natural mutations. And later on with mixing up with platies. Don't forget that the swordtails, just like a number of other ovoviviparous livebearers are sensitive for mutations. And it's known that captive bred species will mutate faster than in the wild. The X.montezumae was only used for a number of domestic swordtail strains. Not all. And yes, I forgot to mention about the X.variatus.

But it's a good thing you've stepped in.