Swordtail / Platy Hybrid ?

[fluvial]

Hi there

I have a community tank with one male black swordtail and two female platys in it.
There are no female swordtails and no male platys.

I have discovered a very young fry in the tank which looks just like the swordtail
in colouring and in its eye pattern.

Is it possible to breed a hybrid from the two species ??

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I could be, but there is also the possibility that your platys were pregnant when you bought them. Swordtail and platy fry look very very similar.

 

[the_lock_man]

Yes it is possible, the 2 species are very closely related, so they can interbreed.

 

[KittyKat]

+1, it is possible.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

One of my hybrids.

 

[helterskelter]

How long have you had them?
Females can store sperm for upto 6 months.

They can cross breed though if their are no males of their own type around.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

If you can get a picture of the fry, post it up

 

[Louiseness]

Interestingly, it's said that a great deal of platies and swordtails available in the hobby are hybrids themselves - so it's certainly possible!

 

[fluvial]

Thanks everyone -
it certainly is a hybrid then.

The two female platys have been w/o a male in the tank for over a year, ditto the swordtail.

Very interseting, I'll try and look after it

 

[OldMan47]

Swordtail / platy crosses are the reason we see so many different colors and patterns in both groups. We ordinarily do not have any single species xiphophorus in a typical tank. Only specialist livebearer keepers, who are often members of clubs and associations will ever see a single species xiphophorus. The swordtails we get at pet shops were mostly derived from crosses between the wild Xiphophorus helleri and one of the platies, Xiphophorus variatus. The variatus carry lots of colorful patterns that were brought into swordtail lines by creating those crosses. Some features of wild swordtails were also introduced into pet shop platies by similar crosses.
It is almost rue to say that a swordtail and a platy in your local pet shop are the same thing. We decide which to call a cross based on whether or not it shows a word, not based on how much of each species is represented in the fish's genes.