The Hawaii platy is a variatus platy with a broad dark band down the flank and color at both ends. Suppliers disagree on the rest, so the name covers dark blue fish with sunset fins and golden-yellow fish with red tails. It is a peaceful, easy fish for a community tank.
Did you know
The tall dorsal on a hi-fin Hawaii platy traces back to one swordtail, sold as the Simpson swordtail before the trait moved into platies. Hobby histories credit a southern California breeder named Simpson, who fixed the long dorsal into a line around the turn of the 1960s. The gene is dominant and lethal in double dose, so no hi-fin line ever breeds fully true.
Caring for the Hawaii platy
Keep Hawaii platies in a group in a tank of at least 15 gal (55 L). Plants with open swimming room suit them, and they swim mostly in the middle of the tank.
They are easy to please as long as the water stays on the harder, more alkaline side. Keep it at 68 to 79°F (20 to 26°C) with a pH of 6.8 to 8.0. Hawaii platies are not picky eaters. Feed a good flake with some vegetable matter, plus occasional frozen foods.
They are peaceful and easygoing with other community fish. Keep more females than males to spread out the males' attention.
Males carry the band and the fin color, while females from the same line stay much plainer. Females also grow a bit larger and fuller than males. Hawaii platies give birth to live young, and breeding them is easy. Adults will eat their own young, so plant the tank densely or move pregnant females to grow-out space before they give birth.
Good to know
On a Hawaii platy, the band is dense black pigment laid over the body color. It is the same kind of tuxedo block used in other platy and guppy strains. Selection is on band width and a clean edge, so spawns give plenty of narrow, broken or crooked bands. The Hawaii platy is often sold as a hi-fin, so check the dorsal in the listing photo. A hi-fin Hawaii carries the hi-fin gene on top of its color line, as a separate trait.
In the wild
Hawaii names a farm strain, not a place, and the fish is a selected line of a Mexican species. The German importer Aquarium Glaser describes it as the tuxedo form of the variatus. Good fish show a golden-yellow body, a broad black band and a deep red caudal. No breeder, country or decade is recorded for the strain.
Weekly picks
Tank mates
The Hawaii platy is a peaceful, social species that keeps to the middle. These picks share a community profile with it, are safe together in both directions, and overlap on water type, temperature and pH.
Is a Hawaii platy a different species from the variable platy?
No. A Hawaii platy is a variety of the variable platy, Xiphophorus variatus, and it wants the same tank, water and food as the species.
What size tank does a Hawaii platy need?
A Hawaii platy needs at least 15 gal (55 L). It spends most of its time in the middle.
What does a Hawaii platy eat?
A Hawaii platy is not a picky eater. Feed it a good flake with some vegetable matter, plus occasional frozen foods.
How big does a Hawaii platy get?
An adult Hawaii platy reaches about 2.8 in (7 cm).
How can you tell a male Hawaii platy from a female?
Males carry the dark band and the fin color, while females from the same line stay much plainer. Females also grow a bit larger and fuller than males.
How does a Hawaii platy breed?
A Hawaii platy gives birth to live young, and breeding it is easy. Since adults eat their young, plant densely or move pregnant females to grow-out space before they give birth.
2.8 in (7 cm)10 gal (38 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)
2 in (5 cm)16 gal (60 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)
4.1 in (10.5 cm)29 gal (110 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)
2.8 in (7 cm)24 gal (90 L)68–81°F (20–27°C)
5.9 in (15 cm)20 gal (76 L)68–82°F (20–28°C)
3.5 in (9 cm)29 gal (110 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)