Alessa

Hello fellow fans of the Platy!

When like 8 months ago I acquired a "Dwarf Coral Sunset Platy" there was very little known about them, and I was told that they were normal platies whose growth had been stunted... or random platies that had been born smaller and then collected all in a big group, then sold as a new kind of platy.

Well, the one I got was pregnant when I got her. None of my other regular sized males touched her... or even seemed interested in chasing her. Then, she gave birth to like 10 babies and then, unfortunately, died during the mysterious disease that attacked my tank a couple months ago.

The babies survived and are fully grown platies after like 8 months of being born. The males have developed a gonopodium and the girls are slightly bigger than the males, and i can also see unfertilized eggs through their slightly transparent skin.

These fully adult platies are like 1 inch at the most, and look way smaller, around half the size of my remaining regular sized male platy. They have always been in a healthy tank, understocked, with clean water and cycled from their birth until today, and they have not been stunted.

This does not prove that they are a "different type of platy", but it does prove they have not been stunted, or are deformed. More research needs to be done to conclude whether they can breed with the regular platies.

I will continue my research and if possible, breed these babies to see what happens. I hope that this will help other fellow parents of these little pieces of wonder that are the "Dwarf Coral Platies".

sirdarksol

Neat. This gives a small amount of credibility to the "bunch of small platies collected and sold as a new type," especially if the size makes it difficult for them to breed with normal sized platies. That's basically the description of selective breeding, and sometimes it's a little genetic mutation that gives rise to a new breed like this.

pinkfloydpuffer

Wait, dwarf platies?
Hm... dwarf platies + dwarf puffers = CUTENESS!!!

Just kidding of course.... they'd probably get eaten....

Alessa

I'm so happy! my babies are so tiny... When they were born I was sure that they would grow to be normal sized platies... (since I was told all that stuff).

Now I look at them and my male red wag looks gigantic compared to the others!

I will take some pics soon.

Lucy

The sound really cute! Pics soon please

MissMTS

That's really interesting. I have seen them at Petsmart so many times and have wondered. Thanks for sharing

JRob

We have three "dwarfs" (one male and two pregnant females) in the tank with a normal blue mickey mouse female. I'm very interested to see if the dwarf male will mate with the blue, and what the results will be. It's only been about three weeks, but so far she does not look at all pregnant.

blaxicanlatino

I only went with dwarf platys so i could put more in my tank. its good to know that i didnt buy any fish that were geneitcally maipulated like that of those glow in the dark fish

KyWildFish

I have two species of Platies in my tank. One was labeled "Dawn of the Dead Moon" and the other "Sunset Platy." The Dawns are much larger and one in particular is about twice the size of the rest, all are male. The sunset is smaller and more streamline in shape, but all are still platies. Got any pics with another comon fish to give reference?

Alessa

I will take pics this week and then post them for everyone to see.