This group of freshwater fish includes perennial aquarium favorites such as mollies, guppies, and platies. Leaving the female with a male in the same aquarium is almost always a guarantee that it will get gravid. Hybridization is the process by which two animals, regardless if they’re the same species, breed and produce offspring. Platy-swordtail hybrids live an average of 2 to 3 years. In tanks where there is a lack of available partners within the same species, a swordtail and/or a platy will choose the next best thing: a closely related species. They’re hardy, they’re beautiful, and they’re very active. I just wanted to know if they will live together in my tank? To add to this, nearly all Swordtails you purchase with the nice colors are hybrids. Female platys have rounded anal fins, while males have pointed anal fins (gonopodium) it uses for mating. Swordtail Fish. Contact Us 1-800-334-3699 Help Although they are livebearers, not all can reproduce with each other. Can platies, guppies, algae eaters, barbs, tetras, swordtails an mollies live together with discus? They’re hardy fish that have found their way into the hearts and aquariums of hobbyists for their beautiful colors and lively behavior. Remember, the goal of the breeding cage is to save your fry and not hurt them. They can be found with plain, solid colours or even with mottled patterns on them. I have about 15 platies of all types, 3 swordtails (2 male 1 female) ; about 7 fancy guppies and endlers, 2 algae eaters, 5 tiger barbs, about 5 glofish tetras, 7 red minor tetras, and one cremecicle lyretail Molly. An Indian almond leaf is preferred to keep the water clean especially for when the babies arrive. Try to have regular water changes with 25% changed every 2 weeks. There should be no more than 1 male, since breeding tanks are usually small and controlled. With today's fish stocks, the common platy X. maculatus, will not do well in cooler water, but the Variatus Platy X. variatus will do perfectly well in unheated indoor aquaria, and is found in cooler water in the wild. So it looks just like the tail fin in both the male and female Platy. Some variations have multi-coloured bodies, like the Koi Swordtail. A 10-gallon tank will hold 3 platies and 1 betta; however, I would encourage you to go for a bigger aquarium, especially if you’re adding live plants, which both of these species enjoy. Both of these species are livebearers too. These fish are ready to breed when they reach 8 to 10 weeks old. A single platy is not going to do as well and may even get sick. The male to female ratio: The adult livebearers are then selected for the mating. Century later, there are many Platies varieties on the market, in all colors and color combinations, but still retain… Angelfish can live relatively peacefully with guppies, cories, and yes, platies. Females are usually longer than the males. Hiding spots are very important for females, which can be harassed and stressed by males to the point of ill health, especially when the females are already heavily pregnant. Avoiding very nippy fish, which may attack the male Swordtails sword, both Platies and Swordtails, can be mixed with almost all similar sized and smaller peaceful tank mates. guppies. Warmer temperatures speed up the process of mating, giving birth, and maturing. I haven't had issues breeding my Swordtails. Several fish species make up the Poecilia genus. There is some confusion in many retailers over whether Platies are suited to unheated aquaria, partly because the stronger strains of the past would tolerate such conditions whilst those available today will not. Just avoid materials that may hurt, entangle, or cut your fish. Support this site by buying a product from our partner. It’s normal then, that you would want to produce your own fry to take care of. Then, introduce them to a cycled aquarium that's at least 29 gallons, and wait for them to start breeding. They also have similar requirements for tank size, water conditions, water temperature, pH levels, and have more or less the same feeding needs. I have mollies, guppies, sharks, platies, two tiger barbs and one angel fish. There weren't any problems, so I don't think it's that much of an issue. Aside from the fins, beautiful, striking colors among your adults can help you select your breeders. There are plenty of freshwater fish types that can co-exist with other different species in the same tank. In fact, almost all swordtails and platy fish being sold today are crossbreeds between the Xiphophorus helleri (the green swordtail), the Xiphophorus maculatus (the moonfish or Mickey Mouse Platy), and/or the Xiphophorus variatus (variegated platy). How Do You Know If A Swordtail Is Pregnant? How Many Fry Do Swordtails Give Birth To. Adult swordtails may eat up even their own fries so protection is required. Swordtails and platy fish, if bred together now, wouldn’t be crossbreeding but undergoing the process of hybridization. They can start reproduction once the … You may give it some time or change the male or one of the females if necessary. 3AQUARIUM 3FISHTANK #FISHKEEPING 3FISHKEEPINGJAMAICA #FISHCARESmart and easy way to inter- breed or create hybrid guppies, mollies and sword-tail fish. They are already hybrids in themselves. Platies are non-aggressive and peaceful tropical fish and can live happily with tank mates like Mollies, Swordtails, Tetras, Gouramis, and Rainbowfish etc. Check from time to time as some fish may not take to their partners right away. Helping Fishkeepers With Their Fishkeeping Needs Since 2006, Think Fish © 2004-2019 everything you need for your, Welcome to our Tropical Fishkeeping Forum. Like many other livebearers, both Platies and Swordtails breed easily and readily both in the aquarium and in the wild, producing between 20-100 young in each batch. Both are also easy to care for and not picky about their food. I just want one for … Their sword-shaped tail and slender body makes them an interesting addition to a community tank. Baby fish have to be separated from both the mother and the community that they live in. I've heard stories about mollies interbreeding with guppies on rare occasion, but I've never actually seen it done . Guppies, mollies, platies, and swordtails are some of the most popular aquarium fishes. Although several swordtails can live in a 10-gallon aquarium, it would be better if they have a larger space to move about. Both of those fish are live bearers and will give birth about every month. There are two species of platy commonly found for sale, Xiphophorus maculatus, the common Platy, and Xiphophorus variatus, the Variatus Platy. Apparently live bearers. Unlike many other live bearers Platies are unlikely to eat their own fry especially with a lot of plant cover available. Generally, Platies are hardy fish and can tolerate a wide range of water conditions (Swordtails however are sensitive to bad environments). Preferably, you should let your platies school. But only the male has the distinctive long sword shaped tail fin. However, make sure not to house guppies with larger, more aggressive types like red-tailed sharks and hostile barbs. Similar water parameters and behavioral traits are important factors that will determine if certain fish can be kept together. Female Swordtail Fish. I am not sure if swordtails or guppies can live in brackish water though. For making tank mates better, you need to do some treatment about tank mates. How You Can Keep Angelfish and Platies Together . The Platy fish is a freshwater fish belonging to the genus Xiphophorus that is commonly lumped in with other livebearers like Swordtails, Mollies, and Guppies. Crosses resemble more of the platy, with some fry exhibiting some swordtail characteristics. They also have the same temperament, which means they’re compatible living in the same aquarium. Swordtails like to live together in groups, although they are not a schooling fish. The platyfish is a very social species and prefers living in a community of its own kind. If it came from an all-female aquarium, or you reared it from the time it was a fry, it will have a gravid spot that grows more prominent as her pregnancy progresses. The fry will take small foods such as small daphnia, Cyclops, and newly hatched brine shrimp as well as crushed flake, straight from birth. In this article on fish compatibility, I discuss the conditions in which you can keep swordtails together with tiger barbs. A female swordtail can produce offspring as often as every four weeks. There are several species of Swordtail, with Xiphophorus helleri being the usual one found for sale in the trade, although crosses can occur often. In the ornamental pet fish trade, the purpose of creating hybrids—or crosses between two species—is to produce better offspring which carry more desirable traits. Platies and swordtails are both live bearers, both freshwater fish, and both from the same family: the genus Xiphophorus. If this happens accidentally in your aquarium though, we encourage you to help nurture the fry as best as you can. Separate a male swordtail baby from female once they grow up & their sex is recognizable. They may look different, but scientists deem them to have come from the same ancestors. Grouped together with their close cousins, the swordtails, platys are part of the genus known as Xiphophorus. Can Swordtails live with Platies? Just as their name suggests, livebearers are fish that give birth to live, free-swimming young. I have also bred a Platy to a Swordtail that was in the tank. If this is not possible, breeding traps can be used in the main aquarium to hatch and raise fry in. The usual pair chosen is a male platy and 2 to 3 female swordtails, expecting the resulting fry to mostly resemble the platy. Even so, there are gourami species that can live together as long as your aquarium is heavily planted and decorated with enough hiding spaces and obstacles that break their line of sight. This fish is also known as an anemonefish considering its symbiotic mutualism with sea anemones.... How Many Platies Should You Keep Together? Platies can breed monthly, but if fry is left in with the adults, they will eat the fry and few if any baby platies will survive. For this to work though, you’ll need to ensure you are meeting the requirements for both types of fish. In this article, we will discuss why goldfish and platies should not live together and how these two fish can be kept together if you so desire. Breeders use it to get a higher yield of fry per brood. You'll most likely get swordtails (I believe the swordtail is a dominant gene) with some platies mixed in. Having more males (both of which are dominant) in such a small space will trigger their aggressive behavior. One of the greatest joys of keeping these fish is the ease of breeding. I haven't had issues breeding my Swordtails. These fish are of the same, mostly the same, species and they will have no problem living with each other. Crossbreeding is the mating of two different species of animals that come from the same breeds to produce a new species with the desired characteristics from each parent. In the wild the fish can be found in cooler water, but this should not be the case for the tank-bred varieties. A lot of people who want to get into the hobby want to take care of Platies because they’re great beginner fish. They don’t recognize their own fry as kin and look at them as food. They can also be deemed mature when they reach a length of 20 mm or about ¾ of an inch. Guppies, Tetras, Swordtails, and Danios are just some of the most peaceful tropical species that happily swim around and easily adjust to newer groups. They’re very similar in a lot of ways. You can tell if a female is carrying young as she will develop a dark patch at the rear of the belly and will become very rounded, however it is difficult to guess when she will give birth since the size of broods varies so much. If you want to keep both Platys and Swordtails in the same aquarium then it’s good news. Platy and Sword tail belong to the same Genus. This is the goal of the breeding cage. Hello do you have a question about tropical fish care? Fertility is not an issue with platy-swordfish crossbreeds. Once you've introduced your fish to the tank, start checking the females for dark spots on their abdomens, which is a sign that they're pregnant. C. charmd2 Fish Fanatic. Explore Fish World discourages the deliberate breeding of different species that will expectedly end up producing weak and sickly fry. It can be a 5- or 10-gallon tank with filtration and some live plants. While some people tend to breed live platies in community setups, a breeder’s net or box is the best way to ensure that the fry survives and is not eaten by either the parents or the other community fish. And yes Mollies, Swordtails, and Guppies can all live together and be fine. References. Female livebearers (mollies, swordtails, guppies & platies) carry up to 6 sperm packets in their bodies from previous matings with males. The males pointed anal fin is actually modified into what is called a 'gonopodium' and is used for transferring milt into the female for internal fertilisation. I don't want to feed many different foods. If you’re like me and like odd-shaped fish, swordtails may be right up your alley. These include the Platies, the Short-finned Mollies, and the Swordtails. Can guppies, platies, and mollies live together? Being natural grazers they will require some vegetable matter in their aquarium diet, this can come from naturally occurring algae, or from vegetable enriched foods. For instance, blue, lavender, and gold gouramis are ideal for a gourami communities, moreso when there are no females or when there are enough females for every male fish in the tank. plzz help me ...am a begginer with fish. In order to select your adults you have to know how to determine the age and sex of your fish. Goldfish and platies can live together but should not because their requirements in water conditions do not match. Here are some pointers on how to keep bettas and platies together: 1. Choose the adults that have the prominent features you want in your fry. In a community aquarium it is not uncommon for all, or at least most of, the young to be eaten often before they are even noticed by the fish keeper. Interestingly, female swordtails have the ability to change sex into males, which can occur if an entirely female population is kept, or if the female reproductive organs are damaged, or cease to function correctly. To add to this, nearly all Swordtails you purchase with the nice colors are hybrids. Typically though, guppies and swordtails like to be kept in groups of 2 females to every 1 male. Female swordtails have to be about 3 months old for it to be mature enough to breed. It would be around over an inch during this age. Give your fish a treat with some natural alternatives to dried foods. The adults will also reach different sizes, with females being the larger sex; in Platies males will reach around 3-4cm, whilst females can reach 6cm, male Swordtails will grow to 10cm, and females to 12-13cm. But only the male has the distinctive long sword shaped tail fin. And, the following fish can crossbreed with swordtails: Platies are Xiphophorus maculatus; Swordtails are Xiphophorus helleri; Can Guppies Crossbreed? answer #2. paradisefishlover. they all live together very well so far. hello...i have just bought 3 guppies, 1 male and 2 female ...and also 2 platies 1 male and the other a female. What Types of Fish Can Live Together in an Aquarium? Many of the listed fish will even help with keeping your fish tank clean of algae and add vivid colors to the palette of your freshwater aquarium . And given their prolific breeding behavior, the male of the two will eventually try to mate as long as both species are healthy and living in the right conditions. keep the fry's and adult tanks temperature at 80F and a pH of 7.5, that is great breeding conditions for live bearers. As stated earlier, mollies are peaceful fish that get along well with other peace-loving community fish. If well-taken care of, they will survive for as long as 5 years. Of these species, both Platy and Swordtail there are a myriad of line-bred colour forms, in virtually any colour and pattern variation. There are a number of tropical fish species that can live with mollies in the same fish tank. The breeding cage: Both swordtails and platys lack parental instincts and don’t care at all for their babies. They use 1 sperm packet to fertilise each batch of eggs and the eggs hatch inside the female. As has been seen before with such intensive breeding to produce and maintain these colour forms at high production rates, there is a trade-off and the fish for sale nowadays are much less hardy than those seen 10 years ago. Swordtails and platys are prolific breeders, and crossbreeding them can produce an average of 50 babies per brood. In addition, when keeping Swordtails, it is important to either have just a single male or a group of four or more. Swordtails can also be sexed by the sword extension, which gives the fish its name, and which only the male's posses. Therefore, you can gather the decoration fish together with other small decoration fishes. Inducing breeding requires no specific conditions, although a varied diet with additional algae or vegetable based foods and a good overall environment will encourage more successful broods. I want to know if I can add 3 swordtails to my tank so they live together with 5 other goldfish. if(typeof __ez_fad_position != 'undefined'){__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-explorefishworld_com-medrectangle-3-0')};if(typeof __ez_fad_position != 'undefined'){__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-explorefishworld_com-medrectangle-3-0_1')}; .medrectangle-3-multi-133{border:none !important;display:block !important;float:none;line-height:0px;margin-bottom:15px !important;margin-left:0px !important;margin-right:0px !important;margin-top:15px !important;min-height:250px;min-width:250px;text-align:center !important;}Yes, since Swordtails and Platy fish come from the same family of Xephophorus, they can breed and produce viable offspring. They can nip at your guppies’ fins if they need food or feel territorial. Like what you read? Livebearers like swordtails and Ender’s livebearers make for ideal tank mates too. link to How Many Platies Should You Keep Together? Platies can live up to 5 years but most commonly they only live for 2. There’s a great YouTube video about platies by Myaquariuminfo here: Do platies need a school? Don’t forget to consider what tank mates you can add with mollies. Platies can live alone, but it is not usually recommended. Both of these species are livebearers too. You'll most likely get swordtails (I believe the swordtail is a dominant gene) with some platies mixed in. You should strive to provide the best aquarium conditions for their health and well-being. The females don’t have this characteristic. I also need to know what temperature range I need to keep my aquarium in and What kind of food I should give them. A few fish tank mates that will live in harmony with mollies include other mollies, Guppies, Tetras, Swordtails, Platies, Danios, Gouramis, and female betta fish. But to minimize the risk the male should be removed after a couple of weeks and the female once she has given birth. How Do You Tell The Difference Between A Male And Female Platy? Actually I was told by two different fish places they can. However, the most common are guppies, endlers, and mollies. Both are also easy to care for and not picky about their food. There weren't any problems, so I don't think it's that much of an issue. They may look different, but scientists deem them to have come from the same ancestors. Get a Spacious Tank. This is expected since they belong to the same genus: Poeciliidae. Yes, as a matter of fact, Guppies and Platies can indeed live together as they are both hardy fish that can tolerate similar ranges of temperature, toxin, and water pH levels. There are several species of Swordtail, with Xiphophorus helleri being the usual one found for sale in the trade, although crosses can occur often. It might’ve had contact with a male, and will end up giving you babies at home. So it looks just like the tail fin in both the male and female Platy. The swordtail belongs to the group of livebearer fishes – scientifically classified as Poecillidae – to which the mosquito fish, the guppies, the mollies and the platies belong. Female swordtails stay gravid the same length of time as guppies do: 28 to 30 days, depending on the temperature of the breeding tank. The constant crossbreeding and inbreeding among the swordtails and platy fish are the reasons why we have such a variety of lively colors and prominent characteristics among these aquarium fish today. Can platies, guppies, algae eaters, barbs, tetras, swordtails an mollies live together with discus? It also defeats the purpose of crossbreeding which is basically to produce better offspring with higher economic value and survival rate. Can Platy Fish Live With Swordtails? oh and sorry, when I wrote "breed them" I meant their own species, sorry. It is very rare to find a true Xiphophorus nowadays. Check out these fish tanks and products today. Water quality: Water parameters are the usual for tropical livebearers: a temperature of 74 to 82 deg F, a pH level of 6 to 7.5, and water hardness of 8 to 12 dGH. This is because she can hold the male’s sperm in her during that length of time. They will be healthy IF the pregnancy and birthing go well (generally speaking, swordtail/platy crosses are healthy, though).
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