Lyretail Swordtails

[Peep]

I recently bought 2 Lyretail Swordtails, one male and one female. Have done a little more reading I have discovered that a Lyretail male can't breed. Is this true?

If so will he still harrass the female although they can't?


Thanks!

 

[KrystaK]

It's not that they can't breed, it's that they have a much more difficult time breeding. Their gonopodiums (sp) is elongated like the rest of their fins, which means it is for lack of a better word to bendy and fragile to do the job all the time.
He is a fully functional male, so he will harass the female and try and mate with her, however his biology makes it difficult for him to do so.
So every now and then you my get fry, he may get lucky a few times. But it will probably not be a monthly thing.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I have a lyretail whose male parts seem to be of normal proportions... hoping to get some offspring from him (not had him long enough yet for any of the females to give birth yet though).

 

[Peep]

Oh awesome, hopefully you will have some fry before long! how long is a swordtail pregnancy normally?

 

[Peep]

I think they may both be male...how do you tell the difference between male and female lyretail swords?

 

[OldMan47]

It is really simple. Most lyretail and even hifin swordtails have a gonopodium so long that it does not work well for breeding. It is not that the male is infertile but instead that he cannot use the gonopodium effectively. What is done in commercial situations is that a female showing the trait is bred to a similar colored "normal" male. The end result is some fry showing the extremely long tails and dorsal fins while other fry look more like normal fish. The ones with extreme fins are sold as the specialty fish while the others are considered as more or less culls and are sold as normal fish. Unless you intend to breed the fish, just enjoy them.

 

[FishBlast]

I think they may both be male...how do you tell the difference between male and female lyretail swords?

Female lyretails have a sickle-shaped anal fin that is usually lowered. It looks very soft / dangles. I have 2 females with long fins / lyretail.

Males have something that looks more like a stick and usually keep it parallel to their body. I don't have any such males, but here's a googled pic.

 

[carp1949]

I recently bought 2 Lyretail Swordtails, one male and one female. Have done a little more reading I have discovered that a Lyretail male can't breed. Is this true?

If so will he still harrass the female although they can't?


Thanks!

Hi - I'm looking for a few lyretails to breed with my Marble swords - please let me know when you have some fry to sell ?

Thanks - David