question on color in livebearer fry

[artemisblossom]

Hi I am new to the hobby and am wondering about color. 2 days after I set my very first tank up I found 2 tiny fry bright orange in color.I had platies and swordtails in the tank so I don't know what they are. I put them in a breeding net and they survived quite happily all through the tank cycling and are now 77 days old (about 2 1/2 months) and are in the big tank with the other fish. I am assuming they are going to stay bright orange is this right?? The other day one of my playies had her first batch of babies in the tank and I moved tham (must have been close to 40 of them) to their own little tank...they are all colorless will they stay this way? The mom is basically white but the males in the tank are brightly colored. Also is there a way to tell if my orange babies are play or swordtail if they are both female?

[toddnbecka]

If they've been the same color this long, you can be sure they're going to stay the same color. The only way to tell for certain is to see how large they grow if the platies and swordtails are the same color.

[duce]

platy's and swordtail's can cross breed so its could be one of three.ive had fry's been convinced they were platy's then some started to grow swords.
its very hard to get a pure platy or a pure swordtail asthey breed together so much in the wild.

[Kula]

The lighter color ones will probably develop color over time. The bright orange ones will stay bright in color.

I don't think there is a way to tell if they are either platies or swordtails if they are female, but I'm pretty sure they are some type of hybrid of both.

[Gemstone]

I have noticed that my swordtail frye had sharper *noses* than the platie fry...and that they have colour from the start whereas the platies were a little more drab...don;t know if his helps you any

[NickFish]

Not much you can do but wait until they are 6 months or so old. Then there will be an obvious size difference.

Also, female swordtails that are in tanks without males will eventually turn into males, so just because it is a female now doesn't mean you can't change it to a male. Platies can't do this, however.