Ever heard of a Strawberry Platy?

[ChurchofAdam]

I picked up a pair of platies from a big al's nearby that were labelled as "Hi Fin Strawberry Platies"... thought that was kinda odd cause I've never heard of that before and the rest of the platy tanks were more common things like red platies, blue platies, black coral platies. They're kinda pinky orange with more red at the head and orange/yellow at the back (sunset goes the opposite direction, I think). Any thoughts?

I'll get a picture up as soon as I can

[cocoa_pleco]

sound cool. I still have to go to the big als by my place:28:

[ChurchofAdam]

I know it's a chain, but it's much better than the local pet store... thinking about heading back to the big al's to get a coralife light, I could ask them where the strawberries came from

[kimmers318]

As easy as it is to breed platy they probably just managed to come up with a new color variation and that is what they chose to label it. Maybe a sunset with a red. When you ask though make sure it isn't tattooed or dyed and that the coloring occured naturally.

[troy]

Why is it called a Hi-Fin?

[Severus]

Why is it called a Hi-Fin?

Most likely because the Dorsal fin (top fin) is higher/taller than a standard platy.

Post up some pictures when you get a chance

[troy]

That's what I thought.

[ChurchofAdam]

yup, hi fin is a pretty common platy variation. it's the strawberry part that's confusing. I'll have a picture up probably tomorrow. I found sites mentioning a strawberry variatus but it doesn't look at all similar. mine have no black outlines around the scales (http://www.fish2u.com/variatus.html)

it's a lot more like the marigold variatus shown on that page, except paler and the colour gradient goes the opposite way.

[Sasquatch]

Cool, now we have a name for our variatus!

We bought her along with a wagtail in a tank labelled "Platy: Assorted". We picked her because she stood out from the rest with the different coloration and body shape.

I've got a platy book around, if you post a picture, I might be able to give you another name for the variety you bought.

[ChurchofAdam]

I've never actually seen a variatus in store, which is a shame cause I really like them. mostly it's just red and blue platies and red swordtails

[MeganL3985]

Be careful with the "strawberry" or fruit type names, a lot of them are dyed. Like the Strawberry, Blueberry, Berry & Fruit tetra's are typically dyed. Those are listed on www.deathbydyeing.org. Not saying your strawberry platy is dyed, but with that name i'd have to wonder.

[ChurchofAdam]

yeah, I'm aware of those painted tetras and glassfish but I'm pretty sure these aren't. after all, who would dye a platy orange? it'd be different if they were hot pink

[Drumachine09]

That is a REALLY informative site, and i think you should post it in the "links" section.

Also, they missed jellybean parrots.

And I have never heard that "Gold Severums" are dyed. I dont think they are, but who knows.

[cocoa_pleco]

lots of fish are dyed, and it makes no sense, like silver dollars being died gold to be called gold dollars. stupid

[ChurchofAdam]

wow, okay this took awhile but my gf's camera was, well, at my gf's place.
anyway, here's a pic of the male

[Sasquatch]

Strawberry is probably just a name they used, from the color they could just as easily have used lemon or tangerine.

It's definatly a highfin variety though, and it looks like a male (though it's a little too fuzzy to be certain.)

[Mark Lathrop]

I've seen the strawberry name used before and the platys weren't dyed. I figured the store was just lazy and didn't know the real name of the fish, lol.