Any Of You Have A Clue What Type Of Fish This Is?

[teanuhh]

I saw this little guy in an unmarked tank full of tiger barbs and thought he was beautiful so I took him. I'm not sure why he was with the barbs because he is super social and is best friends with my dalmatian molly now. He's got somewhat of a platy look to him, especially with the black on the tail, but he's a lot longer and more slender than a platy. I'm not sure if this helps any, but despite the fact that he LOOKS orange, he's actually got a greenish/silver metallic tint to his entire body. All I know for sure is that he's a male, as he has the pointed anal fin.

http://i41.tinypic.com/4javlc.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/2vni9a1.jpg

 

[njstockley]

Swordtail?

That's just a guess as you said longer than a platy... I don't know that much about livebearers

 

[Cazgar]

Looks like a platy to me.
I've seen some in my Lfs with a metallic sheen to them like that

 

[Paradise3]

That is a Male Swordtail, lovely little fish though I never get to keep them alive for long...

 

[Carlos & Siran]

yep, looks like a male sword tail alright.

 

[Cazgar]

If you look at the 1st pic, it looks like a swordtail, but the 2nd pic shows no sword.
I still think it's a platy

 

[Paradise3]

If you look at the 1st pic, it looks like a swordtail, but the 2nd pic shows no sword.
I still think it's a platy

Young male swoardtails don't have the sword, he may well be under-developed or late developing. Platies aren't that slim bodied, swordtails are.

 

[Carlos & Siran]

Does it look like it has a big chunk missing from the bottom of it's tail?

 

[teanuhh]

Oh, they don't have swords when they are younger? Well, he is only about 1.5" He's not missing any of his tail, it's perfectly rounded.

 

[Cazgar]

Just put my specs on & looked again.
It does look longer than a platy, so maybe I'm wrong & it is a juvenile swordtail, time will tell

 

[Paradise3]

Yeah that sounds pretty much like a young male. The only other thing I can think of is that it's actually a female? Is the anal fin completely straight? Some females have a small point on the end of the anal fin...

 

[teanuhh]

It is completely straight.

 

[Paradise3]

Yep, young male swordtail for definite.

 

[teanuhh]

My next question is, is it possible for him to mate with my molly? I've read about cross breeding being a possibility, but I don't want her to end up dying because of it.

 

[Paradise3]

No, they cannot cross breed. Swordtails and Platies can crossbreed, but not Swordtails and Mollies.
There's a pinned topic in the livebearers section that says which ones can and can't cross breed.