Black Mickey Mouse Platy Care Guide
The Black Mickey Mouse Platy is a selectively bred colour form of Xiphophorus maculatus, a peaceful, easy-to-keep livebearer.
Overview
The Black Mickey Mouse Platy is a selectively bred colour form of the southern platyfish, Xiphophorus maculatus. The Mickey Mouse pattern is one of many ornamental forms developed from this species, which also include wagtail, tuxedo, moon, comet and hi-fin varieties. It is a peaceful livebearer of the family Poeciliidae.
Taxonomy
- Family: Poeciliidae
- Genus: Xiphophorus
- Scientific name: Xiphophorus maculatus var. Mickey Mouse
Habitat
Xiphophorus maculatus occurs along the Atlantic coastal plain of Central America, with a native range running from Veracruz in Mexico to northern Belize, and also reported from Guatemala and Nicaragua. It favours slow-moving waters of canals, ditches, warm springs and densely vegetated marginal areas of streams and rivers.
Tank requirements
- Minimum tank volume: 60 L (about 16 gal)
- Temperature: 22-28 °C (72-82 °F)
- pH: 7.0-8.5
- GH: 10-25 °dGH
- Lifespan: 3-5 years
Like other livebearers from hard-water regions, the platy needs moderately hard or harder water and will not thrive in soft, acidic conditions.
Diet
The southern platyfish is an omnivore. In the wild it eats both plant matter and small animals such as crustaceans, insects and annelid worms. In the aquarium it is unfussy and accepts most frozen, live or dried foods, and benefits from some vegetable content in the diet.
Compatibility
The platy is very peaceful and is well suited to a hard-water community. Males generally tolerate one another, and keeping several females per male reduces harassment. When both sexes are present the fish breed continually.
Breeding
The Black Mickey Mouse Platy is a livebearer. Gestation lasts about four to six weeks and broods may number several dozen fry. Males are smaller and possess a gonopodium. The fry are large enough to take newly hatched brine shrimp immediately, and the fish reach breeding maturity within a few months.