Fresh Aqua Fishes : Platy Fish

Classification:

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Cyprinodontiformes
Family:	Poeciliidae
Genus:	Xiphophorus
Species:	X. maculatus

Picture:

About:
The southern platyfish, common platy, moonfish or mickey mouse platy (Xiphophorus maculatus) is a species offreshwater fish in family Poecilidae of order Cyprinodontiformes. A live-bearer, it is closely related to the green swordtail (X. helleri) and can interbreed with it. It is native to an area of North and Central America stretching from Veracruz, Mexico, to northern Belize.

The southern platyfish grows to a maximum overall length of 6.0 centimetres (2.4 in). Sexual dimorphism is slight, the male’scaudal fin being more pointed. The anal fin of the male fish has evolved into a gonopodium, a stick-shaped organ used for reproduction. The female southern platyfish's anal fin is fan shaped. Wild varieties are drab in coloration, lacking the distinctive dark lateral line common to many Xiphophorus species.

X. maculatus prefers slow-moving waters of canals, ditches, and warm springs. Omnivorous, its diet includes both plants and small crustaceans, insects, and annelid worms.

Breeders have developed a multitude of color varieties (e.g. orange, red, yellow, red/black, and black/white) which are common aquarium fish for hobbyists.

The southern platyfish is commonly known simply as the platy (pl. platys or platies), from the fish’s original generic name,Platypoecilus.
Breeding:
Platies are from Mexico. Both the male and female of this species are similar in coloration, however, the male has a modified anal fin called a gonopodium. Platies engage in internal fertilization and the male platy uses the gonopodium to transfer sperm into the female.

Close-up of Male Platy Gonopodium

Females of this species are slightly larger than the males (about 2-3 inches or 5-7.5 cm in length). Platies come in a variety of colors: orange, red, yellow, blue, white, or sunburst. A lot of platies have some black on their body, fins, or tail. For photos of all of the available platy varieties visit Fish2u.com.

Platies are omnivores and readily eat dried food, such as dried tropical flakes, and they will also eat insects, tubifex worms, bloodworms, small crustaceans, such as brine shrimp, and plant matter.
As with any livebearing fish, it is best to have at least 2-3 females per each male because male livebearers often harass the females. Plants are also good so that the females have plenty of hiding spaces.

Like any livebearing fish, platies are easy to breed in an aquarium. Spawning will occur in a community tank. All you really need to do is to put a male and female fish together. You can also interbreed them with swordtails (Xiphophorus helleri).

It is sometimes difficult to tell when your female platy is pregnant. This is because not all female platys have a gravid spot. In the females that do have a gravid spot it tends to get larger as the fry grow larger.

Platy fry are born fully developed in approximately four weeks. There is no parental care of the fry. The parents may eat the fry and so it is best to separate the fry from the adults if you want them all to survive.

If you are unable to keep the fry separate, having lots of hornwort in your tank (both floating and planted) will help to protect the fry.

Occurrence:

This species has been recorded from: Orange County, California, near Westminster; near a fish farm in Conejos County and the South Platte drainage, Colorado; several counties in Florida; Hawaii; an unnamed tributary to Big Branch Bayou in Lacombe, Louisiana; Beaverhead Rock Pond (Madison County), Montana; Clark County, Nevada; and Texas. It has also been collected in the Loiza drainage near Loiza Reservoir, Quebrada Honda, and Rio Abajo Forest Station north of Utuado in Puerto Rico.

The southern platyfish has been released probably due to fish farm or aquarium releases. Specimens in Louisiana were collected near a tropical fish farm. Southern platies, and other introduced poeciliids, have been implicated in the decline of native damselflies on Oahu, Hawaii. Often the distributions of the damselflies and introduced fishes were found to be mutually exclusive, probably resulting from competition for limited insect food.

Health/Care:

Platies are easy to keep and well suited to a community aquarium. They prefer water with a 7.0–8.0 pH, a water hardness of 9.0–19.0 dGH, and a temperature range of 18–25 °C (64–77 °F).

In captivity, they reach maturity in three to four months, and breed readily, the females giving birth to about 20–40 young at a time.

The fish commonly sold in pet shops is not a pure strain of X. maculatus, but is a hybrid between X. hellerii and X. maculatus.^{[citation needed]} In general, if the male has a sword-shaped tail, they are called swordtails. Otherwise, they are labeled platy. Color and fin shape vary wildly in the aquarium trade.

A common statement in the trade is that it is harder to stop them breeding than to make them do so, with ‘surprise’ fry appearing in community tanks regularly.

Species: