Platies!

Yeah, I know, platies are n00b fish.   But for various reasons I've never been able to successfully keep them in the past , so I'm giving them another try with a trio of sunburst platies I recently purchased from Petstupid (I may have spelled that wrong...  ). They're definitely under-rated fish in my opinion - you can get them in all kinds of gorgeous colors, they're very out-going, and they get along with nearly any other fish. Plus, they stay relatively small (3" or less) so they fit in great with my small, planted aquaria.

After conversations with Cory, I'm using water with modified GH and KH this time around - 11dGH, 9dKH as opposed to the 4dGH and 5dKH that comes out of my tap. All live-bearers prefer higher GH and KH than what comes out of the tap around here, and since commercially bred live-bearers are often raised in brackish water, harder water in the aquarium should be a step in the right direction. My fingers are crossed! So far this latest trio has done better at 3 weeks with 100% survival than any of my previous big-box store livebearer purchases.  

Does anyone else here keep platies? What color varieities? Anyone have photos? I don't have any photos of mine yet, but I plan to take some soon (this weekend, hopefully) and post them

Anyone know a good place to buy healthy platies in colors other than red / orange? Oly Petco had some beautiful bumblebee platies when I was there the other day, but there were a bunch of dead fish in the tank and the live fish looked pretty sad.

Iv had good luck raising platies I have 3 bumblebee platies right now. Are you coming to the swap? I have a bumblebee platy that you can have.

The classic red-orange platies are what first got me into aquaria so many years ago!  An ex's Dad had a bunch of them, I thought they were so cool.  Very underestimated fish!  The red-orange ones look really pretty in a planted tank, great contrast... but yeah, I can't think of any non-boxstores that carry varieties other than the red-orange   

MorganEA wrote:Iv had good luck raising platies I have 3 bumblebee platies right now. Are you coming to the swap? I have a bumblebee platy that you can have.

I had marginal success with them years ago, but my males gradually died off and I killed 3 or 4 more males that I bought from various big box stores. I'm glad yours are doing well for you!

Thanks for the offer, but I'm looking for a trio - 2F, 1M. No, I hadn't planned on going to the swap.

yea I only have females at the moment I try not to keep male and females together because they breed like crazy. They over ran my 20gal in no time!!

Lamental Jester wrote:The classic red-orange platies are what first got me into aquaria so many years ago!  An ex's Dad had a bunch of them, I thought they were so cool.  Very underestimated fish!  The red-orange ones look really pretty in a planted tank, great contrast... but yeah, I can't think of any non-boxstores that carry varieties other than the red-orange   

Yup, that's been my experience - LFS don't stock them because the big boxes flood the market. And of course heath at the big box stores is questionable at best. I'm thinking at this point my best bet may be to find that rare big box store where they don't abuse their fish. When I got mine I picked from the healthiest tank - not my favorite color pick, though they are quite attractive. There's another color I like there, but they've just looked horrible the last couple of times I've gone.

MorganEA wrote:yea I only have females at the moment I try not to keep male and females together because they breed like crazy. They over ran my 20gal in no time!!

Hehe, they do tend to do this. I'll get to that point again as well, if things go as planned. I do have plans on where to put the fry. Besides which, I don't think madness would turn down free, healthy food for his monsters.

Ha! that's a good idea!!

You know, now that I am digging deep in my disorganized, memory filled brain, The Fish Store in Seattle might have some other colors. Next time I'm there I'll check it out and let you know

What about ordering online?

MorganEA wrote:What about ordering online?

I've been monitoring aquabid pretty regularly. They have some I like, but I'm not sure I'd trust platies to priority shipping and express adds $35 to the bill, same as with all the commercial online stores. It may indeed be that I can't get what I want without substantial spending, but I'm not punting on local fish yet.

I did get my H.Formosa and CPDs online via priority, but the H.Formosa had some attrition and the CPDs were from a seller I trusted from another forum (a fish-packing / shipping ninja).

ive got lots all different colors and patterns i love them i think they are pretty and fun to watch i have mine in a 20 gallon long very planted and they love it they normally dont eat there babies in my tank either so i always bring the babies into the pet store or give them away to a couple friends for free. lol

And if I lived up there or you lived down here I could trade you some shrimp

the distance.. although i could always ship

Got any decent photos?  

nope but i can take some

pbmax wrote:Yeah, I know, platies are n00b fish.

They are still beautiful, colorful fish. Been thinking about this whole raising of food fish but have considered something that I might be able to make some money off of too. I have considered the closely related sword tail.

I really like the look of the koi swortail and they are expensive so they look to have a good resale value. ($24.99 a pair)
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Another I would consider is the black swordtail
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Hope I did not distract from the subject bringing up swords instead of platies.

DMD123 wrote:

pbmax wrote:Yeah, I know, platies are n00b fish.

They are still beautiful, colorful fish. Been thinking about this whole raising of food fish but have considered something that I might be able to make some money off of too. I have considered the closely related sword tail.

I really like the look of the koi swortail and they are expensive so they look to have a good resale value. ($24.99 a pair)
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Another I would consider is the black swordtail
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Hope I did not distract from the subject bringing up swords instead of platies.

THATS IT I QUIT!  

Too soon?  

I agree - the koi sword tails are absolutely gorgeous, but swords get a little too big for my tanks (29g at the most). Otherwise, I'd love to get a trio of those. I keep coming across them as I'm lurking on aquabid...

Now if you could convince my wife to let me get a 55gal.....................................  

I have plenty more dots where those came from.

Here is the thread i made for my Plumetail/hifin platies. I basically got a plumetail mom and hifin dads and boom!! Combination of bot finnings!! they are mostly mixed now and having both finning on 1 platy is just plain awesome. I do not have rare colors obviously but i was looking at those Green Platies!!

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Also here's my album i got today's pics. Not too fancy. I actually donated 20+ of them last month on one of my LFS. Theres no money with this guys but I rather downsize than crash my small tank.

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Click on the photo one time so it will bring you to the scrolling page so you can pres next and see more photos.

Wow, neat fins; I've never seen any like that before. Thanks for posting the photos!

pbmax wrote:
THATS IT I QUIT!  

 Too soon?  

  Not you too.

Have you tried the upgrade to a slightly bigger tank and then to the next one up? Thats what I did. I started back into the hobby with a 65g breeder then went to a 120g and then to my 210. I also spoke of the need for a hospital tank and started a 29g then a 56g column and then my 72g bow. Of course now I really need a hospital tank so.... working toward my third big tank.

My wife never noticed.  

pbmax wrote:
Now if you could convince my wife to let me get a 55gal.....................................  

I brought this up to her just now and my normally unflappable wife looked at me with terror in her eyes and told me she didn't want to live in a "fish house".  

I only have 12 tanks, I don't see what the big deal is.  

It sounds like there is going to be a couple 55gal at the swap  

If you promised to cut back on the number of tanks would she compromise?

DMD123 wrote:If you promised to cut back on the number of tanks would she compromise?

Why would I do a stupid thing like that!?     

KaraWolf wrote:Awww you guy's spouses are spoil sports!!!! Mine said as long as he can have a mancave I can turn our whole house into a tank XD and we got together when I only had a 15gal....even suggested he would build me a 300 gallon if I did a salt tank (though now he's loving the giant freshwater fish I've shown him XD ) as of this point in time the only rooms that don't have tanks are the dark bathroom, laundry room and the spare bedroom that is only for storing things neatly or otherwise. Of course they're not nearly as big as what most of you are keeping LOL

My wife keeps me balanced and grounded. If she feels strongly about something I generally defer to her as she rarely asks me for anything. So if I'm going to pull it off, I need to present a workable solution in a way that she can fit into her view of the interior of house. Or find a way to fit another tank into the garage... both are easier said than done. And then there's the time aspect - that's even harder to justify.

I tried using a sports car purchase as leverage, but she called my bluff. And why is it I married a smart one again?

KaraWolf wrote:build a shed with one of those space heaters or do a rack system. ack no rolling head guy smily :(joking!!!!! No I see where she's coming from completely......I feel bad but I have to do the same thing to my husband all the time cause he likes to ask for animals but...we have no more room right now and he needs to learn how to propperly care for the first two he has before he can have more and as much as I would LOVE a cat which he makes me feel bad about saying no to, our dog is still too excitable and tiny house is no room for both- I can just see the chase games at midnight right now.....0.o
Us smart ladies are good for something XP

Hehe, that made me laugh. I haven't given up yet. I do need to clean out the garage...

pbmax wrote:My wife keeps me balanced and grounded

My wife does the same for me, otherwise I would have as many tanks as madness.

You know, I've never had good luck with platys either. I got three red wag platys from Tanya in Grand Mound, and they were healthy until they got to adulthood. The male was hit with a sickness, and it took him forever to go. Same thing happened with the females, and then the replacement male we got. It's like something in my water just doesn't agree with them.

KaraWolf wrote:bwhahaha XP clean out the garage indeed. Of the car ;)Good luck XD

Hehe, no, I will not be one of those clogged garage hoarders who can't even fit one car.  I have racks all over the ceiling and shelves all over the walls, but I can still fit both cars in the garage.

That said, I've found a place for the 29g and stand in the garage that shouldn't require a lot of work to clear.  And a 40 breeder will fit in the spot where the 29 sits in the house currently.  As long as I don't take up more room in the house, my wife is a happy camper.  Well, not entirely, but she'll tolerate it.  I leveraged the whole "my dad kept swords when I was a kid; I've always wanted to keep them" thing.

Now I need to find budget for the project.  I may call petco tomorrow and see if they have a 40 available in Olympia with the $1 / gal sale - that's step 1.  Then I need to find a stand... and a filter... and a light fixture... and substrate... and a heater.  Pocket change, right?

CrazedAce wrote:You know, I've never had good luck with platys either. I got three red wag platys from Tanya in Grand Mound, and they were healthy until they got to adulthood. The male was hit with a sickness, and it took him forever to go. Same thing happened with the females, and then the replacement male we got. It's like something in my water just doesn't agree with them.

What's your GH / KH at? Tanya's sitting at 8dGH and 3dKH. It's the 8dGH that makes her water magic for snails and I'm betting live-bearers too.

So would the 40B be tank #13 or is that the 29g? Then the 40B would be tank #14... Man you have way too many tanks!   Not really, I wish I could have more.

Heh, that would be tank 13.... too much?  

I have 1 2.5g, 1 3g, 6 10g, 3 20g, 1 29g. The 40 would be the biggest

Actually I like nano tanks but they seem to be more work than my big tanks. What are you thinking to do with a larger tank like the 40B?

I was going to steal your idea - sword tails.

i put some pictures of my platies up if u wanna go look pbmax

pbmax wrote:I was going to steal your idea - sword tails.

I doubt I will ever get the chance to set up anything else in the near future, so go for it. Plus mine would just be an experiment in food raising for the bichirs.

fishyladdy wrote:i put some pictures of my platies up if u wanna go look pbmax

Indeed; the yellow high-fin is pretty. How long have you had the dalmation mollies? I tried (and failed) several times to keep those in the past.

DMD123 wrote:

pbmax wrote:I was going to steal your idea - sword tails.

I doubt I will ever get the chance to set up anything else in the near future, so go for it. Plus mine would just be an experiment in food raising for the bichirs.

And mine would be for my own enjoyment. Selling live stock isn't why I got into this hobby

I don't really have the budget for it right now anyway. If I did buy a tank it would end up sitting idle for quite a while.

pbmax wrote:

fishyladdy wrote:i put some pictures of my platies up if u wanna go look pbmax

Indeed; the yellow high-fin is pretty.  How long have you had the dalmation mollies?  I tried (and failed) several times to keep those in the past.

Well I started out with two about 2 monthst or so ago and now Ihave 4 so I'm doing pretty good lol

I finally got some decent photos of my sunburst platies.  I had a bulb out on my 4x31w 30" T5HO fixture, which took a bank of 2 out.  I fixed that and with 122w of light over my 29g I had just barely enough for a photo.  I need a remote flash...

Anyways, here they are:

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@pbmax, ohhhhhhhh HD! Nice choice with the Sunburst Platies. Looks great!

Thanks! They're the prettiest that Petsmart has, I think. I'm going to give Petsmart one last chance tomorrow night (they get fish on Fridays apparently) for different, attractive platies. After that it might be Aquabid...

Lol pbmax petsmart is Friday PETCO is Saturday and in Lakewood they're 5 min apart. Drives me nuts when I happen to visit and I can't buy anything because they're probably sick or stressed. These look good though!

So the fish quality at the Petsmart and petco in lakewood is pretty bad too? I was thinking of driving up there one of these days...

They usually look good I just got a bad batch most recently >> usually they're pretty nice looking. I know the PETCO will quarentine if they look bad. Mostly though I just try not to buy fish on shipment day.