Having trouble breeding hybrid livebearers (Guppy x Molly, Picta x Guppy/Endler)

[HybridQuestion]

Does anyone here have experience with this? More than six months ago, I set up several tanks to breed male guppies with female mollies, and male picta livebearers with female guppies and endlers. I have always been fascinated by hybrid fish, and my goal was to breed some for a display tank. Unfortunately I have had no success. I do observe mating behavior from both pairings, but there are no fry. The pictas are especially voracious. They breed the female guppies and endlers constantly, but still no success. And it's not that the fry are being lost. The females just aren't pregnant. Their gravid spots and belly size never change. I did copious research prior to setting this project up, and it seemed like it is possible to get hybrid fry from both of these species pairings. I've seen pictures and videos of supposed molly/guppy hybrids that look quite convincing. And as for the pictas, a site called livefins.com sells what they claim are picta x endler hybrids. In addition, a breeder called Lotsoffish has a video on youtube of picta x guppy hybrids. I've also seen some threads around from people claiming to have done it. I don't doubt that it can be done, but is the chance of it working just extremely rare? I thought for sure I would've had some form of success by now, and lately I've been considering giving up and doing something else. Is it just completely by chance that certain pairings are successful, like winning a genetic lottery? Should I try getting different breeding stock, or just keep waiting?

 

[emeraldking]

I've had those hybrids...
Here's a link of some of mine:

emeraldking-aquatics

This is my own website regarding livebearers (wild and fancy species) . My website gives you an impression of more livebearer species than just the most known commercial livebearer species. And it shows me as a serious and dedicated aquarist. This website shows aquaristics as my life passion...

emeraldking-aquatics.com

Sometimes the females just don't want to mate with a male (whatever the species). Even if a male chases a female all day long and even direct his gonopodium in her vent's direction. If she's not willing to mate, she won't let him mate with her. For it's the female that will decide wether an actual mating will take place or not.

And btw, if you'd like to crossbreed these species you've mentioned, best way is to keep one male of the opposite species with one or two (not more) females of the other species. If you choose to have more of each species with the opposite sex, I can assure you that the chance on hybrids will be very low. You need to have a low number of fish with such a project to increase a positive result.

Guppy x molly and endler x molly will have less fertile till unfertile offspring.
Picta x guppy and picta x endler will have fertile offspring.

 

[itiwhetu]

What does a Guppy X Molly look like. I would have thought they were to far apart to breed. I know swordtails and platies will cross. Never heard of guppy x molly

 

[emeraldking]

What does a Guppy X Molly look like. I would have thought they were to far apart to breed. I know swordtails and platies will cross. Never heard of guppy x molly

Phenotypically, a cross between a guppy x molly can look individually different from another. This is because, it depends on the kind of guppy and the kind of molly you'll use. Best is to cross a female molly to a male guppy. Newborn fry of such a cross "can" be big in size, which makes it more comfortable when a female molly is delivering them instead of a female guppy.
I've shown some on my page which I've given you the link of.

Crossing a male guppy x female molly, the offspring are called gollies. Crossing a male molly x female guppy, the offspring are called muppies.

Guppies and mollies are related (not too close but at least related) to another. The fact is also that their sexual organs are compatible, which makes a mating possible. If the sexual orgns of two different livebearer species are not compatible, an actual mating can not be established. How closer two different livebearer species are related, the more intact will be the fertility of the offspring be. The further they're related to another, the fertility will become less till even being infertile.