Can You Breed A Male And Female Livebearer That Came From The Same Mot

[Rafael Dilone]

I have alot of guppy fry that one female gave birth to several times and out of all those guppy fry I have one that is a male. You can clearly tell he is a male because of his large tail, bright colors and his gonopodium. I really want to keep the male and I also want to keep 2 females. The thing is I dont know if you breed the male and the females will that mess up the family genes.

 

[nmonks]

Well, of course you can do it, the question is should you do it.

Ideally, no. Inbreeding causing problems such as increased chance of genetic abnormalities. These are common enough with livebearers as it is. Belly-sliders, crooked backs, and siamese twins are all very common in inbred livebearer broods.

If you want good quality fish, you should always separate male and females in each litter of fry as soon as possible to prevent any chance of inbreeding. Moreover, people buying your fish will want virgin females so that they can do their own crossing. This is very important because some livebearers (perhaps most) can store sperm, so even if they mate just once, they'll produce several broods from that mating.

On the other hand, breeders "fixing" certain new features into a strain they have created will often cross closely related fish, usually offspring to parent rather than brother to sister.

So basically no, don't do it.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Rafael Dilone]

Well, of course you can do it, the question is should you do it.

Ideally, no. Inbreeding causing problems such as increased chance of genetic abnormalities. These are common enough with livebearers as it is. Belly-sliders, crooked backs, and siamese twins are all very common in inbred livebearer broods.

If you want good quality fish, you should always separate male and females in each litter of fry as soon as possible to prevent any chance of inbreeding. Moreover, people buying your fish will want virgin females so that they can do their own crossing. This is very important because some livebearers (perhaps most) can store sperm, so even if they mate just once, they'll produce several broods from that mating.

On the other hand, breeders "fixing" certain new features into a strain they have created will often cross closely related fish, usually offspring to parent rather than brother to sister.

So basically no, don't do it.

Cheers,

Neale

Thanks for clearing things up. I will just have to keep the male or the females. I will probably keep the females because the females will give me fry. My frys grandmother which is the mother of the female that gave birth to them was my very first guppy. So I will like to keep on the family.

 

[vancouver]

You can do it once or twice... but inbreeding more then once or twice can often cause genetic defects/mutations.