Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => General Fishkeeping advice => Topic started by: fishcake76 on September 20, 2014, 01:14:21 PM
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Hi there,
Does anyone know roughly how long platys live for???
My last platy died this morning. He was absolutely fine on thursday, on friday he was not himself and hid himself away, though he still came out at feeding time he did not actually eat anything. He was breathing a bit quicker than normal but not gasping. He was still alive at 7am this morning but still hiding, breathing quickly and then when i rechecked him a 9am he had died.
I had had him and george who died just as suddenly earlier in the week for 9 months and just wondered if it could have been old age??
FC76
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Taken from here (http://www.aqua-fish.net/show.php?h=platy) for the maculatus platy
They can live from 6 months to 3 years. It all depends not just on the conditions you have in your tank, but also on the source of your fish. Since they are very popular in the aquarium trade, they are often inbred which is the cause of poor health of the fish.
And from here (http://www.aqua-fish.net/show.php?h=variegatedplaty) for the variatus platy
The expected life span for Xiphophorus variatus is 3-5 years.
This is the only site I'm aware of that gives the life expectancy of fish. I can't vouch for its accuracy, though.
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My remaining platy (Crumble) is nearly 3 years old and still going strong.
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Thanks for your replies. I'm going to put it down to the fact that these two fish essentially went through a fish-in cycle as well as several tank moves and the stress of being chased and bullied by the other platys when i had all four.
I'm guessing this must have had a negative effect on them especially as George always hung at the surface even when i knew the tank was cycled and had settled.
They survived a lot bless them and i shall miss them both. :(
FC76