Berlin Platy - Xiphophorus maculatus

Berlin Platy (Xiphophorus maculatus)

The Berlin Platy is a colourful captive-bred form of the Common Platy, known for its warm orange, yellow to red base colour with fine dark speckling that often becomes heavier towards the rear of the body. Peaceful, active and hardy, this attractive livebearer is an excellent choice for beginner-friendly freshwater community aquariums. Like other platies, it does best in clean, stable, moderately hard to hard water with calm tank mates and plenty of planted cover.

Common Name:
Berlin Platy. Also commonly referred to as Berliner Platy, Platy Berliner, Speckled Platy, Southern Platyfish or Common Platy.

Scientific Name (Latin):
Xiphophorus maculatus

Maximum Size:
Around 5–6 cm in captivity, with females usually becoming slightly larger and fuller-bodied than males.

Water Type:
Freshwater

Origin / Natural Habitat:
The Berlin Platy is a captive-bred aquarium strain. The wild form of Xiphophorus maculatus is native to North and Central America, from Mexico through to Belize. In the wild, it occurs in warm springs, canals, ditches, creeks and swampy waters, usually in slow-moving areas with silty bottoms and weedy margins.

Water Parameters:
Temperature: 22–26°C
pH Range: 7.0–8.2
Hardness: moderately hard to hard water preferred

Temperament:
Peaceful and active. It is suitable for community aquariums with other calm, similarly sized fish. Males may chase females, especially in smaller groups, so mixed-sex groups are best kept with more females than males.

Diet:
Omnivorous. It should be offered a varied diet including quality flake, small pellets, algae-based foods, spirulina, blanched vegetables and frozen or live foods such as daphnia, brineshrimp and bloodworm. Vegetable matter is useful for long-term health, colour and digestion.

Minimum Tank Size:
A practical recommendation is at least 60 litres for a small group, with larger aquariums preferred if keeping multiple livebearers or allowing fry to grow on.

Behaviour & Activity:
This is an active mid-level livebearer that spends much of the day swimming, grazing and exploring the aquarium. It is not a tight shoaling fish, but it does best in small groups. Females give birth to free-swimming fry, so numbers can increase quickly in a mixed-sex group. Floating plants, fine-leaved plants and planted cover can help provide shelter for fry while still leaving open swimming space for adults.

Aquarium Category:
Community Fish
This species is peaceful and works well with other freshwater community fish that enjoy similar harder, alkaline water conditions. Suitable tank mates include other platies, mollies, swordtails, peaceful rainbowfish, danios, small barbs, Corydoras suited to similar conditions and bristlenose plecos. Avoid aggressive fish, persistent fin nippers, large predators and very soft-water species that prefer acidic conditions.

Special Requirements or Care Notes:
Best kept in clean, stable water with good filtration, regular maintenance and enough minerals to support livebearer health. Platies generally do best in harder, more alkaline water and can struggle long-term in very soft acidic aquariums. If keeping males and females together, a ratio of one male to two or more females can help reduce constant attention on individual females. As with most livebearers, this variety may breed readily in the aquarium.

Suitable for:
Beginner fishkeepers

Availability:
Common / occasional in trade, usually as captive-bred stock

All images are a visual representation of the fish you will receive, made to be as accurate as possible. Please note that Mother Nature is a wonderful thing, and variation in patterns and colours will occur — that is part of the unique beauty of these animals.