Questions About My 2 New Platys

[My3Fish]

Here is a picture of my 2 platys. Can you tell me what kind of platys these are? Also, what is the gender of the orange one? I know that the smaller black splotched one is male. Also, the orange one, it's stomach is big, is it overfed? or pregnant(if it's a girl) or is that normal?

I hope that the picture will work.. Sorry about the poor quality..

How do you guys take clear pictures? I borrowed a super good camera from somebody but I just can't get a clear pic unless that are up to the tank wall.. Any ideas?

Thanks!

Grr.. it didn't work.. hopefully this one will show up..

 

[KittyKat]

The orange one is a female, you should learn to sex livebearers before you buy them as the sex of the fish matters to stocking. Males have gonopodiums, while females have normal anal fins. One should keep two females per male when keeping platys in smaller groups (i.e. under 15 individuals), so if your tank will take it, you should aim to get another female. This is because males will sometimes harass the females enough to stress them and it helps if each male has two females to spread his attention over, so each female can get a break.

 

[Judgejudy]

I think it might be pregnant, if it is you've still got a long time before it drops

 

[My3Fish]

The orange one is a female, you should learn to sex livebearers before you buy them as the sex of the fish matters to stocking. Males have gonopodiums, while females have normal anal fins. One should keep two females per male when keeping platys in smaller groups (i.e. under 15 individuals), so if your tank will take it, you should aim to get another female. This is because males will sometimes harass the females enough to stress them and it helps if each male has two females to spread his attention over, so each female can get a break.

I was guessing that it was female.. just wanted to make sure. thanks for the help. Any tips on her size? Is this normal? Do you think she is pregnant?

I think it might be pregnant, if it is you've still got a long time before it drops

Welll.. if she is, I guess I got a lot of research to do! Sorry, this is probably a dumb question, but I read that they are pregnant for like 4-6 weeks, so how long do you think she has? I will watch for the signs, but I just want a rough guess.. Like.. 3 weeks, 2 weeks? Thanks so much

 

[Akasha72]

hi my3fish,

I'll try and answer all your questions as simply as possible. Firstly the female looks like a wagtail. They are generally red/orange with solid black tail and dorsal fin.

It's difficult to tell from your picture if she's definitely pregnant but if she's been with a male recently then you can pretty much guess that she is. In terms of how far along she may be, again it's hard to say. There are signals to look for when the birth is imminant though.

Firstly if you look at her from the side and her belly is flat along the bottom she's getting very close. This is known as 'squaring off'. In simple terms she will take on an almost square shape.

Next you need to look at her anal fin area. When she's ready to drop it will start to open up. It will look swollen and it may look like she has a little tube sticking out of her bottom. This is the birthing tube and will close again after she's had all her fry.

With regards to fry - about 20 fry is about normal for my platies but there may be more or less. Be aware she will try to eat them - so will the other tank mates.
You can try putting her in a seperate tank (if you have one) or a breeding trap if you wish but if you decide to try this method be aware she may become stressed and abort her pregnancy. It's best to get her in there once she's started birthing so she's in there for only a short period.
Another option is to plant your tank heavily giving fry places to hide and just leave her to it.

Alternatively you may catch her in the act and then you can net out the fry as they are being born.

Regarding your male. He looks like a mixture of breeds of platies. Sometimes you get them in the strangest of colours - depending on what mum and dad were. I'd take a guess at some sunset in him and maybe some wagtail.

And also, Kitykat is right. You will need at least one more female - possibly two if the male is especially insistant.

I hope that helps answer some of your questions. Good luck with it all

Akasha

 

[My3Fish]

hi my3fish,

I'll try and answer all your questions as simply as possible. Firstly the female looks like a wagtail. They are generally red/orange with solid black tail and dorsal fin.

It's difficult to tell from your picture if she's definitely pregnant but if she's been with a male recently then you can pretty much guess that she is. In terms of how far along she may be, again it's hard to say. There are signals to look for when the birth is imminant though.

Firstly if you look at her from the side and her belly is flat along the bottom she's getting very close. This is known as 'squaring off'. In simple terms she will take on an almost square shape.

Next you need to look at her anal fin area. When she's ready to drop it will start to open up. It will look swollen and it may look like she has a little tube sticking out of her bottom. This is the birthing tube and will close again after she's had all her fry.

With regards to fry - about 20 fry is about normal for my platies but there may be more or less. Be aware she will try to eat them - so will the other tank mates.
You can try putting her in a seperate tank (if you have one) or a breeding trap if you wish but if you decide to try this method be aware she may become stressed and abort her pregnancy. It's best to get her in there once she's started birthing so she's in there for only a short period.
Another option is to plant your tank heavily giving fry places to hide and just leave her to it.

Alternatively you may catch her in the act and then you can net out the fry as they are being born.

Regarding your male. He looks like a mixture of breeds of platies. Sometimes you get them in the strangest of colours - depending on what mum and dad were. I'd take a guess at some sunset in him and maybe some wagtail.

And also, Kitykat is right. You will need at least one more female - possibly two if the male is especially insistant.

I hope that helps answer some of your questions. Good luck with it all

Akasha

Thanks, that was very helpful!

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum My3Fish.
The orange bodied fish in the foreground is called a red wag tail. The wag refers to the black dorsal fin and the black caudal fin (tail).
The one in the background with the dark stripe along the center of its body is called a "tuxedo" due to that dark area, and the top and bottom accents on the caudal make it a "twinbar" as well. In any platy or swordtail people also use the background color of a fish in its pet shop name. That makes the fish in the background a red tuxedo twinbar platy.

We do have a pair of threads that you may find interesting. Both can be reached from links in my signature are. One tells you how to sex a livebearer and the other follows my Molly's progress from one drop to the next. It shows, with clear pictures, the changes that happen during a complete "pregnancy". Common livebearers, the kind at your local pet shop, really do not become pregnant the way we think about it. They carry developing eggs until they are mature enough to survive as fish in the water, but they provide no nourishment the way we see in mammals. They drop fry, which is called that because it looks just like the fry are falling out, not being born over a period of time. Sometimes you will see 3 or 4 drop in just a couple of seconds although the total drop process can go on for hours before 30 to 50 total are dropped.

 

[lefty07603]

Yes, one is a wagtail, the other is a tuxedo with a twinbar. Ive been looking for a twinbar. If u breed them u could have some twinbars without the tuxedo which would look nice. I dont really like tuxedos.

Also, u may not need a female but mostlikey yes. He said how some males are real horndogs so u need 3 females. It can go the other way too. Ive had a male who got along great with one female. They were both happy!

Also, if u got a female from a store that had a ton of platty in one tank she will prob be pregnant at some point. Females can hold sperm for months. So if she mated a few weeks ago then she could have sperm waiting in her system

 

[Akasha72]

Welcome to the forum My3Fish.
The orange bodied fish in the foreground is called a red wag tail. The wag refers to the black dorsal fin and the black caudal fin (tail).
The one in the background with the dark stripe along the center of its body is called a "tuxedo" due to that dark area, and the top and bottom accents on the caudal make it a "twinbar" as well. In any platy or swordtail people also use the background color of a fish in its pet shop name. That makes the fish in the background a red tuxedo twinbar platy.

Thanks for that. I learned something there too. I've never heard of a twinbar before

 

[My3Fish]

Welcome to the forum My3Fish.
The orange bodied fish in the foreground is called a red wag tail. The wag refers to the black dorsal fin and the black caudal fin (tail).
The one in the background with the dark stripe along the center of its body is called a "tuxedo" due to that dark area, and the top and bottom accents on the caudal make it a "twinbar" as well. In any platy or swordtail people also use the background color of a fish in its pet shop name. That makes the fish in the background a red tuxedo twinbar platy.

We do have a pair of threads that you may find interesting. Both can be reached from links in my signature are. One tells you how to sex a livebearer and the other follows my Molly's progress from one drop to the next. It shows, with clear pictures, the changes that happen during a complete "pregnancy". Common livebearers, the kind at your local pet shop, really do not become pregnant the way we think about it. They carry developing eggs until they are mature enough to survive as fish in the water, but they provide no nourishment the way we see in mammals. They drop fry, which is called that because it looks just like the fry are falling out, not being born over a period of time. Sometimes you will see 3 or 4 drop in just a couple of seconds although the total drop process can go on for hours before 30 to 50 total are dropped.

Thanks for the information, it was very helpful. I didn't realize that I had two different kinds of platys! But from what I've been reading, they can breed together right? Thanks again

 

[OldMan47]

Platies do not care about color variations, they are all platies. Actually some research shows that fish favor the color of the fish they grew up with, but that is not a strong preference and does not apply to all fish. The experiments were carried out using a species of Xiphophorus but not the same ones that we call platies.

 

[My3Fish]

Platies do not care about color variations, they are all platies. Actually some research shows that fish favor the color of the fish they grew up with, but that is not a strong preference and does not apply to all fish. The experiments were carried out using a species of Xiphophorus but not the same ones that we call platies.

oooohhhh... I think I get it. All the different kinds are just appearance differences and not species differences? That makes sense.. thanks

 

[OldMan47]

Right you are My3Fish. The aquarium platies are really not any species at all. I know that sounds strange but the genetics involved requires both a wild type swordtail and a wild type platy to get the wag tail at all. It turns out that platy genes for the the twin bar and another platy gene associated with a spot at the base of the caudal are required to get a wag along with a swordtail gene that supports expression of the wag characteristic. A wag is never seen except when both swordtails and platies are combined properly to produce them. The twin bar is far easier to produce without a swordtail being involved since it only relies on platy genes. I just got back from the American Livebearer Association convention where such weird things get discussed. Otherwise I might be as clueless about such things as many non-breeders would be.