This is a discussion on Fish crossbreeds within the Freshwater Aquarium forums, part of the Freshwater Fish and Aquariums category; -->
Sorry if this is in the wrong section, or if this has already been made, I am new and don't know much about this ...
Sorry if this is in the wrong section, or if this has already been made, I am new and don't know much about this forum.
I was just wondering what fish could crossbreed, because my molly keeps chasing my Guppy and they are different genders.
Actually they can, they are both in the Poecilia genus. Swords and platies can cross as well. Thats it for common live-bearer hybrids a Xiphophorus can't cross with a Poecilia.
Others, certain cichlids. Rainbowfish. Generally if they are in the same genus there is a good chance they can hybridize. This is usually frowned on in most of fish keeping. Especially with rainbow fish. It is a common practice in livebearers though. Most of the fancy livebearers are not pure species.
they normally will stick to their own species when possible. Its usually when you mix.... say, only male guppies with only female mollies. I've seen pics of both hybrids. And just last Saturday saw some platyxswords at a auction that where sold as hybrids. They looked as you would expect. They had the shorter platy body and the males had short swords and where solid orange.
Sword/platy crosses are more common. I'm pretty sure they use hybridization to get the similar color patterns that swords and platies have. There are both mickey mouse varietys of this fish, I think it was developed on the platy first. Then some point someone crossed some MM platies with swords and the hybrid offspring where then bred back to swords for a couple generations selecting for the MM pattern. At least thats how I think they do it, but I have nothing to back that up.
Molly/guppy crosses are possible, but they are sterile as far as I know....
Weird. My 2 male guppies have no females, and naturally they are horny little buggers so they chase my female platies and ballon mollies. They twist their gonopodium toward the female so I think they are trying to make babies lol. Wonder if I'll get any platy guppies or guppy mollies...
Anyways to answer the question as far as I know they don't breed normally. It might be a rare case that they actually crossbreed.... but I doubt it will happen. Even if the male is moving his gonopodium toward the fish that doesn't mean any of his sperm gets to her... And let alone fertilize an egg.
Actually they can, they are both in the Poecilia genus. Swords and platies can cross as well. Thats it for common live-bearer hybrids a Xiphophorus can't cross with a Poecilia.
don't forget endlers (poecillia wingei) can breed with guppies (poecillia reticulata) but don't do it unless you can house pure endlers in a seperate tank and just give the males "booty calls" in the guppy tank since endlers are threatened in the wild and the species needs to be preserved.
needless to say, the hybrids are often some of the most beautiful you've ever seen.
