Platy is a common name for freshwater fish in the Xiphophorus genus, including Xiphophorus Maculatus and Xiphophorus Variatus. They are live-bearers, closely related to Swordtail fish and are native to the East Coast of Central America and southern Mexico.
Platy Fish bred in captivity dispose of many color varieties, and patterns, making them widely popular with hobbyists and serious aquarists.
Maintenace:
It is optimal to house platy in a tank with the size of 77 centimeter square for each 2.5cm of Platy. Avoid sun exposure because it can easily cause changes in the temperature.
Water conditions:
Platy fish from ThienDuc Aquarium accommodates well to tap water, after chlorine treatment.
Range of pH: 6.5 – 8.0
Water temperature: appx 26˚C – 28˚C
Diet:
Platy fish are omnivores, they eat all live food, frozen food and vegetable food, so rotate their diet daily and feed only what they can consume in under 2 minutes, once or twice a day. Do not overfeed or leave food leftover in the tank, as it causes ammonia and nitrite and becomes toxic.
Behaviour:
In general, platy fish are peaceful and make good community fish. Male platy can be aggressive towards each other and are constantly trying to mate, so a ratio of 2 to 3 females per male is advised to prevent excessive harassment of the females. Good tank mates include tetras, rasboras, danios, peaceful barbs and rainbowfish.