Platy

An extremely attractive and popular freshwater aquarium fish is the Platy. These fish are very hardy, easy to care for and easy to breed. Platys are peaceful community fish and mix well with other peaceful fish. They come in all sorts of color variations and each one is a brilliant a beautiful as the next. Some popular colors are the Mickey Mouse Platy and the Gold Comet Platy. It is these striking color variations that make these fish so popular.

A Platy is best kept in small to medium sized groups. They are social and like to swim with others of the same type. Sometime a male Platy may become more dominant and chase other males away. This is normal behavior for these fish. To reduce then tendency of that happening it is good to keep several females for every male. A good-sized group would be six females and two males.

Ten gallons is enough space for 3 or 4 Platys. However Platys breed with little effort of the aquarist and a 10 gal tank will soon become over populated. It is a good idea to get a larger tank and then upkeep is that much easier. Also a larger tank will provide more space to keep a larger group of Platys.



Breeding them is like other live bearing fish. With next to no effort on the part of an aquarist Platys will breed and have fry every 4 to 6 weeks. The challenge is keeping the mother from eating the fry soon after they are born. There are a couple things that can be done to save the fry. One is to provide plants for the fry to hide in. The other is to use a commercial breeding trap, which separates the babies from the mother when they are born. Of the two solutions providing plants for hiding places is the best option and puts the least stress on the mother.

Platys are easy to take care of and will accept all types of foods. They are hardy and will tolerate a wide range of water conditions. A platy is an excellent fish for a first time aquarist and first time breeder. Learn more about Breeding Platys.



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