Hello everyone, it’s Pierre and welcome back!

In today’s video, I show you some of the swordtails, platies and mollies that I’ve kept over the years. I’ve had them in tanks as small as 10 gallons and as large as 75 gallons. swordtails, platy and molly fish are among my all-time favorites.

Swordtail, platy and molly fish belong to a group of fish called Poeciliids and are commonly known as livebearers. This is a fairly diverse group of fish that includes the guppies (which I’ve also kept before but don’t have any video of at the moment). The most common species of livebearers originate from the waterways of the Americas but have now been established around the world including Asia. There are some members of the family from Africa and Madagascar but I won’t get into that today.

There are several reasons why I think livebearers (in particular swordtail, molly and platy fish) are close to being the perfect aquarium pets to keep at any level of experience.

First, swordtail, molly and platy fish are quite affordable and readily available from your local fish store. They also come in a wide variety of colors, patterns and even fin shapes and lengths. There some variants like the balloon molly fish with deformed spines that I’m not really a fan of but hey, plenty of fish for everyone. Some of the mollies I’ve kept are the sailfin molly (Peocilia latipinna) and as the name suggests the males of this species have impressive sails used for courtship and dominance.

Swordtail, molly and platy livebearer fish are also generally very peaceful and often do well in a community aquarium. They do sometimes harass other livebearers and similarly-shaped fish especially when it comes to mating but they really don’t cause significant injuries. In general, livebearers lack the large, sharp teeth necessary to do any major damage.

They are fairly hardy as a group and tolerate a wide variety of water parameters, and in fact I’ve kept guppies and mollies in brackish and even full saltwater. Note that some species of mollies do better in harder and more alkaline water so do your research. However for the most part they are very adaptable which makes these fish good for beginners as they will be forgiving of mistakes.

In general, livebearers such as swordtail, molly and platy fish are also very easy to feed and readily take pretty much any type of commercially prepared fish food. I feed my livebearers mostly pellets, tablets, seaweed and sometimes bloodworms or brine shrimp. Some livebearers such as the molly even enjoy grazing on algae.

These fish also have interesting courtship and display behaviors, ranging from displaying colorful and large fins to elaborate dances where the male attempts to mate with a female using their modified anal fin or gonopodium.

Finally, as you may have guessed from their name, this group of fish gives birth to live young and are actually very easy to breed. In fact, they are a great choice if you want to farm feeder fish as they reproduce quickly and do not have the thiaminase enzyme which can cause problems for the fish that eat them.

As you might have surmised from the reasons I mention, poecilids or livebearers like my swordtail, molly and platy fish are great to keep and breed. Think about buying some and keeping them the next time you want to set up a new tank. You won’t be disappointed.

All the video of fish that you see are of fish I've kept personally so you know that any advice I give you comes not only from my own research and knowledge but also from personal experience which I feel is just as valuable! I am however by no means an expert nor do I claim to be and so I always appreciate constructive criticism and correction.

If you have any questions or comments, I always appreciate them and do my best to respond quickly. Thank you and consider subscribing and clicking on the notification bell for more future videos!

As always, thanks for watching and happy fishkeeping!

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