Breeding Lyretail Swords

[HeatherW]

Hi!

Right now in my tank I have a pair of lyretail swords and 2 juvenile female pineapple swords.

Since the lyretail is the only male I'd like him to breed with the female, and eventually the pineapples too.

My question is will he be able to?
I read somewhere that their gonopodium's length makes breeding impossible.
Is this true? If so, how are they raised to begin with then?

Mine seems to have a shorter section of gonopodium closer to his body than the really long part.
When he "flashes" it though, the whole thing goes out to the side.

He seems pretty shy. Does not chase the girls like my male platy does.

Can anyone with experience with lyretail swordtails tell me if I'm likely to have him breed?

Thanks, Heather

 

[Polardbear]

Most likely he will not be able to reproduce (being a swordtail male though, it won't stop him from trying).

Lyretails are produced by breeding the lyretail females back to either regular finned males or hi fin males. Usually 25-50% of the offspring will be lyretails and the others regular finned. I breed my lyretail females to hi fin males and get roughly 40% lyretails a few hi fin lyretails (for some reason predominately female), one or two hi fins and the remainder regular finned.

As to his being shy, he may just be young yet and hasn't developed that one track mind yet. If you just recently got them you may find that the female is already pregnant. I've had the females get pregnant as young as 6 weeks. They can hold their fry for longer than 4 weeks if they are at all uncomfortable in their new surroundings.

 

[HeatherW]

Thank-you so much!

My LFS actually receives their farm fish shipped with males and females separate.

They had just received this shipment.

The lyretails were in their own tank.

The pineapples were also in a tank with only other juvenile fish, the lone male was just getting a sword.

So I'm thinking none of my swords came pregnant. Unless the pineapples turn out that way.
Unlikely.

Looks like I need to get me a viable male hey?

Thanks again,
Heather