Typical platy lifespan?

FreshyFresh

FreshyFresh

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Jan 11, 2013
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I've had a pair of female Micky-Mouse platys in my planted community 55g for just over 2yrs now. Over time, one grew to your average 2" or so platy, where the other one was larger. In fact the largest platy I've ever seen or kept. Super thick, wide and tall. Nice fish, great coloration and I never had any issues with them. Out of the blue, I noticed the smaller of the two hanging at the bottom and breathing heavily. The next morning I found her dead.

I did add 4 female bettas to the mix about 6 weeks ago, with no QT. Petsmart purchase. Running with scissors I know.:uhoh:
Tank has never seen even 20ppm nitrates between WWCs.
Fish get fed a variety of flake and freeze dried food.
pH always 7.6. GH and KH in the 107-125 range.

I know out of the blue deaths happen, but I'm just curious to hear others experiences on how long they've had platys live.
 
I'm not sure if it was, but I kept a crossbreed micky mouse for about 3yrs, it started turning paler and started struggling when swimming, and croaked just a few nights ago. Half expected I'd have to run her over to kill her. amazingly hardy fish, and I am pretty sure that what you experienced was old age.


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I'm figuring these platys were close to a year old when I bought them, so they may be a bit over 3yrs old total.

The elephant in the room is the new adds. It's always a risk. One little bug introduced that the original inhabitants have never been exposed to can be a killer.
 
I had no idea live bearers had such a short lifespan.
 
FreshyFresh said:
I had no idea live bearers had such a short lifespan.
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It's entirely possible that they (live bearers) should have a longer lifespan and we kill them prematurely. WE have koi and blue catfish in our outdoor pond that are a dozen years old, or more, but I know that blue cats in the wild can live to 100+ years. Our outdoor pond is a bit over 6000 gallons, so it's easy to replicate natural conditions. We've just started aquariums again recently (about a year ago), so we're relearning much of what we've forgotten.
 
Livebearers typically have shorter lifespan then egglayers. Guppies are about 2-3 years, platies are about only 4+, and Mollies a little longer.
 
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