Spiketail platy

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep a group in 60 liters or larger at 20 to 26 C, pH 7.2 to 8.2, in medium hard to hard water. Feed vegetable flake and algae foods plus frozen daphnia and brine shrimp. Peaceful and better suited to a quiet hard water community or species tank than a hot, crowded one. Keep several females per male.

In the wild

A small wild platy with a short spike extension on the lower tail of the male, hinting at the swordtails it is related to. The body is silvery to yellow with fine spotting and often a touch of blue. Keep a group in a planted tank with hard water and moderate flow, and avoid keeping it too warm. It grazes algae and takes most small foods.

Good to know

Xiphophorus xiphidium sits between the platies and swordtails, with males growing a short lower tail spike rather than a full sword. Adults stay small at around 4 to 5 cm. It carries the same color pattern genes that make its relatives useful in scientific studies of pigment and melanoma.

Did you know

The short tail spike of the male spiketail platy shows how platies and swordtails grade into one another within the genus Xiphophorus.

Related species

• 

  Southern platy

  Xiphophorus maculatus

  2.8 in (7 cm)15 gal (55 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)

• 

  Variable platy

  Xiphophorus variatus

  2.8 in (7 cm)15 gal (55 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)

• 

  Pygmy swordtail

  Xiphophorus pygmaeus

  1.6 in (4 cm)11 gal (40 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Sheepshead swordtail

  Xiphophorus birchmanni

  2.8 in (7 cm)24 gal (90 L)68–81°F (20–27°C)

• 

  Green swordtail

  Xiphophorus hellerii

  5.9 in (15 cm)24 gal (90 L)68–82°F (20–28°C)

• 

  Northern mountain swordtail

  Xiphophorus nezahualcoyotl

  3.5 in (9 cm)29 gal (110 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)