Is it a good idea to breed platies of very different color strains?

[DreaminginBlue]

I have a male red wagtail, and was thinking of getting orange, red, or yellow females to breed with him, so that the colors would clash and they would all be warm colored (i.e. Sunsets, Marigolds).That way, no matter what patterns or colors I got, they'd look fairly good.
However, I adore the metallic blue platies...
If I bred my red wag with a metallic blue, would there be some of each, or some red wags with metallic blue? (This combination sounds like it would look really bad, I'm guessing it wouldn't be purple, it would be a weird orange with blue metallic). Are there any blue ones I could breed with a red wag where it would be one color or the other, and not both? Should I just stick to warm colors? I love my red wag and don't want to get rid of him, but I also really like the blue and purple metallic platies, so I'm torn.

 

[Andy Sager]

It would all depend on the genetic makeup of the parents. Since many of the colors have originated from mixing colors, there's no guarantee that you will get "pure bred" colors from any of the fish. These are fish and not color swatches of paint so there is no way to predict 100% the outcome of a color mix. You really can't color coordinate fish you want to breed in just 1 generation.
I would suggest, if you want a particular color, breed two fish of that same color. If you want to be surprised let em all have at it and see what you get. I'm currently doing both with Guppies and not liking a lot of the mixes but I do have a couple that are worth carrying on trying to perfect so you never know.

 

[DreaminginBlue]

Okay, thanks for the advice! I think I'll avoid the blue ones just in case, and see what happens with the others.

 

[TheSmallFish]

Ya I have a gray platy that is pregnant and she also is a Mickie, and high fin so I wonder what I will get! I think mixing platy types is cool.

 

[DreaminginBlue]

I bet it'll be an awesome combination, some people have told me the best part is being surprised!