Blue Wagtail Platy? Where are they?!?!

[KevinKY]

Maybe someone can point me in the right direction here... I seen a video on Youtube of some blue wagtails but have not been able to find anywhere online or locally to get them. Was this video edited or are these fish actually for real?

Tropical fish: blue wagtail platy - YouTube

The closest I have been able to find are blue mickeys and ones called 'green neon' wags.

Thoughts?

 

[KevinKY]

For anyone else interested in this subject I think I found a source.

Aquarium Platy Fish for Sale


DISCLAIMER: I have not ordered these yet so I have no idea if they ship as beautiful as they are pictured.

 

[Luananeko]

Yes, blue wagtails are real, though less common than all the red and orange varieties. They're one of my favorite platy types

 

[Steve2223]

I have some but mine are not breeding true I have about 20 fry and they seem to be 3 different colors they are not quite 3/8 of a inch if they survive I'll be selling them in about a month

 

[KevinKY]

I have some but mine are not breeding true I have about 20 fry and they seem to be 3 different colors they are not quite 3/8 of a inch if they survive I'll be selling them in about a month

I would be interested in seeing what you have for sale when the time comes. Do you currently have any pictures of the parents? Also, when you say they don't breed true. What percentage of the offspring looks similar to the parents?

 

[Steve2223]

About a 3rd are dark a3rd look red and some are 1/2 and 1/2 it hard to be sure because they are only 3/8 of a inch long and I'm looking at them through a magnify lens.
I'll try to take some pictures latter today or tomorrow
Mine look like the picture but the red at the base of the tail is a little brighter the blue is really irradesent and shimmers under LED lights

 

[Supergummy]

Very pretty fish!

 

[KevinKY]

For anyone interested these guys are sometimes referred to as rainbow wags and I was able to special order some from my lfs. They source them from sunpet down in Georgia. On their special order form they are labeled blue/rainbow wagtails.

My lfs employee said he had never seen any true blue wags come in so I can only assume that these guys don't breed true and will be difficult to find the version without any red coloring in the tail.

I had them order 6 and only ended up purchasing one loaded female. The color on the rainbow wags are not all that great depending on your light source. I tried regular bulbs, fluorescent, and led. The colors are so so with the led light and look like crap with the other 2 types.

She has started dropping fry and we will see what colors come in time.

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[Paul1792]

My local Petsmart (Pensacola FL) got in a bunch of metallic blue platies that looked identical to the ones in your video about six months ago. I snapped three of them up. Once they were gone, they got no more in to the best of my knowledge. They have been a great addition to my 38 gallon tank .

 

[sabrinarichard]

Ok! So I would just like to add to this thread that they are real and beautiful, I have one it was Mixted in with what was called Hawaiian platy.. BUT; be carful once I wanted to buy some and (luckily) I know the people at the lfs and they showed them to me under a normal light and turns up that they were actually more silver/white than blue.. I asked why and thy told me they kept them under blue lights.. Long story short, make sure they don't try to scam you with blue lights

 

[katiekelsey]

I bought a Blue Wag Platy at my LFS a few months ago. He/She has lost some of the blue color since I bought it, but the fish is still pretty.

 

[NeverEnoughFish]

Ok! So I would just like to add to this thread that they are real and beautiful, I have one it was Mixted in with what was called Hawaiian platy.. BUT; be carful once I wanted to buy some and (luckily) I know the people at the lfs and they showed them to me under a normal light and turns up that they were actually more silver/white than blue.. I asked why and thy told me they kept them under blue lights.. Long story short, make sure they don't try to scam you with blue lights

Yes the blue wag platies are real but all the ones I've seen are so similar to the silver looking platies that unless you have the right type of lighting it would be hard to tell the difference. Believe it or not my local Petsmart about 3 months ago carried them (real blue platies) and I thought they were really cool and picked up two of them. Well sad to say they were being bullied by some red minor tetras I had in my tank at the time so I ended up having to bring them back to Petsmart (and I eventually gave Petsmart my red minors as they were a PITA to anything I added to the tank).

I do agree with the above statement in regards to some fish stores "scamming" you by selling you a common silver platy and then calling it something rare, such as a Hawaiian Platy (honestly I've never heard any platy called that before). Blue wags are pretty and they really are blue, just make sure they go into a true community tank that doesn't have bullies or fin nippers.

 

[sabrinarichard]

found some real nice ones today made me think of this post.. Once again Mixted with "Hawaiian platies"

 

[Paul1792]

found some real nice ones today made me think of this post.. Once again Mixted with "Hawaiian platies"

************
Wow. I thought I had the real thing ...... but I obviously don't. Mine clearly have blue in them ...... and they were called "blue metallic" ....... translation: silver blue.

If I ever see the "real thing" like the ones pictured, I am going to buy several. Thanks for posting

 

[enrgizerbunny]

My petco has something labelled as blue wag platys.

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[KevinKY]

About a week ago I asked my lfs to order 6 blue wags again with the same result. The supplier sent rainbow wags instead. Needless to say I didn't buy any fish that day.

I also asked them if they could source panda platies and to call me with a quote. Told them I might want 50 if the price was right and they could get healthy adults for a breeding project. They quoted me $4.12 each if I purchased 50. The retail price was $5.99 each for anything less. I told them to hold the order for 2 weeks.

2 days later I got a voicemail saying my 50 had come to the store and were ready for pickup. So I called them back and told one of the employees that order wasn't supposed to be in for 2 weeks and I wasn't ready for them.... Which I wasn't, the home of these fish won't be ready for another two weeks at minimum.

About ten minutes later the manager called and said the supplier just sent them and a mistake was made. If I could take atleast 25 they would give me a very good discount because they didn't have room for them. And this was a very very good discount.

Long story short, I grabbed up 30 of the best looking ones (9 males and 21 females) and they are currently living in a large Rubbermaid tote with 2 sponge filters on my kitchen counter. (thank god for a loving and supporting wife)

For anyone also interested in panda platies I can tell you that if your lfs is using sunpet in Georgia as a supplier then the color and paterns in this variation is all over the board. Had I only taken the best ones I would have left with about 12 out of the 50 they got in.

Lucky are you guys that can source true blue wagtails. I envy you!

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[thebilljamin]

Just to inform you, I was at Petsmart today and saw Blue wag platy for sale. Beautiful fish though. Check it out maybe you'll be lucky and find one.

 

[KevinKY]

I'll check it out. There is one about 20 miles from me but the last time I was there the employees were less than helpful. Does anyone know who petsmart sources from?

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[sabrinarichard]

I'm from canada so my suppliers won't be the same at all, but as I said all 4 of my super blue platies (their blue compares to my neons and cardinals) were in mixed batches of normal looking platies, this time only 3 in a group of over 150 normal yellow/orange/black platies (that they call Hawaiian) sometimes it's worth a second glance into those tanks just in case