Cazy

Recently i was told there was such a thing as a balloon platy, but as much as i research i cant find any information or pictures on them. Do they exist? I feel they'd look good with my balloon mollies can anyone help?

Chief_waterchanger

They may exist, I am not sure.. but you do realize that the 'ballooning' is from a deformality that scrunches their body shorter while their internal stuff (organs, tissues, etc) all continue to grow? I would imagine that would be quite painful, especially going along with the spine deformations they usually have.

Definately wouldn't be pleasant to be a "balloon" molly, platy, or anything else for that matter.

COBettaCouple

Yea, balloon platys are platys with scoliosis basically. We have 2 of them and they were born that way due to in-store tank inbreeding. Only 4 of all the fry made it past 1 month old.

finmama

I have a deformed platy, she would probably be considered a balloon. Her spine curves down so it looks like she has kind of a humpback
She gets around fine though....balloon mollies I see at stores always seem to have difficulty swimming. Poor fish, I would never buy one

Cazy

It is safe to say I was most definately not aware of the processes involved in the breeding of mollies in order to enhance such a "ballooned" quality, as I would never condone such a behaviour. Yet it is obvious that the majority of fish seen today in most pet stores have been subject to rigorus breeding in order for breeders to aquire the colours and attributes they desire. Balloon mollies are ever increasing with popularity, and having successfully kept the fish for over a year now which show nothing but happiness and health in their demeanour it is obvious to me that under the correct conditions and care "balloon" fish of any kind can enjoy a happy,well maintained lifestyle, and can make a beautiful addition to any aquarium.

COBettaCouple

Scoliosis can be induced easily on a batch of fry, yielding a batch of balloon livebearers that have the desired coloring.

JohnB

I have actually seen these fish at my LFS yesterday. They were called Coral Balloon Platies and I know they can breed even though I read online that they are sterile. The guy at the store was acclimating the newest delivery to the tank and there were tons of really dark red fry.
The fish are beautiful with a very dark red color and the eyes are also red, but darker than the red lyretail swordtails. And there size is just a bit smaller than the typical balloon molly.
I will go to the store again today and take some pictures.

John B

Here_fishy_fishy

i agree! u said it all !!

JohnB

when my balloon mollies mated, I ended up with mostly regular looking fry and 2 with bad spines which didn't survive.

Cazy

Awww thankyou very much here_fishy_fishy!

Thats a shame about those fry JohnB, good luck with the rest those pictures would be lovely to see.

mrsmuffin

I had no idea about this. Of course, I guess that is why I come to this forum so much. I learn something new every day!

COBettaCouple

We have a couple that have managed to live around a year. We lost one early this year and one not too long ago out of the 4 that made it to 6 months. Unfortunately, the balloon platy fry don't live very long mostly, but the 2 we have now are cute, spoiled little chubby platys and pretty happy.