This is a guppy?

[nkthen]

I tried to find the right category for asking about Guppies but I read that Guppy belongs to the Characin family so I decided to post at Characins.

I brought my son to LFS and asked him to pick some fishes. He picked a group of fishes that are known as Mickey Mouse Fish. The fish has Mickey Mouse logo near the end of the tail. I kinda forgotten the full name but it looked like a Tetra to me but the behavior is very Guppy.

Can someone tell me the correct name of the fish and is that fish a tetra or a guppy?

[valice]

Well, it is neither a tetra nor a guppy...
It is a platy... A livebearer actually...

I'm no expert in fishes, but don't think they belong to the characin family...

[benny]

Yes. They are live bearers. I've moved it to the general freshwater fauna section.

Cheers,

[hwchoy]

nkthen, time to bring your kids to shops that have nothing but REAL fishes

[nkthen]

Oh... correct me... You mean Mickey Mouse platy is not a fish?

[valice]

They are specific strain bred for the pattern at the tail region. Hwchoy prefers fishes which are bred naturally in their naturally form. Look at his signature. That's what he meant by REAL fishes...

[nkthen]

Ah... I understand...

So Mickey Mouse Platy is 'artificial'?

[budak]

Artificial meaning its' a variety of platy bred with colours and fins that wouldn't survive in nature. you can visit the AQ Photo Gallery (link somewhere on top) to see different fish species according to their taxonomic classifications.

[hwchoy]

Oh... correct me... You mean Mickey Mouse platy is not a fish?

sorry to confuse, yes I prefer fishes that can actually be found in Nature. I believe as a hobbyist you truly grow in depth when you keep fishes, and extend from there to appreciate the whole natural eco system.

another fact is, wild fishes are truly magnificent. they are what they are because of circumstances in their habitat over tens of thousands of years. In many cases they are much more beautiful than the "aquarium" strains.

take the kissing fish for example. the aquarium version is plain pinkish white. if you see the wild ones, they are the same shape, but the colour is dark black-green with a square tiled pattern. why aquarium breeder prefers a plain pinkish white fish, beats me. but I'm sure you'd go for the wild version once you have seen it.

aquarium strains are not so bad, at least their gene pools are not drastically altered. the worst are artificial hybrids. these are fishes that will NEVER come into being without man twisting nature with medicine and hormones. the most famous, or infamous, or these are your common Luohan and Parrot fish.

[Nicky]

To add.. and if we think that the regular parrot fish is bad, think about what man did to create love-shape parrot fish or 'kai-xin' (happy) parrot fish.
Not sure who is happy here, not the parrot fish whose tail is chopped off during infant, that for sure.