hamstermann

The PetSmart guy said this was a female, but it looks like a male to me. What do you think?

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somedude

I would also say male...

Radcliffe

Yup, your fish looks just like Spike, my male Platy :-)

-R

Sabi

Yeah, i'd say male.

bbfeckawitts

No doubt a male.

hamstermann

Thanks, guys. Now begins the hunt for the perfect 2 females for him. :-D

Radcliffe

As you hunt for females for him, you might want to note that you have a Platy, not a Molly. Most female live bearer fish that you buy will be pregnant already (mine were) so you could have baby fish even without a male fish even in your tank. There are really pretty Platys out there- mickey mouse, and twin bar are my favorites :-)

--R

hamstermann

He's a Platy? Dang, and all this time I thought he was a molly. That's even better, though, because the fish I really want to add to the community tank are blue mollys. (If I can find any. There don't seem to be many here in Salt Lake City.)

So how do I tell the difference between the two species ?

Radcliffe

Well, a good start would be to put
"molly fish" and then "platy fish" into google image searches. That is what I have dne when trying to identify and get to know fish species. There are a bunch of fish sites that have galleries. The orange and black look of your fish is a classic platy trait, and one of my favorites! Some mollys have a distinctive lyre tail, that is a very curved inward shape to the end of the tail. I kind of wonder about the sales person at the store you mentioned in your original post- to have both the gender and breed inaccurate...

I hope it is a fun thing for you to look up- researching and planning fish to have someday is one of my favorite parts of the hobby :-)

--R

hamstermann

I do love learning about them. my addiction is quickly becoming aquascaping, though. I'm having tons of fun learning about fish and the kind of plants to put in there for them. I spend my idle time at work imagining and planning the layout of future and present tanks. I do have to wonder about the guy at the pet store too. He's clearly excited about fish and has been in the hobby for years, but maybe mollys and platys are just not his area of expertise.

I've been looking for pictures of blue mickeys but can't seem to find any on google. any ideas where else I could look? this board and plantgeek are the only hobby boards/sites I've found so far.

bbfeckawitts

Theres a picture of my mickey mouse female here. Yes that is definatly a platy.
http://www.fishlore.com/Forum/130-me...ts-fish.0.html

armadillo

Whatever it is (male or female) it's not a molly! ; ) Very pretty, though.