Red Wagtail Platy 4cm

Red Wagtail Platy

Platies are an incredibly popular aquarium fish worldwide due to their fantastic colours, amazing personality and the fact that they are super easy to keep in the home aquarium! Through the years of selective breeding and enhancing desirable traits in platies hundreds of colour variations have been made. One of these fantastic colour variations is the Red wagtail platy which has a simple yet incredibly effective set of colours.

The red wagtail platy has an almost tomato red base colour and jet black fins, there can also be times where the black can appear near the mouth or further along the back of this fish which just makes every fish unique in its own way. though the red and black colour scheme may make it seem a bit biased to certain footy teams this fish is great for any aquarist and an aquarium because it is hardy and easy to care for fish.

The red wagtail platy can be kept in almost any aquarium setting being planted, bare bottom, community and the likes. Unlike other livebearers like guppies where the males tend to be far more colourful than females, platies share their fantastic colour in both males and females. Because of this, it makes them extremely desirable in a display style aquarium. Red wagtail Platies are great because they only get to around 6-7 cm (3 inches) from head to tail.

They are also super peaceful fish meaning they can be kept with other aquarium fish but also in large shoals of either red wagtail platies or other coloured platies making a phenomenal rainbow platy aquarium. These plates are also very easy to breed as the males have a visible gonopodium which looks like a long fin near the anal fin. Females do not sport this which makes them easy to identify. There also isn’t the hassle of collecting the eggs and going through the efforts of hatching them as platies give birth to free-swimming fry. The wild habitat of the natural guppy is widespread from Central America to Mexico.

Tank Recommendations for your Red Wagtail Platy

Being a very small and easy to care for fish the Red wagtail platy can be kept in nano aquariums with the minimum being a 60-litre aquarium (20 gallons) and more length is always appreciated for these fish. A sand or gravel substrate would be fine for them as well as a lot of plant growth which not only makes them contrast really well but also makes for handy locations where platy fry can grow if the red wagtail platies potentially breed. Since platies are also great hair algae eaters meaning they have a dual benefit of looking good and being a great clean up crew. Another amazing tank option for these platies specifically is a minimal scape aquarium with a dark black background where these red coral platies will really pop in colour. Platies however are in fact considered to be a ‘hard water fish meaning they prefer the water to have an elevated PH and are not like a tetra. This higher PH of 7 - 8 can be achieved with a PH buffer or African cichlid lake conditioning salts.

Suitable Tank Buddies

The Red Coral platy is a very peaceful aquarium fish. They are great with a wide range of nano aquarium fish however because of their bright and flashy fins, certain fin nipping species would be avoided. The other factor is that platies are fish that needs higher PH so keeping them with south American tetras may not be very suitable as these tetras require are lower PH. If you are looking to breed them then it is recommended to avoid any tank mates as they could predate on the fry.

Usually Compatible

Pseudomogil species such as fork-tail rainbows, blue eyes, ricefish and nano aquarium fish can tolerate hard water conditions.  

Sometimes Compatible

Medium growing or possibly fin nipping species. Bettas should also be avoided because of their similar flashy nature to platies which could lead to aggression from the betta's end. 

Rarely Compatible

Large and aggressive species would prey on the guppies such as Oscars, or jaguar cichlids.

Feeding your Red Wagtail Platy

The red wagtail platy is very easy to feed once it is settled into the aquarium. It will readily eat a wide range of foods but would prefer to have high a floating nano pellet or flake due to its top dwelling behaviour. Giving them a nutritional food with good protein and varied ingredients can result in the colours of the Red wagtail platy being further enhanced.  Feeding should happen once during the day during lighting hours.