Swordtail fishes, molly fish, and guppies are perfect tank mates for the platies. All these fishes love to swim about freely in the tank and they are also good at jumping.

Male and female platies will breed regardless of colors or marking types.

Do Platies Crossbreed? Yes, swordtails and platys are part of the genus Xiphophorus. Thus, the species can interbreed.

Breeding the red wagtail platy is more than easy—it’s not a question of if but when. Females can warehouse sperm for up to six months; they are almost always pregnant with fertilized eggs and can give live birth to 10 to 40 fry every 4 to 6 weeks. Huge broods of up to 80 fry are even possible.

Platies mate via spawning. It is a process in which male platy fish releases the gametes (sperm) into the water close to the female platy fish. The gametes are directed towards the female fins via pointed male anal fin. The narrow fin of the male platy enforces the gametes to flow towards the inside of the female fins.

Like other live-bearing fish, she carries her fry until they are fully developed. The gestation period typically lasts for around 28 days.

Platys can change sex. Even if you bought them all at the same time, the males may be older, and less inclined towards mating. If so, then the dominant female will change sex as long as she has never carried young. once they get pregnant, their sex is locked in @ female.

There are even tiny Corydoras catfish species like Corydoras hastatus or pygmaeus, and tiny Sparkling gourami. With a mature tank, good water quality and regular maintenance you could keep a community of 20 tiny nano fish in a 30 litre BiOrb, or 15 fish the size of a Zebra danio.

It is recommended that you maintain at least 6 of them. However, bear in mind that for Cherry Barbs; the more, the merrier! Since you need to keep a healthy number of Cherry Barbs, you need a larger tank size. Cherry Barbs are shy and do not do well when they are kept in small numbers.

The ideal stocking level for a mature tank is 85% or less, adding 2 female Platys to a 5 gallon tank will put the stocking level at around 135%.

Yes, and quite so. Platys are not incredibly large fish (3 inches as adults) but they have high “bioloads”/metabolism so 4 in a 6 gallon tank is pushing it already. Adding more would be a bad idea, and when they are full size they really would require more swimming room than a 6 gallon can provide.

Yes, you can keep guppy fish and platy fish in the same aquarium. Both fish spices are livebearers and require very similar water conditions and food. So keeping platies together with guppies is a really good choice.