Guppies and Platies Hybrids

[Matt68005]

I am an avid guppy enthusiast. I have had about every kind of guppy that is known to man, wild type, swords, Fancies, Endlers, Hybrids and most recently a Red female that is about 4 inches long and the biggest guppy i have ever seen. (i will get a picture of her tonight, i have a camera but it needs a memory card). I don't even bother with any other kind of fish, the only type i have ever had is guppy, goldfish, and the cory cats. When my wife went to get some females to drop for me (starting over yet again) she brought home some really big females that were grown in a pond. (yes in omaha, NE) This red female is huge and some of the others have redish/black in their cadual that looks like a platy . So i am sick of inbred guppies always dieing. I have been thinking, that the only way to restore the vigour of the species is to outcross to something similar but also distant. I have heard of crossing Fancies to Wild Type females from my books. I also know of linebreeding two seperate lines. But what if i could breed super big guppy/platy hybrids. Or do i already own some? I will get a picture of these fish later tonight i promise, they are big big BIG females. They look just like guppies but their tails are kind of like a platy and are black and orange (something you don't see alot of in fancies). Another species i just looked at is this...Heterandria tuxtlaensis. I know interbreeding between species is frowned upon, and sterility problems arise, but what if i could do it? what if i make a big superguppy that is as hardy as a koi. Wouldn't that be nice, im sure everyone who has kept guppies know they like to die like flies (maximum lifespan is 2 years, usually less). Post opinions please, im dying to know if i could do this and for the last time i will get pictures of these huge females tonight and you can make your own jugdments if i bought hybrid fish or just some rare, huge guppies.

 

[tinyninjafishy]

That sounds awesome! Can't wait to see the pictures!!!! I would definitely like to know how it all goes!

 

[butterfly_koi]

Although the idea of hybrids have always interested me, I regret to tell you that it is not possible to crossbreed guppies and platies. The guppy is of the Poecilia family along with Mollies, etc. and the platy is of the Xiphophorus family along with swordtails, etc.
These livebearers can only breed within the genus and cannot cross families.
Guppies and Mollies can breed however.

 

[Matt68005]

Yes, i just realized that after i posted this and did some research. I guess a platy just looks like a guppy more than a molly does, originally the name of this post was Guppy/Molly hybrids, but i looked at a picture of a molly and it didn't look at all like a guppy. (i know absolutely nothing about any fish other than guppies) In fact some people have done guppy-molly hybridization, calling them Muppies or gollies, LOL tonight i will upload a picture of the two female guppies i have that look like they are hybrids. I was watching the kids since 6am yesterday and i fell asleep and slept all night last night, and of course my wife being the terribly irresponsible person she is, just let me sleep. My camera is brand new, but it didn't come with a memory card so i have to go buy one then up load the pics, tonight it will be done.

 

[Andy Sager]

If you are trying to keep a genetic strain of Guppies but the inbreds are starting to deteriorate, the best method is to add some wild blood back into the line. Since all the Guppies originated from the wild form, you wouldn't lose the new strain unless you continually bred the wild to the line. The F1 generation that resulted from the wild/ strain pairing should be about 50% strain phenotype and 50% wild phenotype and both would be genetically 50/50. Take the offspring that are phenotype Wild and breed them back to the strain parent and you should get about 50% Strain that are a hardier genotype. Keep breeding the strains x strains from these and they should make it for a number of generations until you will need to add new blood again. ( I usually add at about the 6th or 7th generation)

Hope this helps

Oh, and Years ago I had a hybrid Black Swordtail X Red Platy spawn where the fish were 1/2 red x 1/2 black (some front end reds some back ends reds). They lasted for about 2 weeks and none survived to breed so I don't know if they were sterile. The parents never spawned again.

 

[Matt68005]

Re: Guppies Hybrids

Hey Andy, thanks. I do have a couple books on guppy breeding. So basically, I screwed myself when i got rid of all my wild guppies and endlers. I could have used those females. Right now i have an odd assorment of guppy females and the males i mostly got from walmart, they are pretty big and multicolored, which makes me think their just like mutts but have been fed good/grown big But anyway, breed brother to sister the best males and females from the F1 drop is what your saying? Hmm maybe thats where my fancy males got their pinkish/black and redish color from in the first place, maybe the fish farm does outcrossing too once and awhile. Ya its a shame i had a tankful of wild type guppies, and i just decided that since we gonna move eventually, i don't want to keep lots of tanks for right now, so i sold them all for 20 bucks. I guess i might try male guppy and female Molly , But we are gonna be moving either in the fall or next spring probably, and i just want to keep one tank of guppies so its pointless to try and do this experiment right now. Maybe later on in the future but for right now, i don't want too many tanks. I have 4 tanks right now set up and i don't want to expand. I use to have 13 tanks setup, but with guppies even this was not enough for all that i wanted to do.

 

[Andy Sager]

Yeah, that's the thing about breeding fish, if you get good at it, it takes A LOT of tanks to handle all the fish. LOL 13 tanks??? I have to laugh (no insult intended ) Growing up, I wound up with over 20 tanks in my bedroom filled with breeders and fry. My parent's couldn't believe I could actually sleep in my room with all the bubbles (This could be clear evidence that I should have been born a fish. )

As for using wild stock, it is important to keep some wild stock on hand to add back into your lines from time to time. This includes all types of fish not just Guppies. This is Genetics 101. (To paraphrase from Star Wars: "Use the Punett Square Matt, The force is in the square." )

I agree you should wait until you move before starting this endeavor as moving the fish could disrupt your whole breeding program. (I moved some breeder fish, in the back of my car, from NJ to South Florida so I know what I am talking about) Good luck with it when you do start it up again