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cross breeding livebearers

56K views 47 replies 25 participants last post by  Mikaila31 
#1 ·
I read that endlers can breed with other livebearers. I was wondering which other livebearers can cross breed with each other. Do they go by class, species, ect.? I don't want to have any of my fish doing this. I have fancy guppies, and green swordtails right now.
 
#2 ·
Hi and welcome to FishForum.com
About your question, your guppy's and swordtails will not ever ' cross ' breed. If im wrong, if i am than correct me someone, fish only will breed with there own species. Swordtails with swordtails, guppy's with guppy's etc....

Hope it helps :D

Nick
 
#47 ·
cross breeding



Hi I just read your comment that mollies and guppies can't cross breed, well if that is the case then where did the 40+ extra fish appear in my tank ???
the guppies are female and I have a male black mollie who has mated with 4 of my females so far 2 of which are on their 2nd litter as we speak.
the female offspring look like guppies some of which have a bottle green tint to the body rather than clear, with orange fins and tails and the male offspring have blue bodies and orange long fan tails, a bit like miniature japanese fighting fish.

WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IS- a friend has in her tank 2 barbs, danios, mollies and some of my last litter of babies which are not big enough to breed yet. she has found today baby fry in her tank today. the fry are small but long and clear... which fish have cross bread.. any suggestions ????:)
 
#4 ·
Endlers and guppies will obviously interbreed.
Another reason why you can't mix Endlers and guppies.
Swordtails and platies will interbreed thus creating a variatus platy.
Xiphophorus helleri(swordtail)+Xiphophorus maculatus(platy)= Xiphophorus variatus(variatus)
Mollies will interbreed regardless of what strain they are. Balloon mollies are just an abnormal strain of mollies. Take note that there are species of mollies commonly available: Poeciliid spheneops, latipinna and velifera. Spheneops is a cross of latipinna and velifera.
 
#5 ·
So little miss mollies are fine with the swordtails and guppies. Do you guys know of any thing else that will, I'd love to have something that is a little less common. But I'm wanting all livebearers. With the laoches and cory, I'll become very angry :evil: if I had fish that spawned and had their eggs eaten. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Plus the water conditions that I have are good for livebearers. After many loses, I gave up on barbs and cardinal tetras. :cry: By the way, hello and nice to "meet" you.
 
#6 ·
Hi firearies,

Livebearers don't lay eggs. Only cories and loaches will do. However, cories will easily breed in your community provided you got 2 males and one female. That's the recommended ratio. With loaches, then your cory eggs will be eaten.
Loaches will also eat the fry of the livebearers but not the cories.

As for your barbs and tetras, you may not have cycled the tank hence their deaths. You need to cycle the tank in order for them to live without too much extreme changes in the water chemistry. Cardinals aren't suitable for tanks which are just establishing in the early stages.
Danios and platies are hardy fish and will survive during cycling. However, I'd recommend you go to Fishless Cycle rather than cycling with fish.
 
#9 ·
girlofgod said:
so i have a pineapple swordtail and a sunburst platy...and they will interbreed?
Yes they will readily interbreed. Resulting fry is Xiphophorus variatus or Variegated Platy.
 
#10 ·
girlofgod said:
so i have a pineapple swordtail and a sunburst platy...and they will interbreed? grrr...im not ready to have babies! lol


bri
TOO funny!! If that's the case, live bearers might not be for you - mine are VERY prolific! I have 3 types of Plattys and 2 types of Mollies and all bear young pretty often - though not that many get to be teenagers! Natural selection and all... I think my siamese algae eaters have laid eggs that have hatched - I have a few mystery babies that look NOTHING like mollies or plattys. Anyway - have fun with them, the babies really are fun to watch grow up (which likely won't happen if they don't have plants to hide in).
Sharon
 
#12 ·
I would have to wonder about the swordtail and molly breeding... how long have you had the molly? Keep in mind that with livebearers, the body has the ability to retain sperm. With this in mind, that means that if a female molly has mated with 5 male mollies in a store tank, then moved to a tank with a swordtail, the molly will still have up to 5 or more batches of "molly fry" from the males she previously mated with. You can take home a single female molly, put her into a tank alone, and she can have fry for up to 6 months or more before she's through. This is the problem in trying to breed livebearers for specific traits, you never know how long you have to wait until you know for sure which male has fertilized her eggs. Average time span to create a new color strain that is pure is about 2 yrs.+
And, regarding the original post...
Be prepared to have a lot of fry, which means a lot of fluctuation in water quality. Most live bearers will produce about 30 fry at a time, but can have more than 40, and they can do this about every 30 days. If you are keeping these fish in a small tank, be on alert for overpopulation each time a fish gives birth, thus water quality that can quickly hit toxic levels. I suggest daily water changes of 10% in a livebearer tank if it's under 55 gallons or is heavily stocked with females. Another thing to remember is that their favorite activity is breeding, so keeping 2 females for each male is also a must. The males will chase the females until they exhaust them to death, literally, if there are not enough other females to chase. Heavy decoration is also called for in a livebearer tank, the smaller the tank, the more decorations needed.
 
#13 ·
bettababy said:
Heavy decoration is also called for in a livebearer tank, the smaller the tank, the more decorations needed.

I have some blue platties and show guppies in my community tank.

In addition to "planted plants" and plants tied to wood at middepth of the tank I have a grouping of Anacharis tied to wood at the surface.

These Anacharis do not "grow to the wood" and are not published to be floating plants but they grow to form an very good area for birthing of the live bearers as well as cover for their fry. (The angels which I am growing frequent the perimeter of this growing area but the area is of sufficient densiy that the angels do not "get into it".)

I have the grouping of Anacharis tied to the wood only to keep them from floating across the surface of the tank and also to prevent them from clogging the return slots to the wet/dry filtration process.

TR
 
#14 ·
bettababy said:
I would have to wonder about the swordtail and molly breeding... how long have you had the molly? Keep in mind that with livebearers, the body has the ability to retain sperm. With this in mind, that means that if a female molly has mated with 5 male mollies in a store tank, then moved to a tank with a swordtail, the molly will still have up to 5 or more batches of "molly fry" from the males she previously mated with. You can take home a single female molly, put her into a tank alone, and she can have fry for up to 6 months or more before she's through. This is the problem in trying to breed livebearers for specific traits, you never know how long you have to wait until you know for sure which male has fertilized her eggs. Average time span to create a new color strain that is pure is about 2 yrs.+
And, regarding the original post...
Be prepared to have a lot of fry, which means a lot of fluctuation in water quality. Most live bearers will produce about 30 fry at a time, but can have more than 40, and they can do this about every 30 days. If you are keeping these fish in a small tank, be on alert for overpopulation each time a fish gives birth, thus water quality that can quickly hit toxic levels. I suggest daily water changes of 10% in a livebearer tank if it's under 55 gallons or is heavily stocked with females. Another thing to remember is that their favorite activity is breeding, so keeping 2 females for each male is also a must. The males will chase the females until they exhaust them to death, literally, if there are not enough other females to chase. Heavy decoration is also called for in a livebearer tank, the smaller the tank, the more decorations needed.
well hello again...the molly in ? is a male my female sword tail I have had her from the time she was fry...she was never in with a male swordtail..and as soon as I put her in with the mollies along came the male and they did ..The wild thing..(breeding)Now known that they will breed..Will i keep her in with them not at all..I dont belive in mixing guppies,swordtail,or mollies with others..Just like I dont belive in doing it with dogs..But thats not a topic for here...But anyhow i'll keep on learning in the hobby ..like everyone..Like a friend onces said to me...I have been in the hobby for almost 25 years and everyday I find new things out...you never stop learning..thats what I love about it..Oh yes..I almost forgot..I have been breeding guppies..and when mom is ready to drop she goes into her own breeding tank ..what is a 10gallon..after she is done she is then removed to the guppy tank what is a 30 gallon..I do know about over stocked tanks..thats not me..after fry is a week old they are then put into a 20gal or bigger..I do know about alot of fry..belive me..my female guppy dropped 3 weeks ago 232 babies..yes 232..Not 40..she did that with her first drop..all my beautiful babies are then feed the best food ..brine shrimp and a little egg yoke..some fry food and also fine flake food..I also sell to a pet store here in ontario..and he is very happy with all my fish...
anyways everyone have a nice day and enjoy ..
 
#15 ·
It is intersting that a sword and molly bred, wil be intersting to hear if the fry are born alive or not.

Guppies, mainly the fancy guppies will breed with mollies. I have seen this first hand. Platties and swords as stated before. Also, most cory species will crossbreed.
 
#17 ·
joeshmoe said:
fish_4_all said:
It is intersting that a sword and molly bred, wil be intersting to hear if the fry are born alive or not.

Guppies, mainly the fancy guppies will breed with mollies. I have seen this first hand. Platties and swords as stated before. Also, most cory species will crossbreed.
ive seen this happen too
Hi ..I'll keep you guys posted to see what happens..she will be dropping very very soon..now in her own tank to give birth..
:wink:
 
#18 ·
joeshmoe said:
fish_4_all said:
It is intersting that a sword and molly bred, wil be intersting to hear if the fry are born alive or not.

Guppies, mainly the fancy guppies will breed with mollies. I have seen this first hand. Platties and swords as stated before. Also, most cory species will crossbreed.
ive seen this happen too
Where, Joe?:squint:
 
#20 ·
joeshmoe said:
pet smart

A picture would help then.:wink2: I would imagine a gumolly.:bluelaugh: Which IMO does not exist until I see it.:dunno:
 
#23 ·
from what i have experienced gupys and mollys will crossbreed but the fry will be infertile and will not be able to reproduce. Also The way the colors look is that you have a Molly's body but a guppys color. And Swordtails and mollys often crossbreed. It has never personally happened to me.
 
#24 ·
jr.masterbreeder said:
And Swordtails and mollys often crossbreed.
It is unlikely to happen as they are of different genus.
 
#25 ·
blueangeleyes said:
well hello again...the molly in ? is a male my female sword tail I have had her from the time she was fry...she was never in with a male swordtail..and as soon as I put her in with the mollies along came the male and they did ..The wild thing..(breeding)Now known that they will breed..Will i keep her in with them not at all..I dont belive in mixing guppies,swordtail,or mollies with others..Just like I dont belive in doing it with dogs..But thats not a topic for here...But anyhow i'll keep on learning in the hobby ..like everyone..Like a friend onces said to me...I have been in the hobby for almost 25 years and everyday I find new things out...you never stop learning..thats what I love about it..Oh yes..I almost forgot..I have been breeding guppies..and when mom is ready to drop she goes into her own breeding tank ..what is a 10gallon..after she is done she is then removed to the guppy tank what is a 30 gallon..I do know about over stocked tanks..thats not me..after fry is a week old they are then put into a 20gal or bigger..I do know about alot of fry..belive me..my female guppy dropped 3 weeks ago 232 babies..yes 232..Not 40..she did that with her first drop..all my beautiful babies are then feed the best food ..brine shrimp and a little egg yoke..some fry food and also fine flake food..I also sell to a pet store here in ontario..and he is very happy with all my fish...
anyways everyone have a nice day and enjoy ..
There is still another possibility with the pregnant swordtail... livebearers can become eggbound. Livebearing fish still have eggs, they are just fertilized internally. If the eggs aren't fertilized, the body will usually reabsorb the eggs until next time, thus the big pregnant belly is seen, but no fry. I'll be interested in seeing if there are fry, and what they look like if they appear... keep us posted please.
I won't say it's impossible, in this life anything is usually possible under the right circumstances/conditions... but it is still highly unlikely.
 
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