Giggles

I have this adorable fish in my tank, but i'm not sure if it's a platy or a molly. he's kinda chubby-looking, he has black fins, a white body and orange stripes. any advice?

Chief_waterchanger

Got a picture?

Giggles

i know, i really should have a picture if i want to ask that question, but i don't.

bmxer193

Platies are short and fat, mollies are long and skinny for the most part

Giggles

ok, i have the picture of my fish to show you, but now what? how am i supposed to get it on here?

0morrokh

Typical molly shape (finnage and color differs):



Typical platy shape:




(pics off google image)

Note that mollies are more long and thin while platys have more of a diamond shaped body.

EDIT: not sure why it's underlining everything

Another EDIT: to insert a pic click post reply and then underneath the text box there are "Additional Options", click on the button that says "manage Attachments" and you can upload pics from your computer.

Giggles

ok, my fish looks exactly like the platy, only it's white with orange stripes. THANKS!!!

susitna-flower

Check out www.aquabid.com livebearers, domesticated, and look at the Bleeding heart zebra platies. Is this any thing like what you have?

Giggles

i figured it out! here he is!!! it's not the best picture, so if you can't see it well, he has pale orange stripes.

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Jessemama

aww what a cute platy! i have one that looks just like that he runs the show in my 10gal tank.

susitna-flower

If this is the actual fish, he is a she! It looks like a wag tail bleeding heart zebra platy. I have never seen one like it, but I LOVE Platies.

Giggles

sorry for calling it a he. i call all my fish he's. don't know why. you can keep different species of platy together, right? just like different species of guppy. or is it different for platies?

susitna-flower

You CAN do it......sometimes breeding different color patterns of platties creates new beautiful fish, but my experience is that it just mixes things up and you loose beauty. One of my pet peeves is to go to a store where they have MIXED platties. I have three colors, all in three different tanks. I try to get new of the same color to add to a tank for genetic diversity, but that way if I have fry I can take them to the store and sell or trade them with confidence that the store can say they are, for example, Sunset Fire Wagtail platties.......

Jessemama

yeah before i had 5 platies.. all different kinds too :-) now all i have is the one i call him "The Don" he is the last of the first platies i have ever bought. hey are such great fish, i mean he is the boss of my mollies in the tank with him hehe

Giggles

this is my other platy. there is one more, but she isn't very photogenic. as soon as she saw the camera she hid under the flower pot. kind of a random thought, but i've seen a lot of fish info places that describe platies as hardy, well on planet earth, they showed a special platy species living in sulfuric acid in caves. i think it was in mexico. it was AWESOME.

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