Cucumbers in platies tank and mixing breeds of platies ? ? ?

OK, couple questions about platties. Do they need to be fed veggies?
I have seen some cucumbers in LFSs' fish tanks. DO I need cucumbers
in my tank? And I have three different styles of platie... one
female is the mickey variety another is gold wag tail and my male is a
red wag tail... when they breed will they create mut type platies,
like guppies in cross breeding in types or is this Assorted Colors
a breed all it's own and the babies will surprise me...and all is good
that they will still be pretty, I hope they will be pretty cause the
parents are beautiful!

Christy,

I have always had big planted tanks with just enough animals to make it
interesting. A few months ago, I bought 3 platys, one male with a very red
tail, and 2 mickey mouse (black tail) females.

I only fed them cheap flake food, and they are pretty vigorous about picking
at algae. To make a long story short, my 37 gallon tank is now chockablock
with about 70 babies. My theories:

1. In otherwise good conditions, platys can manage just fine on flake food.

2. If you offered them cucumbers, it can only help. They are not good
algae eaters, but their interest indicates an omnivorous appetite.

3. The babies with a mickey mouse mother and dark red tailed father almost
all (95%) have the black stripe, so it must be a dominant trait.

OK, I wonder if the babies will be mixed and muttled colors more or
less a mix of their parents or will they take after one or the other
of their parents? I really do not want mut fish...

"Christy84065" wrote in message
om...
OK, I wonder if the babies will be mixed and muttled colors more or
less a mix of their parents or will they take after one or the other
of their parents? I really do not want mut fish...

If you mix Platys of only one type (ie: red wag-tail), and they have not
been in tanks with other non-red wag-tail Platys, and the line is
relatively pure, then your fry will follow the parents (red wag-tail)
with only the rare exception. Without those exceptions, we would not
have all the colour variants developed.

Personally, I like a tank of pure breds, almost as much as I like a tank
of mutts ;~)
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