Page 165 - Encyclopedia of Aquarium and Pond Fish, 3rd Edition

LIVEBEARERS/PLATIES 163

Yellow may shine
through the black
in places
Male’s
gonopodium
Blue Coral Platy Paler and more whitish than the Blue Black Platy The amount of
Platy, this form has a deep blue spot at the base of the black on this strain is variable,
caudal peduncle and displays black, crescent-shaped sometimes covering the entire
markings on the adjacent part of the caudal fin. body except the face and throat.
High, flowing fin
Center of body Pale head
is a lighter
shade of orange

Male’s
gonopodium
Sunset or Marigold Hi-Fin Platy The color of these Underparts
fish becomes a more intense orange toward the rear are also pale
of the body, with the caudal fin being darker in color
than the others. The dorsal fin is long and trailing.

BEARING LIVE YOUNG

Watching a female platy—such as this Salt and
Pepper Platy—giving birth, one might get the
impression that these fish have strong maternal
instincts, but in reality they fail to acknowledge
their offspring at all. As a result, the young fish
are at risk of being eaten as soon as they are
born. The safest option, therefore, is to transfer
a gravid female to a breeding trap in a separate
tank, where she can give birth in peace and
cannot harm her offspring.
In platies and most other
livebearing fish, there is
nothing akin to the
placental attachment
between mother and young
that is seen in mammals. The
female platy’s body simply serves
as a shelter for her developing eggs,
with the young uncurling from their egg
sacs as they are born. By protecting their eggs
in this way, livebearing fish ensure that their
offspring will survive through to hatching at
the very least, rather like mouth-brooders
(see p.148). Females can produce a small brood
of about 80 or so offspring every four to six
weeks. She can do this without having to mate
on each occasion, because she is able to store
the male’s sperm in her body.

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