Platy Or Female Swordtail?

[Chri$]

i have a orange platy (i think) in my tank with a black tail fin, but she has a huge dorsal fin, and it quite slender, is she a female swordtail??
thanks in advance

 

[Annastasia]

Do you happen to have a picture? It's pretty hard to tell just by the description. A huge dorsal fin could mean she's an Hi-Fin, in which case she could be either a Swordtail or a Platy, as both can get that finnage variation.

Also, I moved your post to the Livebearer forum, as you should be able to get more help there/here.

 

[Chri$]

female swordtail
I can't get a pic of the actual fish as i don't have a digital camera, it looks very much like the fish in the bottom pic with the black tail fin, but i was told by my lfs that this was a platy?? i don't have much experience with swordtails.

 

[Annastasia]

Ah. Okay, so she's a wagtail. Wagtails are most commonly found like that in Platies, but they can also be like that. That's where your LFS may be confused. My suggestion would be you look up Platies and Swordtails on Google, or some other site, and just look at pictures and get an idea of the differences. Then you should be able to tell. I can tell you Platies tend to be a bit deeper-bodied, while Swordtails tend to be longer and thinner, but pictures would probably be the way to go, as the difference is pretty subtle at first. Then you know what to look for, and it becomes easy.

 

[Nevergone815]

if it looks like the one in the bottom pic you definately have a swordtail. i wouldn't really fret over it since it is a female. if it hybridies with your platies it won't be stressful on the female. if you really are concerned about it then bring the fish bck and ask for an exchange on a fish you know is a platy. most dealers just oreder from a catelog and get in a shipment. sometimes they receive the wrong fish and then just try to pass it off as whateveer they ordered (i actually saw that somewhere on this site i don't remember where) but either way some platies do come in that variation. it's really a choice you have to make. it won't harm your tank unless you are picky about pure breeding as i am. they both need similar if not the same requirements for care so it won't affect you're tank to much. platies and swordtail go together hand in hand and in most aquariums you will see a different variety of both.

i hope i helped

 

[Chri$]

thanks to both of you, i pretty sure it's a female swordtail now.

 

[blitztidus]

If it is slender/longer like this it is a swordtail

If it is shorter like this it is a platy

The platy, tends to have a more raised tail while the swordtail has a tail that droops down a little

 

[Chri$]

yes it is longer and slender, i'm 100% sure now after seeing the pics, thanks for your help.