Platies!

[pbmax]

Yeah, I know, platies are n00b fish. :cyclops:  But for various reasons I've never been able to successfully keep them in the past , so I'm giving them another try with a trio of sunburst platies I recently purchased from Petstupid (I may have spelled that wrong... :scratch: ). They're definitely under-rated fish in my opinion - you can get them in all kinds of gorgeous colors, they're very out-going, and they get along with nearly any other fish. Plus, they stay relatively small (3" or less) so they fit in great with my small, planted aquaria.

After conversations with Cory, I'm using water with modified GH and KH this time around - 11dGH, 9dKH as opposed to the 4dGH and 5dKH that comes out of my tap. All live-bearers prefer higher GH and KH than what comes out of the tap around here, and since commercially bred live-bearers are often raised in brackish water, harder water in the aquarium should be a step in the right direction. My fingers are crossed! So far this latest trio has done better at 3 weeks with 100% survival than any of my previous big-box store livebearer purchases. :cheers: 

Does anyone else here keep platies? What color varieities? Anyone have photos? I don't have any photos of mine yet, but I plan to take some soon (this weekend, hopefully) and post them

Anyone know a good place to buy healthy platies in colors other than red / orange? Oly Petco had some beautiful bumblebee platies when I was there the other day, but there were a bunch of dead fish in the tank and the live fish looked pretty sad.

 

[MorganEA]

Iv had good luck raising platies I have 3 bumblebee platies right now. Are you coming to the swap? I have a bumblebee platy that you can have.

 

[Lamental Jester]

The classic red-orange platies are what first got me into aquaria so many years ago!  An ex's Dad had a bunch of them, I thought they were so cool.  Very underestimated fish!  The red-orange ones look really pretty in a planted tank, great contrast... but yeah, I can't think of any non-boxstores that carry varieties other than the red-orange :?: :?: :?:

 

[pbmax]

Iv had good luck raising platies I have 3 bumblebee platies right now. Are you coming to the swap? I have a bumblebee platy that you can have.

I had marginal success with them years ago, but my males gradually died off and I killed 3 or 4 more males that I bought from various big box stores. I'm glad yours are doing well for you!

Thanks for the offer, but I'm looking for a trio - 2F, 1M. No, I hadn't planned on going to the swap.

 

[MorganEA]

yea I only have females at the moment I try not to keep male and females together because they breed like crazy. They over ran my 20gal in no time!!

 

[pbmax]

The classic red-orange platies are what first got me into aquaria so many years ago!  An ex's Dad had a bunch of them, I thought they were so cool.  Very underestimated fish!  The red-orange ones look really pretty in a planted tank, great contrast... but yeah, I can't think of any non-boxstores that carry varieties other than the red-orange :?: :?: :?:

Yup, that's been my experience - LFS don't stock them because the big boxes flood the market. And of course heath at the big box stores is questionable at best. I'm thinking at this point my best bet may be to find that rare big box store where they don't abuse their fish. When I got mine I picked from the healthiest tank - not my favorite color pick, though they are quite attractive. There's another color I like there, but they've just looked horrible the last couple of times I've gone.

 

[pbmax]

yea I only have females at the moment I try not to keep male and females together because they breed like crazy. They over ran my 20gal in no time!!

Hehe, they do tend to do this. I'll get to that point again as well, if things go as planned. I do have plans on where to put the fry. Besides which, I don't think madness would turn down free, healthy food for his monsters.

 

[MorganEA]

Ha! that's a good idea!!

 

[Lamental Jester]

You know, now that I am digging deep in my disorganized, memory filled brain, The Fish Store in Seattle might have some other colors. Next time I'm there I'll check it out and let you know

 

[MorganEA]

What about ordering online?

 

[pbmax]

What about ordering online?

I've been monitoring aquabid pretty regularly. They have some I like, but I'm not sure I'd trust platies to priority shipping and express adds $35 to the bill, same as with all the commercial online stores. It may indeed be that I can't get what I want without substantial spending, but I'm not punting on local fish yet.

I did get my H.Formosa and CPDs online via priority, but the H.Formosa had some attrition and the CPDs were from a seller I trusted from another forum (a fish-packing / shipping ninja).

 

[fishyladdy]

ive got lots all different colors and patterns i love them i think they are pretty and fun to watch i have mine in a 20 gallon long very planted and they love it they normally dont eat there babies in my tank either so i always bring the babies into the pet store or give them away to a couple friends for free. lol

 

[pbmax]

And if I lived up there or you lived down here I could trade you some shrimp

 

[fishyladdy]

the distance.. although i could always ship

 

[pbmax]

Got any decent photos? :cyclops: 

 

[fishyladdy]

nope but i can take some

 

[DMD123]

Yeah, I know, platies are n00b fish.

They are still beautiful, colorful fish. Been thinking about this whole raising of food fish but have considered something that I might be able to make some money off of too. I have considered the closely related sword tail.

I really like the look of the koi swortail and they are expensive so they look to have a good resale value. ($24.99 a pair)
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830+1102+2822&pcatid=2822

Another I would consider is the black swordtail
http://www.petsolutions.com/C/Live-Freshwater-Fish-Swordtails/I/Black-Swordtail.aspx

Hope I did not distract from the subject bringing up swords instead of platies.

 

[pbmax]

Yeah, I know, platies are n00b fish.

They are still beautiful, colorful fish. Been thinking about this whole raising of food fish but have considered something that I might be able to make some money off of too. I have considered the closely related sword tail.

I really like the look of the koi swortail and they are expensive so they look to have a good resale value. ($24.99 a pair)
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830+1102+2822&pcatid=2822

Another I would consider is the black swordtail
http://www.petsolutions.com/C/Live-Freshwater-Fish-Swordtails/I/Black-Swordtail.aspx

Hope I did not distract from the subject bringing up swords instead of platies.

THATS IT I QUIT! :evil: 

Too soon? :suspect: 

I agree - the koi sword tails are absolutely gorgeous, but swords get a little too big for my tanks (29g at the most). Otherwise, I'd love to get a trio of those. I keep coming across them as I'm lurking on aquabid...

Now if you could convince my wife to let me get a 55gal..................................... :scratch: 

I have plenty more dots where those came from.

 

[jettej]

Here is the thread i made for my Plumetail/hifin platies. I basically got a plumetail mom and hifin dads and boom!! Combination of bot finnings!! they are mostly mixed now and having both finning on 1 platy is just plain awesome. I do not have rare colors obviously but i was looking at those Green Platies!!

http://www.wafishbox.com/t7457-hi-fin-plumetail-platy

 

[jettej]

Also here's my album i got today's pics. Not too fancy. I actually donated 20+ of them last month on one of my LFS. Theres no money with this guys but I rather downsize than crash my small tank.

http://imageshack.us/f/153/9xvo.jpg/

Click on the photo one time so it will bring you to the scrolling page so you can pres next and see more photos.