Dwarf coral sunset platys?

[katschamne]

I have never heard of these until the other day. So I went to check them out at Petsmart today. They have the same scientific name as the other platys, so what is the deal with these? Or are these just babies? Do they only get to 1 1/2 like they say they do on the info card? Is this just a Petsmart fish? I work at a LFS and when I am off it's nothing for me to go to 4-5 other LPS in the area. There have been times we make a day just going to other stores. I have never seen this fish anywhere else. One last question, do they have any other special needs that are different then other platys?

 

[Lupin]

I've heard of dwarf angelfish before but dwarf platies... Xiphophorus maculatus grows to 5 cm. I still don't believe it is really a dwarf but maybe because I can be narrow-minded to believe some possibilities at times. Must be stunted just like the so-called dwarf angelfish.

 

[KarlTh]

What Lupin said.

 

[A. Nonymous]

I've not heard of them either. Or seen them for that matter. Platies aren't huge fish to begin with. Why a dwarf version?

 

[chesterthehero]

dwarf platies are either stunted or fish that have a recessive gene that has been expressed through line breeding to produce smaller/shorter fish

 

[Sploke]

Most of the platies I've had have topped out at 1.5-2" so I doubt its any kind of dwarf species. Maybe due to selective breeding, that particular color morph stays smaller or something. They'll label things pretty absurdly to make a buck.

 

[BigAds]

We saw them at a Petsmart here months ago and my wife/daughter demanded we get 3. They had a 10gallon for the first month+ and have had free reign in our 36 gallon bowfront since then. They've stayed <1.5", and have had no issues, aside from sometimes freaking our cories out by trying to steal their algae wafers... the dwarf platies are just as piggish as regular sized platies. The concensus opinion I found was that they weren't stunted, just bred to be smaller. Either way, we've had no issues with ours, through nitrites and ich they've been fine.

 

[Danyal]

i wouldn't pay too much attention to the latin names on the tags, just like the information. anything with the name platy is going to have to same latin name and it can easily be the wrong one.

 

[SchizotypalVamp]

I have heard of them. They grow to 2'' instead of 3''. Supposedly just as healthy as regular platies.

 

[53special]

I have heard of them, and seen pics, but I couldn't tell the difference between them.