clairemolly
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I want to know if it is possible to cross breed mollies with swordtails or platys. Is it possible?
claire
claire
can mollies and platys or swordtails breed?
- Thread starter clairemolly
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Tokis-Phoenix
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From what i have gathered, you cannot cross-breed mollys with platys or swordtails but you can with swordtails and platys; the chances of this ever happening are very remote though and many people keep swordtails and platys for example for years and they never drop a single fry.
Synirr
"No one is a failure unless you try"
It's actually relatively easy to breed swordtails and platies together, but mollies can't breed with either of them... I've heard stories about mollies interbreeding with guppies on rare occasion, but I've never actually seen it done 
I've been trying the molly guppy experiment for probally six or seven months. I have two female molly's in a tank with one male guppy, and as of yet no pregnancy or fry. The females were as virgin as you get when the experiment started. Neither of them have shown any signs of carrying, and the male shows little interest in them at all.
wwestar2000
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It also depends what type of molly it is. I breed Ballon Mollies and Fancy guppies in my tank with very nice results. 
OohFeeshy
It's only forever; not long at all...
Really? Hmm, I sense an experiment... I've wanted to get a footing in livebearers, this should be interesting. OOI, what sex were each?
I would suggest getting several male guppies and a single female molly. As soon as she is pregnant, take out the males to reduce stress. Stick to common 'domestic' molly types. I'm not sure just how closely related to guppies the wild sailfin etc mollies are. Also, the size difference can be a problem as sailfins get pretty big. Also, when choosing the guppies, make sure they are not of an in-bred variety as these tend to be less fertile and also don't breed as regularly. Also avoid fish with fancy tail types such as sword/double-sword etc. Stick to the usualy roundtail/delta tail etc varieties. I reccomend going with the biggest half-black red males you can get.
Obviously you could breed them just by randomly placing one of each species and hoping they will mate but the way I've described is more likely to work out. Fry do have high mortality rates in many cases. Keep this in mind. Also, if they have the choice of mating with one of their own species, they will completely ignore the other species - so don't put in female guppies or male mollies!
Getting guppies to breed with mollies is significantly more difficult than getting platies and swordtails to cross-breed which they do very readily and the fry seem perfectly viable and healthy.
Can I just add - please, if anyone does try this, don't go off-load them on your LFS. Please either keep them yourself or find a different (humane) way of disposing of the fry. Letting highbrids into the hobby (or into the wild for that matter) for no good reason is irresponsible and, when possible, should be avoided. Keep in mind that this also applies to pregnant females or any females you used in the breedings for the next 4 months or so (as they can store sperm and produce highbrid fry as a result even without a male).
Obviously you could breed them just by randomly placing one of each species and hoping they will mate but the way I've described is more likely to work out. Fry do have high mortality rates in many cases. Keep this in mind. Also, if they have the choice of mating with one of their own species, they will completely ignore the other species - so don't put in female guppies or male mollies!
Getting guppies to breed with mollies is significantly more difficult than getting platies and swordtails to cross-breed which they do very readily and the fry seem perfectly viable and healthy.
Can I just add - please, if anyone does try this, don't go off-load them on your LFS. Please either keep them yourself or find a different (humane) way of disposing of the fry. Letting highbrids into the hobby (or into the wild for that matter) for no good reason is irresponsible and, when possible, should be avoided. Keep in mind that this also applies to pregnant females or any females you used in the breedings for the next 4 months or so (as they can store sperm and produce highbrid fry as a result even without a male).
OohFeeshy
It's only forever; not long at all...
Ty sylvia. I wanted to stick with normal mollies anyway, balloons freak me out 
I'll probably have a go once I've got enough money for a 15g + filter, heater etc, Then after I've tried it put them in the 20 and put platies in the 15. Hopefully the guppies will live long enough to breed....
I'll probably have a go once I've got enough money for a 15g + filter, heater etc, Then after I've tried it put them in the 20 and put platies in the 15. Hopefully the guppies will live long enough to breed....wwestar2000
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By crossbreeding diffrent types of fish together is not at all irresponsible. It is just a way to make a new species. It can happen in the wild so why cant it happen in my tank. 
OohFeeshy
It's only forever; not long at all...
She meant irresponsible to let it get into the general hobby
Crossbred platies/swords look just like what they are - they may have small tail 'sword' extensions and are usualy slightly longer than a normal platy - resembling a 'variatus' platy IMO.
As for why I said breeding them is irresponsible - to an extent, yes it is just about letting hybrids get into the hobby. You see hybrid crosses don't actualy happen in the wild or at least don't survive (due to natural selection) if it were otherwise, you could find naturaly occuring platy/sword or molly/guppy hybrids which you cannot. The same applies to all sorts of african cichlids etc that will hybridize readily in captivity but which don't do so in the wild.
Allowing hybrids to escape into the wild (which often happens with fish distributed within the hobby - take people who flush fish for example) can cause very serious problems for the wild fish. Obviously this doesn't only apply to hybrids. For example, the released fish may out-compete local species, introduce disease into wild waterways and so on. They may become very successful in the new environment and breed like rabbits - taking over and causing serious problems for wild fish. If the fish also happen to be hybrids released into areas where either one of the 'parent' species lives, it may even contaminate wild gene pools. Hybrids introduced to the hobby can also actualy result in a depletion of wild populations - take african cichlids for example. There are plenty of ' assorted malawi' in most LFSs. Many, unfortunately, are hybrids. However, most fish-keepers don't want to buy 'assorted' fish (and rightly so) because they know they won't be able to predict their temperament or requirements. The result is that people look for specific, non-hybrid species (again, rightly so) and this now sometimes means taking the fish from the wild. The hybrids not only mean that you don't get the pure fish as easily, it also means that the pure fish available are few and therefore the captive gene pool is small - again necessiating the use of wild stock. The fact that many hybrids are sterile also means that the fry from certain fish cannot go on to breed so you, again, get a gene pool that is constantly decreasing in size. A dead end. In-breeding results and, after a few generations, may lead to deformities in fry, health problems, a weaker immune system and so on. Also, hybridizing fish has been used to an extent to produce new varieties in some of our common fish - take some of the fancy-tailed guppies for example that are endler/guppy crosses. Though 'domestic fancy' guppies are already as messed up as they can be so this hybridization doesn't realy cause as many problems for them, it has meant that Endler's are often not pure and hobbyists now are trying to stop keeping the two fish together so as to ensure that the captive population of Endler's still available is pure and the gene pool isn't becoming depleated. I know, BTW, that some people consider endler's and guppies the same species but I think there is now adequate information to at least make them sub-species (so resulting fry are still considered hybrids). Then there's the fact that many hybrid animals grow to be larger than either parent species (a non-fish example is a lion/tiger cross) or ends up with a completely different behaviour. Though this won't usualy apply to common livebearers, it does mean that offspring of some species may not be possible to look after properly if all you have to go on is the parents' temperament/requirements/adult size. There's plenty of other reasons hybrids shouldn't be circulated within the hobby but right now I can't type everything up. Realy though, I think what I've written here is enough to give you an idea of why I think breeding hybrids is irresponsible if you are not prepaired to then keep all the fry yourself.
Oh and, technicaly, most hybrids are not a new species as most won't breed true. Especialy if they are sterile in which case, obviously, they can't even breed in the first place.
As for why I said breeding them is irresponsible - to an extent, yes it is just about letting hybrids get into the hobby. You see hybrid crosses don't actualy happen in the wild or at least don't survive (due to natural selection) if it were otherwise, you could find naturaly occuring platy/sword or molly/guppy hybrids which you cannot. The same applies to all sorts of african cichlids etc that will hybridize readily in captivity but which don't do so in the wild.
Allowing hybrids to escape into the wild (which often happens with fish distributed within the hobby - take people who flush fish for example) can cause very serious problems for the wild fish. Obviously this doesn't only apply to hybrids. For example, the released fish may out-compete local species, introduce disease into wild waterways and so on. They may become very successful in the new environment and breed like rabbits - taking over and causing serious problems for wild fish. If the fish also happen to be hybrids released into areas where either one of the 'parent' species lives, it may even contaminate wild gene pools. Hybrids introduced to the hobby can also actualy result in a depletion of wild populations - take african cichlids for example. There are plenty of ' assorted malawi' in most LFSs. Many, unfortunately, are hybrids. However, most fish-keepers don't want to buy 'assorted' fish (and rightly so) because they know they won't be able to predict their temperament or requirements. The result is that people look for specific, non-hybrid species (again, rightly so) and this now sometimes means taking the fish from the wild. The hybrids not only mean that you don't get the pure fish as easily, it also means that the pure fish available are few and therefore the captive gene pool is small - again necessiating the use of wild stock. The fact that many hybrids are sterile also means that the fry from certain fish cannot go on to breed so you, again, get a gene pool that is constantly decreasing in size. A dead end. In-breeding results and, after a few generations, may lead to deformities in fry, health problems, a weaker immune system and so on. Also, hybridizing fish has been used to an extent to produce new varieties in some of our common fish - take some of the fancy-tailed guppies for example that are endler/guppy crosses. Though 'domestic fancy' guppies are already as messed up as they can be so this hybridization doesn't realy cause as many problems for them, it has meant that Endler's are often not pure and hobbyists now are trying to stop keeping the two fish together so as to ensure that the captive population of Endler's still available is pure and the gene pool isn't becoming depleated. I know, BTW, that some people consider endler's and guppies the same species but I think there is now adequate information to at least make them sub-species (so resulting fry are still considered hybrids). Then there's the fact that many hybrid animals grow to be larger than either parent species (a non-fish example is a lion/tiger cross) or ends up with a completely different behaviour. Though this won't usualy apply to common livebearers, it does mean that offspring of some species may not be possible to look after properly if all you have to go on is the parents' temperament/requirements/adult size. There's plenty of other reasons hybrids shouldn't be circulated within the hobby but right now I can't type everything up. Realy though, I think what I've written here is enough to give you an idea of why I think breeding hybrids is irresponsible if you are not prepaired to then keep all the fry yourself.
Oh and, technicaly, most hybrids are not a new species as most won't breed true. Especialy if they are sterile in which case, obviously, they can't even breed in the first place
.
As far as I am aware, Mollies can't breed with Platies or Swordtails. The only reason there are Molly/Guppy crosses, is because they are both part of the Poecilia family. Platies and Swordtails can breed, because they are both part of the Xiphophorus family. They can't breed outside their family.
perfect answer!Annastasia said:As far as I am aware, Mollies can't breed with Platies or Swordtails. The only reason there are Molly/Guppy crosses, is because they are both part of the Poecilia family. Platies and Swordtails can breed, because they are both part of the Xiphophorus family. They can't breed outside their family.
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