Female Red Swordtail Platy?

[McLumpy]

The fish shown below is a baby from our original, (RIP), that we had purchased when we got our first batch of fish. There was another baby, but it went MIA. To this day I still don't know what happened to that one and it bothers me because I believe that was the one I saved from the filter.

Anyway, I couldn't remember what we had purchased at the LFS, (as it was awhile ago), so I was just referring to this fish as being an Orange Molly, (I didn't figure it was a Molly, but I was unfamiliar w/ what a Platy looked like). - Silly, huh? lol

However, since joining this site, I've had a chance to get better visuals of fish and learning breeds. After doing a little more research, it appears that this fish is a female Red Swordtail Platy.

I guess I'm just looking for breed verification. If anyone can help, that would be great!

TIA!

 

[GuppyLover]

Thats what she looks like to me

 

[McLumpy]

Works for me! Thanks, GuppyLover!

I just wanted to make sure as my husband purchased this little gal's mom and he couldn't remember what it was called. lol I never owned a Platy before, that and I'm a Molly type of Gal. She's pretty though and likes to pal around w/ my Gold Dust Mollies. I just didn't want to keep referring to her as my mysterious fish. lol

 

[Aquatic_Adam]

To me platys just look like small mollys. This may not be the place to bring it up but what exactly is the difference? How can I tell that I'm buying a platy and not just a young molly?

 

[McLumpy]

To me platys just look like small mollys. This may not be the place to bring it up but what exactly is the difference? How can I tell that I'm buying a platy and not just a young molly?

The sign on the tank at the LFS could help you. Teasing!

I honestly couldn't tell you because I know very little about Guppies, but maybe someone could give you some differences between the two.


Oh yeah, I bumped this thread because I did more research and stumbled upon livefishdirect.com and they had a pic of this fish. I'm now thinking that she could be something else other than a swordtail/platy hybrid.

Could she just be a Red Velvet Swordtail? She looks fairly identical to that fish shown on their site... minus the sword of course because she's a lady. GAH!!!! This is driving me nuts! LOL I think I will be calling Petco tomorrow to see if they have our purchase details on record.

Am I the only person on here that gets annoyed by not knowing what type of fish I have in my tank? I can't possibly be alone. lol

 

[Welshy]

I'm pretty convinced she is a red swordtail platy as k have around 5 or 6 of the sane in my tank along with tuxedo platys the only difference is mine seem to have a kil bit if black on there lower fins

 

[Welshy]

Sorry the language is so poor **** iPhone predictive text!!

 

[McLumpy]

Sorry the language is so poor **** iPhone predictive text!!

It happens. lol

Well, if you have some pics of your fish that you can upload, I could compare. If not, that's ok.


BTW, I just realized in my pics, my fishy was pooin'. Sorry about that guys!

 

[Vircomore]

As a molly-keeper myself, I'm a bit conflicted.

- I'd vote for Platy simply because I've never seen a completely red breed of Molly anywhere, BUT.

- That fish has the characteristic "upturned mouth" of a Molly. I say that because of these pictures:

Molly, with a mouth / head that is "not in the curve" of its back.

Platy, with a mouth / head that is "in line" with the curve of its back.

 

[El_diablo]

I hav mollies, swordtails and platys, and depending on ur fishes size I wud defo say it was either a platy or a swordtail, my mollies r a lot slimmer than my swordtails but my platys r jus like mini-me swordtails wit quite a round bellys. Hope this helps

 

[Welshy]

Hey currently stuck in work once I get home and have done all the jobs my wife will no doubt want me to do I will get you some clearer piks in the mean time I hope these help a little

 

[McLumpy]

Thank you for the responses, guys! I contacted Petco and they said it was a Swordtail... um, really? lol So, yeah, not much help.

As a molly-keeper myself, I'm a bit conflicted.

- I'd vote for Platy simply because I've never seen a completely red breed of Molly anywhere, BUT.

- That fish has the characteristic "upturned mouth" of a Molly. I say that because of these pictures:

Molly, with a mouth / head that is "not in the curve" of its back.
Platy, with a mouth / head that is "in line" with the curve of its back.

The odd thing about my fish is she has every characteristic of a Swordtail, so there's no doubt that she is one. However, there is a much deeper curve from her mouth to the top of her head and it is getting more defined the older she gets. This is what has led me to believe that she's a hybrid.

I hav mollies, swordtails and platys, and depending on ur fishes size I wud defo say it was either a platy or a swordtail, my mollies r a lot slimmer than my swordtails but my platys r jus like mini-me swordtails wit quite a round bellys. Hope this helps

I would say that she's around 3" long. Her body is slim, but she has a hump-back, (as you can see in the pics). She looks exactly like her mother that we lost a few months ago-cause of death unknown.

Hey currently stuck in work once I get home and have done all the jobs my wife will no doubt want me to do I will get you some clearer piks in the mean time I hope these help a little

No worries. Take care of your honey-do list... you don't want to upset the Mrs! Even though your pics are a little blurry, I can see the black on the edge of the tail. Mine doesn't have that at all.


Oh and... I forgot to mention this earlier, but...
I had recently introduced a male Dalmatian Molly to my tank in an attempt to breed w/ my Gold Dust Mollies. Low and behold, "things are happening". I'm hoping to get a beautiful color variation but I don't know if it will happen, but we'll see. It's a little too early for them to start showing, but extremely small 'baby bumps' are noticeable. I also noticed that the mysterious Swordtail that we're discussing even has one. OH BOYYYYYYYY!!!

Furthermore, the darkest Molly of the bunch, (the one my husband named, Michaela J Fish due to her 'wiggle' caused by her tail fin deformity - I know... that is so wrong lol), well she became more active since I introduced the Dalmatian. She was more or less an outcast and just stayed perched under the trees of my house decor. But now, she's swimming w/ the rest of them!

 

[Vircomore]

Haha, good luck then. Regardless of what they specifically are, livebearers are all fun fish to have in your tank!

 

[McLumpy]

Haha, good luck then. Regardless of what they specifically are, livebearers are all fun fish to have in your tank!

I couldn't agree more about the livebearers!

 

[EndlersEatGuppies]

To the guys and girls that are live bearer freaks please check out my thread it's called "pineapple wag swordtail and tuxedo swordtail mate!" it's under the FW breeding forum.