These two different fish are breeding

[HopeGR]

I just saw my platy male breed with my female bumble bee molly. Is this a thing? Or is it because they are in a tank together? He is the only platy amongst mollys, and last week I brought home a female platy for him. I don't see them mating but they just seem to swim together for now. But a platy and a bumble bee molly mating?

 

[HannahJo]

I was under the impression platys cannot breed with mollies... Period. I've heard platys can breed with swordtails but I thought that was it as far as cross-breeding platys? Anybody else have info on this? I am super curious.

 

[HopeGR]

This is what I was told too. And the funny thing is, he was the only platy and I had him for 1.5 months. During this time, he tried mating with them but they didn't give him the time of day, to the point I saw him laying on the floor lifeless for about 2 day. Nervous, thinking he'll die, I ran out for a female platy and he came back to life the next morning! He literally started swimming and eating the next day, just as active as before! It was just 2 days ago when I caught him with the bumble bee molly.

 

[HannahJo]

I suppose he could have tried to breed with your molly- maybe mistaking her for a fellow platy (but that doesn't seem logical...)? Perhaps it just looked like he was trying to breed her when he could have been just checking her out/playing with her/saying hello in fish...?
I assume she is not actually bred by him (no pregnancy will happen)- I just don't think that's physically possible.

 

[HannahJo]

I keep several different varieties of both platys and mollies in my community tank and have never seen anything that even looked remotely like they were trying to cross-breed.
I would be sooooo intrigued (and shocked) if a pregnancy did occur in your case!

 

[HopeGR]

Ha, that would be interesting! The platy took his anal fin and stuck it in you know where, ha! And the bumble bee molly didn't even snap at him! It happened a few times that day and haven't seen it happen again. Who knows!

 

[HopeGR]

Just saw it happen again! So do we count down 30 days until fry??