![\"\"](\"https:\/\/freyasfishkeeping.sotb.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/platy-varieties-1024x1024.png\")
Although they are regularly advertised as a beginner fish, they require quite a specific tank set up, as they eat most plants. There is a post here to read Dr Freya’s entire plant profile article, but I will outline here the main rules for successfully keeping platys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lets begin with fish size and tank size. Platys grow to around 5 to 7 cm, but this is a maximum size, and they won’t grow that big unless their tank allows for it. Most fish tend to grow only big enough for the space they have, so platys are suitable for small to large aquariums. If you only have a small aquarium it is good to just keep two girls together, as a male in too small a space will result in him chasing the girl too much, with her unable to get away and have a rest. Two males together in a small tank will also end in disaster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In larger tanks it is best to have only one male in a tank with a large school of females, or the smaller or less hardy male will get chased to death by the larger male. Or the males will get allong fine, but it will be too much for the girls. I once had a beautiful white, peach and black speckled girl called Anne (of Green Gables) who was harrassed by a male we called ‘Freddy’ (after Freddy Eynsford-Hill in My Fair Lady). He literally waited around on the street where she lived so that she couldn’t come outside without him chasing her trying to do more than sing for her. She was so afraid to come out of her home in the grass that she couldn’t come out for dinner. Perhaps singing fish don’t sound good, or perhaps Freddy didn’t have such a good voice as he thought. In any case, Anne didn’t find it very romantic.<\/p>\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nTo tell the difference between males and femalse, you need to observe the shape of the fish’s anal fin. The females have a larger, sail shaped anal fin, while the males have a narow, pointy fin, which they use to transfer sperm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Platys should be fed with Hikari fish food<\/a> which can be bought online or at Pet Stock<\/a> shops all over Australia. I would use Hikari fancy guppy food for my platys, as all live bearers require similar nutrients. More can be learned about feeding fish on Dr Freya’s fish feeding guide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Platys tank set up needs to have very specific plants, because they have very large appetites and eat anything they can. I descovered this through trial and error, planting nice soft plants in my platy tank and soon realising that they were doing the opposite of growing. The best plants to be grown with platys are grasses and eppiphites, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vallisneria, (Vallisneria spiralis)<\/em> A very long waving grass with wide blades, good to grow in the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lilaeopsis, (Lilaeopsis brasiliensis)<\/em> a short foreground grass which spreads in long lines by runner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hair grass, (Eleocharis parvula<\/em>) a very fine dark green grass, grows vigorously when trimmed. Mid to foreground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elodea, (Elodea canadensis<\/em>) Dark green fleshy stems and pointed leaves. Background plant, needs lots of pruning<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christmass moss, (Vesicularia montagnei<\/em>) Lacy dark green, conical fronds. Mid to foreground plant, likes a prune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anubias (Multiple types)<\/em> large leaved hardy eppiphite that can grow well in low light. mid\/back\/foreground plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amazon sword (Echinodorus Amazonicus)<\/em> large background plant, grows huge leaves. Needs decent lighting and slightly warmer water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Java fern (Microsorum pteropus)<\/em> a slow growing midground eppiphite. Low light, minimal maintenance required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crypt (Cryptocoryne)<\/em> mid to foreground plant, prefers slightly warmer water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Dr Freya’s plants article there is a whole list of plant profiles, all of which will say if they’re appropriate for plant eating fish. So long as you’re mindful of the plants you keep platys with, and aware of not keeping males together, platys can be very enjoyable fish to keep, as they are very lively and bold, not prone to hiding from you like some do. They are also good at eating fallen food, cleaning up dilligently after feeding time, sifting through foleage to pick up crumbs. They can be kept with most other fish, including Barbs, which are known to be slightly aggressive. Overall a good quality fish to keep once you’re confident a little more confident with picking plants and caring. If you’re really ambitious you could even try breeding them. Breeding live bearers will be covered in a different post, so stay updated for new content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By Robert Buxtime. <\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Platys are a very hardy type of fish which come in a large faviety of colours, but are usually found in shades of orange and yellow in regular pet shops. If you’re living in a climate where the tank temperature is usually 12-20c, it is safer to stick to classic orange or red platys as… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[13,19,7,11,18,12,8,10,17,9,15,14,16],"class_list":["post-697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fish-and-shrimp","tag-breeding","tag-easy-fish-to-keep","tag-fish","tag-fishkeeping","tag-live-bearing-fish","tag-livebearers","tag-natural-aquarium","tag-organic-fishkeeping","tag-platy-colours","tag-platy-fish","tag-platy-fish-size","tag-platy-gender-differences","tag-platy-tank-size"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freyasfishkeeping.sotb.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freyasfishkeeping.sotb.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freyasfishkeeping.sotb.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freyasfishkeeping.sotb.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freyasfishkeeping.sotb.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/freyasfishkeeping.sotb.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2039,"href":"https:\/\/freyasfishkeeping.sotb.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions\/2039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freyasfishkeeping.sotb.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freyasfishkeeping.sotb.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freyasfishkeeping.sotb.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freyasfishkeeping.sotb.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}