I have a question out there, Ive read up and noticed people sometimes crossbreed mollies with guppies and swordtails to create new colors and genetic hardiness. Well i have a few tanks and in one I have only livebearers mostly mollies. well my son was down at the creek with his friends and caught a few mosquitofish. I thought they were minnows but turned out to be mosquito fish which are in the same family as mollies. well after a few week in a tank by his self to make sure he wasnt diseased i put a male mosquito fish in my tank. well he keeps trying to mate with a few of my smaller females my black molly female and a female platy i have. whats the chance that they can crossbreed. cause hes sure doing the dang thing and is really quick and my large males usually dont even notice the lil guy. i always remove my fry to their own ten gallons so i have a high success rate with the new fish so just curious if it can happen and if already done what was the outcome?
Molly Hybrid With Mosquito Fish
- Thread starter Matt4u071
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Matt, I don't know what you have been reading but a molly swordtail cross is simply not possible. Although so called mosquito fish are livebearers, they are not closely enough related to our common aquarium fish to mate with them successfully.
Hybrids
Within each genus, hybrids will occur readily. That is, all Poecilia will hybridize with each other, as will all Xiphophorus. So unless you want to produce hybrids, guppies and mollies should all be kept apart, one species to a tank, and likewise swordtails and platies should be kept apart, one species to a tank as well. Hybrids across genera don't seem to happen; so guppies, Poecilia reticulata, and platies, Xiphophorus maculatus could be mixed for example without any problems.
so what im getting from this page is platys are able to cross with swordtails and in another thing i read mollies can cross with platys so where does it stop. but maybe your right its just that everything i read says that mollies are nothing but hybrids anyways unless they are from a wild population and havent had any introduction from aquarium species
Within each genus, hybrids will occur readily. That is, all Poecilia will hybridize with each other, as will all Xiphophorus. So unless you want to produce hybrids, guppies and mollies should all be kept apart, one species to a tank, and likewise swordtails and platies should be kept apart, one species to a tank as well. Hybrids across genera don't seem to happen; so guppies, Poecilia reticulata, and platies, Xiphophorus maculatus could be mixed for example without any problems.
so what im getting from this page is platys are able to cross with swordtails and in another thing i read mollies can cross with platys so where does it stop. but maybe your right its just that everything i read says that mollies are nothing but hybrids anyways unless they are from a wild population and havent had any introduction from aquarium species
It is not that the fish will not try, it is simply not possible to get a viable cross between mollies and any Xiphophorus, platy or swordtail. The "other thing" you read was probably something on the internet that had not been properly reviewed. Even here, with our high level of involvement, things still get missed and statements such as yours get made without being corrected.
The "mosquito fish" are not Poecilia at all, they are Gambusia. You have again crossed genera. If you leave a Gambusia affinis, the ones most commonly called mosquito fish, with a P. reticulata, that we usually just call a guppy, the most common outcome is not breeding but death of the guppy. Gambusia are known to be very aggressive with other species of fish about their own size.
The "mosquito fish" are not Poecilia at all, they are Gambusia. You have again crossed genera. If you leave a Gambusia affinis, the ones most commonly called mosquito fish, with a P. reticulata, that we usually just call a guppy, the most common outcome is not breeding but death of the guppy. Gambusia are known to be very aggressive with other species of fish about their own size.
ok well i have some strange news. my friend whose parents own a local pet store with a rather large aquarium section with all kinds of fish. she has been keeping some large swordtail males with black molly females that were seperated by sex as fry and they had babies, only 6 made it to adulthood and 2 of the 6 look like this cause we traded fish and i got one of the males and its clearly black with a swordtail. and i assure you its not a messed up lyretail its legit. maybe the so called swordtails she has are actually not swordtails but a molly that looks like a swordtail. i dont know but i think he looks koo.
balraj_bangar
Fish Fanatic
i too have seen my tank breed some interesting fish, see my attached pic! can not work out what it is tho! have mollies, swords, platies, guppies - seem a nice mix of all. got a mollies that has a fancy tail too!! they seem to dye tho
Some kind of dalmatian molly.
i too have seen my tank breed some interesting fish, see my attached pic! can not work out what it is tho! have mollies, swords, platies, guppies - seem a nice mix of all. got a mollies that has a fancy tail too!! they seem to dye tho
NeonNeptune
Fish Fanatic
Hybrids across genera are possible rarely. Mother nature doesn't always agree with our naming system! Just look at koi and goldfish. But mollies and sword tails can't breed based off genetics.
Like others have said-because of their genetics, mollies and swordtails can't interbreed. Have a look online, there's a documented case about scientists trying it but the genetics were too different so it failed. I wish I had bookmarked the article-but I shall try and find it.
So like they say-pics or it never happened
NeonNeptune
Fish Fanatic
I think that is most likely just a molly with a dalmatian and some other molly in it.
I started this spring w 1 male and 1 female mosquito fish & 4 female and 1 male dalmatian mollies....
I now have a TON (50+) of full grown spotted mosquito fish!! (Also standard ones of each kind too)
So YES, mosquito fish and mollies can successfully breed.
I now have a TON (50+) of full grown spotted mosquito fish!! (Also standard ones of each kind too)
So YES, mosquito fish and mollies can successfully breed.
fish48
Fish Gatherer
so where are the photos of fish?
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