Varied platy and natural fishkeeping

A platy less common than its cousin maculatus, but infinitely more hardy, provided certain varieties are avoided. Its origins make it an ideal fish for trashcan ponds and aquariums, heated or not.

The Platy variatus (Xiphophorus variatus) has become over the years one of my favorite fish.

Dozens of generations have succeeded each other in my aquariums and trashcan ponds.

 

A wild ecosystem rich in life

It is native to Mexico, but its current range is now much wider, as it has been introduced elsewhere, sometimes very unfortunately.

 

It lives in calm waters, with little or no current.

The water of its origins is quite hard, which makes it well suited to the tap water we have in Europe (what temperature for an aquarium?).

With the current being weak or absent, the bottoms are muddy and the water is often green.

It therefore thrives in an environment that many aquarists find dreadful!

Its diet matches well the resources of these ecosystems: many small invertebrates that swarm in these waters: daphnia especially, but also mosquito larvae, various ostracods, tubifex which abound there all year round (can fish safely eat tubifex?).

The Platy variatus is also able to feed on plant waste and algae. It is an "omnivore with a carnivorous tendency".

 

More fragile selected varieties

The most well-known and widespread Platy is of the maculatus species. Widely bred, it has gained in diversity and colors what it has lost in hardiness. Because breeding often comes at the expense of natural qualities acquired over millennia that guarantee the animal’s survival.

These colorful varieties being more fragile and weaker than the wild type, intensive breeding, as a precaution, uses antibiotics. But these medicines damage the fish’s microbiota and make them, as a result, much more fragile as soon as they arrive in our aquariums (fish happiness and animal welfare).

This is also often the case with guppies or Colisa lalia and many other fish from these types of breeding.

 

Beware of the parrot platy

The Platy variatus also experiences this phenomenon, but to a lesser extent. The most appreciated variety, the "parrot Platy," is indeed a variatus, but it has hybridizations in its ancestry with other species of the same genus.
Because the Platy variatus can reproduce with the famous swordtail (Xiphophorus helleri) or the maculatus.
The hybrids are then (this is an exception to the rule) fertile (the key to fish breeding).

 

Thus, this "parrot" variety, with the long dorsal fin and varied colors, is terribly fragile. The genetic flaws due to these hybridizations and intensive breeding have made it a fish that has lost the hardiness of its wild ancestors.

Prefer the more natural forms of the Platy

The more traditional forms of this platy, recognizable by their yellowish background tending towards olive green, are very hardy.

The female can reach 7 to 8 cm in ideal conditions and produce 100 fry every month! The male is smaller and more colorful, with a brighter yellow.

The fry, from birth, rush to shelter from the adults’ appetite. They are very easy to feed from the first days with microworms, then Grindal worms, both extremely easy to raise yourself (putting an end to the goldfish indoors).

These fish, whose colors I love for being subtle and complex, each scale being visible because bordered with dark, have kept the original shape of the wild type.

 

Hardiness, too.

This species has no problem living without heating. The Platy variatus is comfortable from 14 to 28°C, making it the ideal candidate for summer life in a trashcan pond, or in a basin provided you can retrieve it to bring indoors in winter.

Outdoors, it will find all the small invertebrates it loves. Offer it daphnia and tubifex (or Blackworm), and its liveliness will only be strengthened.

It likes very planted environments because life there is intense and prey numerous. It also finds all the plant debris and algae it likes to nibble on (aquarium: which volume to choose?).

 

An ideal fish for trashcan ponds and low-tech setups

It then teaches us natural fishkeeping (the phenomenon of fishless aquariums).

Because if the water turns green, you must resist panicking: it loves that! The green water of its origins allows it to be invisible to predators and fishing birds. You will therefore see it less, but know it is happy!

It will enjoy an environment that seems "dirty" to us, but which is precisely the best possible for it.

And above all, when you retrieve it at the end of the season to bring indoors, you will notice incredible colors and vitality, proof that the outdoor holidays have benefited it (the goldfish scandal).

 

Temperature variations throughout the day, between surface and bottom, and over the weeks, are also familiar and pleasant to it.

No need to provide very soft water, since tap water suits it, with its usual hardness.

Fry born in these conditions are extremely hardy, as they acquire from birth a very rich and diverse microbiota, precisely what is lacking in fish from the trade.

In the wild, the Platy variatus lives in small groups. It therefore needs companions to feel truly well.

In an aquarium, no need for heating or filter. But you can enjoy planting abundantly and offering it the little aquatic jungle it so appreciates.

For me, it is a kind of perfect fish.
An aquarium full of Java moss and hiding places will also allow it to reproduce regularly and, like me, you will see generations succeed endlessly at your place.

Fish sleep too! To better understand their rhythms and well-being (fish sleep: do they sleep?).