Bleeding Platies

[dizzied]

After a certain series of events, I'm now in care of two Tiger Platies.

Here's the thing - they're both males. There's really nowhere I can get a female one, so I'm wondering what would happen if I were to get a female Platy of a different variety - Red Wag, Mickey Mouse, etc. Would I still get Tiger babies, or end up with something that's a mix of the two?

 

[nosoup4you]

You would probably get some that would look like the male, some that would look like the female, and some that are a mixture of the two.

 

[dizzied]

Since you said probably, is this just an assumption or an actual fact?

 

[nosoup4you]

Just an assumption...

 

[dizzied]

Probably not far off.

Anyone else with input?

 

[veil92]

Upon buying it, assuming a lfs? It'll already be pregnant. I wouldn't be surprised if it gave birth to fry not resembling the males you already have.

 

[Declan]

Well, the theory goes that with offspring, they are 50-50 of each parent, so say you buy a red wag female, then in THEORY you should have 50% red wag and 50% tiger..

On a 'funnier' note, I wonder if you would see an individual fish that is 50-50, ie, has some red wag with tiger, a tiger wag maybe?

D.

 

[dizzied]

Upon buying it, assuming a lfs? It'll already be pregnant. I wouldn't be surprised if it gave birth to fry not resembling the males you already have.

I was planning to get one that isn't pregnant and isolate it to make sure.

Well, the theory goes that with offspring, they are 50-50 of each parent, so say you buy a red wag female, then in THEORY you should have 50% red wag and 50% tiger..

On a 'funnier' note, I wonder if you would see an individual fish that is 50-50, ie, has some red wag with tiger, a tiger wag maybe?

D.

I'd assume that's how some varieties are made - eg, Painted Swordtail + Koi Swordtail = Sanshoku Swordtail. What I'm really wondering at this point is whether one gene, gender or variety would be more dominant when it comes to what the baby would look like, and if all the babies in one batch of fry will come out all the same.

 

[OldMan47]

A platy that has been with other platies can carry sperm packets for at least 6 months. Unless you can get a very young female and raise it to breeding size, it will take a while to clear things out to where your male will be ceratin to be the father.

 

[dizzied]

Let's just assume I'll get a virgin Platy. The question is what happens when I breed two different varieties, not whether or not I can get a female that isn't knocked up.

 

[nosoup4you]

What do the tiger Platies that you wish to breed look like? I've seen a couple of different colorations referred to as tiger Platies...

If you are referring to the white-bodied red striped tiger platies, I've seen them with black wags so I'm sure that an attractive cross is possible though I don't know what kind of percentage you would get in a first generation.

 

[Athena]

I don't know all the proper names for all of the different types of platies - but I started off with one dark blue (kind of sparkly) male platy and an orange mickey mouse female platy - they had a batch of fry, 15 of which survived and are almost adult sized now. They came out like a bag of pick n mix!!

There are a couple that look exactly like the male, a couple exactly like the female, then the rest are just a mixture of the two colours, some with the mickey mouse thing on their tail, others without - then there are some who are nothing like the parents at all - there is a light yellow one with a black tail and fins, some silver ones with black tails, a white one with black spots, silver one with black spots... it's hard to believe they all came from the same two parents!

So I don't think it's very easy to predict what platy fry will look like, except to say that you are bound to get at least a few that are like each of the parents.

Athena

 

[dizzied]

What do the tiger Platies that you wish to breed look like? I've seen a couple of different colorations referred to as tiger Platies...

If you are referring to the white-bodied red striped tiger platies, I've seen them with black wags so I'm sure that an attractive cross is possible though I don't know what kind of percentage you would get in a first generation.

That's the one, white body, red stripes.

I don't know all the proper names for all of the different types of platies - but I started off with one dark blue (kind of sparkly) male platy and an orange mickey mouse female platy - they had a batch of fry, 15 of which survived and are almost adult sized now. They came out like a bag of pick n mix!!

There are a couple that look exactly like the male, a couple exactly like the female, then the rest are just a mixture of the two colours, some with the mickey mouse thing on their tail, others without - then there are some who are nothing like the parents at all - there is a light yellow one with a black tail and fins, some silver ones with black tails, a white one with black spots, silver one with black spots... it's hard to believe they all came from the same two parents!

So I don't think it's very easy to predict what platy fry will look like, except to say that you are bound to get at least a few that are like each of the parents.

Athena

Good to hear of someone's experience with this.

Originally, I was thinking of attempting to keep the Tigers as pure as possible by breeding them with white-colored Platies and just giving the LFS any babies that didn't come out right, but it'd be fun to try and create something else. Perhaps crossing the Tigers with Blue Platies would give me a blue-bodied Platy with red stripes.

 

[nosoup4you]

You may have to tinker with these for a few generations, choosing the most attractive females to breed back to dad, to get them how you like. Would be interested to see the results. Keep us updated!

 

[modaz]

cross the males into white or lemon twin bar platy, this will give you a higher chance of tigers in your frist lot of fry, ive done this before and it works perfectly, dont use wagtails as the colour can carry into the body and ruin the tiger, the lighter the bodied female the better, just leave her for 2 months on her own to see if she developes into a pregnancy or produce fry if not then add a male tiger and there you go, your own tigers