Hello! At one time, a few years ago, I was running 8-10 fish tanks. I bred guppies, had 2 oscars, tried my hand at snails, and very much enjoyed this fish keeping hobby. Slowly, as my populations died down, so did my interest - until I was left with only 1 tiger oscar and a bunch of empty tanks. However, when my boyfriend told me he had never had a fishtank as a child, it peaked my interest again and we now have a 20gal community tank (3 mollies, 1 platy, 1 swordfish, 3 cory, 1 kuhli loach, 1 rainbow shark) and a "natural" tank containing crayfish and a few red-fin minnows. And when it rains, it pours, and here I am with a overwhelming desire to have fry again. 
My main interest right now is in hi-fin and plumetail platies, the latter of which I have never seen in person. When I was doing my research about these fish, I came to discover that they can crossbreed with a swordtail- an unknown fact to me. My main concern is purchasing fish that will be both prolific and useful to other aquarists. This leaves me with the following questions:
1. Does a crossbred fish (variatus, i believe?) have less value than a pure platy?
2. If so, how can I be sure when purchasing platies that they haven't been crossbred with a swordtail?
3. What is the most recommended variety of these fish as far as having an outlet for excess fry? (I've noticed that the hi-fins (possibly a variatus?) sell very well on aquabid, but what about pet stores and the like?)
4. Would it be a benefit to me to purchase my original stock online from an established strain or keep an eye out at local fish stores (I did see a hi-fin there once)?
I'm just asking for others experiences to help me get started. Thank you in advance!
My main interest right now is in hi-fin and plumetail platies, the latter of which I have never seen in person. When I was doing my research about these fish, I came to discover that they can crossbreed with a swordtail- an unknown fact to me. My main concern is purchasing fish that will be both prolific and useful to other aquarists. This leaves me with the following questions:1. Does a crossbred fish (variatus, i believe?) have less value than a pure platy?
2. If so, how can I be sure when purchasing platies that they haven't been crossbred with a swordtail?
3. What is the most recommended variety of these fish as far as having an outlet for excess fry? (I've noticed that the hi-fins (possibly a variatus?) sell very well on aquabid, but what about pet stores and the like?)
4. Would it be a benefit to me to purchase my original stock online from an established strain or keep an eye out at local fish stores (I did see a hi-fin there once)?
I'm just asking for others experiences to help me get started. Thank you in advance!
to the forum. i have kept female platy's with a male sword with no breeding what so ever although they can breed with each other as can guppies and mollies, there are many variety of platy incuding the high fin as you mentioned and they come many colours from sunset to albino to blue to wags and twinbar, as far as telling a pure platy from a platy/swordtail cross i asume the cross would have a longer body than a regular but not as long as the sword. its up to you if you want to purchase a ready made strain or get a few from the LFs and build up your own. hope this has helped you 
I stopped at a LFS yesterday and actually stumbled upon some hi-fin platies! Beautiful fish. However, they only had 2 - both females- so I didn't bother to purchase. I really wish I could find some plumetails locally- just to see what they look like other than a photo, because I think that's going to be the route I take. I'm hoping that if I chose something less common, other people will be interested in them as well.
So I just found the Hybrid Forum.... misposted this topic, Sorry!
