Can Anybody Identify This Fish?

[Mordy]

Hi everyone, I've been lurking for a week or two and have been very impressed by the community on this forum - I'm currently 8 weeks into my first tank (a RIO 180 litre) and have learned an awful lot from here...admittedly most of it was stuff that I wish I'd known before I put the first piece of gravel in the tank but hindsight is a wonderful thing

Does anybody know what kind of fish this is? My girlfriend bought a pair of them as a 'tank-warming' gift for me but the male died shortly after he arrived and I'd like to track down another to keep her company. I'd appreciate if anyone could put a name to it (scientific too if possible!) so that I can find her a new hubby

Apologies for the blurry photos but my camera seems to struggle to focus beyond the wall of the tank.

Edit: Some other info:

It is apparently sexually diamorphic, the male seemed to have what looked like the beginnings of a swordtail (but was juvenile, the sword part of the tail wasn't very developed) and it may have had the word 'blushing' in the name when my gf bought it.

 

[Davo86]

It looks to be a Platy but it has a really weird colouration that i haven't seen before

 

[Spishkey]

i thought platy or molly but as id never seen those markings before i thought it may be something else! very beautiful!

 

[england]

hehe a plattymation......looks nice mind

 

[guppy77]

could it be a cross breed. black molly x platy. not sure if they do crossbreed. someone on here will know

 

[england]

iam sure helterskelter will tell you

 

[Davo86]

mollys and platys can't cross,

Mollys and Guppys can
Platys and Swords can

 

[Mordy]

Yeah I thought at first it was a platty but the structure around the face seems to have hints of something more like a Cichlid about it...I'd love to know what it is - I was really gutted when the male died

My girlfriend said that when she bought it the dealer told her that they could change sex as needed - that clue might help? Also I think the word 'blushing' was mentioned at some point.

 

[Spishkey]

ooh is it a swordtail? ive heard of these changing sex (not sure how true it is though?)

 

[Mordy]

ooh is it a swordtail? ive heard of these changing sex (not sure how true it is though?)

Come to think of it the male did have a longer black point to the lower part of his tail, like a longer black line extending outwards from the body in a kind of blade shape along the base of the tail, they were very young I think when they arrived though - maybe it wasn't fully developed?

 

[england]

http/www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/platies.htm
calico platys

http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/foru...5187&page=2

 

[Mordy]

Hmmm....it does look like it has a platty body-shape similar to some of those photos, it seems to spend a lot of its time tugging at the leaves of the plants in the tank.

 

[england]

its deffo NOT a cichlid mate....

 

[Mordy]

Yeah I abandoned the Cichlid theory quite early, I'm leaning towards some variety of platty at the mo - I'd like to get a male though so I'd like to nail down the species as exactly as I can. I'm going to try and take a drive to the place she got it from next weekend and see what they say.

 

[Spishkey]

sounds like a swordtail to me

was the male similar in shape to this?