Our New Pets

Since leaving our little pond behind in Philadelphia, Karl and I have desired to set up an aquarium in our new home. My dad bought us a 10-gallon aquarium and filter a few years ago, to keep our pond goldfish in over the winter. So last week we bought a lid, light, heater, and thermometer to fit it. After getting the water circulating and dechlorinated, we went to PetSmart to pick out some tropical fish.

We decided to start with a pair of red-wag platys. We didn't want to buy too many, in case the aquarium water was not as good as we thought. The platys were the cheapest fish available at $1.49 each, and Karl liked their orange-red color. So we purchased a male and a female. I also picked out a live plant called a wendtii red.

the pair of red-wag platys


a crisper shot of the female platy


the wendtii red plant

They seemed to thrive through the week, but last night I noticed that the male was being rather aggressive to the female. He was nipping at her tail and she was spending most of her time hiding in the plant. So I researched platys online and found out that they are happiest in small groups of at least two males and three females. So today I went by another PetSmart and bought three more platys. This time I chose a pair of Sunburst-wag platys, a male and a female, and a female fancy-fin platy. The fancy fin platy is solid yellow with a large, frilly dorsal fin. I also bought some stems of a frilly green plant called wisteria. The fish seem to be calmer in this bigger group.

a sunburst-wag platy


the central yellow fish is the fancy fin platy, but she has her fin tucked away!

I had trouble getting good pictures of the fish because they move so quickly. They also associate me with getting fed, so as I approach the aquarium they rise to the top and dart around looking for food. After about 10 minutes of standing still with the camera, waiting for the fish to wsim into my view, and about 40 pictures, this was the best I could do:

a sunburst platy swimming by the wisteria plants