Bumblebee Platys-Bringing A bit Of the Great Outdoors Into The Home Aquarium

Having nothing better to do over the past day or two, but relax and glance at the occupants in my freshwater aquarium. I had been gazing into this almost mesmerizing watery world in search of an article idea to share with readers who also enjoy raising tropical fish as a hobby.

Well literally speaking there it was staring me right in the face!...the article idea that is. Yes the aquarium was standing right there as well, but in addition to the aquarium. about three feet from my face, there was something else rather interesting that caught my attention.

In fact I had to brush away the sleep from my eyes, as I sat there on the couch drinking my morning coffee and trying to get my peepers to focus on some smaller fish, that I didn't have the foggiest notion, of how they ended up within my aquarium.

Were they miniature hitch hikers that ended up accidentally in the water, with a few plants bagged in aquarium water that I had purchased recently?. Or did they just appear as if by sheer magic? Well no not really and in fact these were not the answers to any of my previous questions.

Basically I should have pumped myself up with a bit more caffeine before realizing that mother nature continues to work in mysterious ways. Whether in an external environment, or that of an internal one...such as the tropical fish aquarium.

It finally dawned on me-thanks to the marvels of fish reproduction, and the secretion of hormonal juices, that a male bumblebee platy within my community tank, had secretly mated with one of the redwag platys that I also own. It may sound like a real fish story, which it really is. But also a perfect match made in heaven you can say. Or maybe a perfect match that occurs only occasionally within a marine aqarium that is.

If you have ever seen a bumbleebee platy in the tropical fish section of your local pet shop. You may have noticed that they are unique in the way that they behave. In fact they move about somewhat erratically and rather quickly than most other platys do.

This species of platy was named after yours truly-the bumblebee, which I like to think of as, the great winged insect pollinator of outdoor flowers and bushes.

Bumbleebees like honeybees are fairly docile compared to most bees that pollinate our flowers. Have you ever watched a bumblebee buzz about an azalea bush or other fragrant flower collecting honey? I'm sure you have at one time or another, and if you made some careful observations you would see that a bumblebee platy does not only look like a bumbleebee-having that distinct black coloring closer to its eyes and antennae area.

But it also has small beady black eyes that are set up a bit higher, just like that of its outdoor insect counterpart, the bumblebee. And like a bumblebee, these platys usually appear a bright to pale yellow in color throughout the rest of the body, with a few black blotches spread out within the flank, or mid-section.

What's also interesting is how they behave in their watery environment, just like that of a bumblebee acts outdoors as it busily pollinates the flowers.

A bumblebee platy, besides moving rather quickly and erratically for a good deal of the time and sometimes for no known reason. Also appears to stay motionless by moving its dorsal and pectoral fins in a manner that keeps it stationary. Then all of a sudden-off it goes like the outdoor bee that it closely mimicks in its indoor environment.

The young baby bumbleebee platys have acquired these same traits from their parents. As they grow in size it will be obvious to any hobbyist who owns this species, that the young born from adult bumbleebee platys, will soon display these same characteristics within the freshwater tank.

It's quite interesting to watch this particular platy move vertically and sometimes horizontally, believe it our not? in a fashion that almost seems like it is imitating that bumblebee, that you may have witnessed more than once in the past, buzzing about a fragrant flower.

And when disturbed that same bee may hum a bit louder when approached, move a few feet in your direction until it is practically in your face, back off and erratically maneuver itself around that azalea bush a few more times.

And as suddenly as it hummed loudly about that same bush after being disturbed, it would come and back drop down in a vertical fashion to a flower, just as quickly as it had flew around that same bush or flower.

So as you can see from this description of the bumbleebee platy species, mother nature has indeed found a way to bring a little bit of the outdoors into the home aquarium for all those hobbyists to enjoy.