Phew - just finished changing water out of the three big tanks... just three "littles" (under 25 gallons) to go!

I LOVE platies... and my particular favorite are blue mickey mouse platies. And then I came across some white ones that are so incredibly beautiful, too. I don't know - I've been able to find some fairly good platies around me. I try to pick them up when it looks like they _just_ arrived... and are still looking healthy. Some say this is _not_ such a great idea since the short period of time at the store isn't long enough to rule out any health issues, but I always think because platies are super-expensive showy fish, stores tend to neglect them more than they would the more expensive fish. :(

But I know what you mean about swordtails. The male swords I've been seeing lately all seem puny midget swords!

I agree.
I've seen at a few LFS' better quality specimen but still not like back in the day. Fosters & Smith sell fish and they offer a 2 week guarantee. (Did I spell that right?) I'm thinking of giving them a try. Also, at my place I can tell the guy what I'm looking for and he'll get them in for me. All I can say is we're way better off giving the local guys our money and boycotting the Petco/Petland kind of places.

-andy

Oops = I meant that platies AREN'T super showy expensive fish!! Seems like the "cheapo" fish are always sadly neglected. :(

Breezyb, come to NY. All the plattys and swords are in my 150 gal tank. It all started when a female platty or sword got mixed in. I only wanted a few longtailed swords now I have about 20. I think the short tails results from platty/sword mating. I do have 3 or 4 nice longtail swords although their pretty territorial. There also fairly small, I don't remember if the oldtime ones were large. I'm too lazy to catch and bring them back to the store.

James, do you have any pix?

-andy

I'll have to take some. My accouct at HP photo web seems to be gone. I haven't used it for awhile. I wish I would haved saved them to CD.

Oh bummer. So all the pictures you had there are gone?

Check out photobucket. I've had great experience there, and I've been using it for about a year. (and it's freebie)

-andy

Here is a link that might be useful: Photobucket

Andy,
I was fairly satisfied with Drs. Foster Smith when I ordered fish from them.

The only issue I had was that if something is not in stock they will just send the order out without it. Being that I mainly wanted some kuhlis and the other fish I got were not worth the shipping I was kind of bummed about that but the fish were very healthy and active for being shipped.

They did refund half of the shipping and the price of the kuhlis though so I'm not too upset about it just wish I would have known before hand because I was looking at another site that I could have ordered from....my main reason for even ordering online was to get two buddies for my lone kuhli (because his original buddy along with two neons got eaten by a koi I had indoors for winter)

Adrea

That's kind of a drag.
I just ordered some plants from F&S, and I noticed in the email confirmation that they gave me a 'mix and match' discount. What does that mean?? They pick different plants that I may or may not have wanted?

I'll let you know. I think they're coming Friday.

-andy

Mix and match discount just means you ordered enough to get a discount - but you didn't have to buy all of the same type in order to get the discount (thus the "mix")! Don't worry - you'll get what you ordered!

Mix and match discounts are "advertised" on the site, but I learned about them through the catalog. I get really good savings when I'm buying stuff in bulk for my birds and dog!

You might think about some of the wild types. I think almost all comercial swords are from the Xiphophorus heleri(spelling?).I have both Xiphophorus montezumae and X.xiphidium. The monties can get to seven inches with tail and the xiphidiums look like platties, but are really tailess swords. I'm not into swords,( I like my natives too much) but they are really astounding if you never have seen them before. They were a last minute bid on Aquabid and the monties do well at the same temps as my sunfish do.

I am wondering, are swordfish and swordtails the same?

"are swordfish and swordtails the same?"

Not at all. Swordfish are huge, sleek, very fast, egg laying SW (ocean) fish that can easily reach 12 ft. and over 1,000 lbs. Absent their long upper jaws, they quite resemble Tuna and like Marlin, are popular sport fish. Sadly, the ones most sought after are the largest, which tend to be breeding females.

It is believed that Swordfish use their long, flat, spiked bills to slash at schools of smaller prey, both injuring and stunning them, to allow the swordfish to feed.

Swordtails are livebearing fresh water fish, the largest of which get about 6 inches, excluding the long, lower half of the male's cadual fin. Hence the name; swordtail.