TFA101

I know about crossbreeding genuses and i know its not recommended to keep more than one genus of livebearer in the tank because of that but I REEEEAAAAALLLYYY want to have some guppies to give an even bigger splash of color in my aquarium. Can I ?

20 Gallons
___________

2 Variatus (plan on 1 more female)
1 Female Swordtail
5 Otocinclus
1 Clown Pleco

(I also plan on a dwarf gourami as a show-fish, but I'm flexible and can scratch the idea if needed)

I have a feeling i'll be over my limit ...

Alessa

Platies and guppies will definately not cross... Platies and swordtails could "try".

If you want to be 100% sure, keep only males in the tank, and if you really want girls (dont recommend it, unless you have an LFS willing to take the fry) keep only male platies and swordtails.

TFA101

okay, from my understanding the guppies wont cross with the swords OR the variatus? cause i have a male AND a female variatus and a female swordtail.

Rik

my tank is 5 gallons and I am having no problems with my 10 fish. Except that one of my guppies has something going on with him. I think he's constapated. Off topic......how do you tell if they are?

Alessa

I've heard swords and platies can cross... but I am sure neither of those will cross with guppies.

Alessa

Rick, you may want to make your own thread. Since this thread is about a different topic and a different member it is unlikely your answer will be addressed here.

URFisher35

i have heard of swordtails and mollies crossbreeding. ie, red velvet swordtail and black molly breeding to obtain black swordtails

Zoreta

Swordtails and Platies can definitely breed- my female Platy's pregnant by my male sword.

I don't think guppies can mix with platies, swords or mollies, though. I think they're on their own, but I'm not 100% sure.

fishyuser63

Swordtails and platies are part of the same genus, allowing them to breed together. This is actually how alot of the color variation is developed. Guppies and mollies are part of the same genus too, thus allowing them to breed. However a guppy could not breed with a swordtail for example, although they will try relentlessly. I would say that you could add a few guppies with relatively little problem. Just to let you know though, my girlfriend, with a 29g community, ended up with three male guppies (I don't know how, we know better) who ended up harassing all her other fish until she moved the guppies to my then 55g community. It wasn't much more than a few days before I had lost 2 pregnant platy, and 2 pregnant swordtail. The guppies just chased them to death before we could take the them to the LFS. If you do add some guppies I would recommend 1 male with at least 2 females, or even just females. I know the males look much more colorful but if the males out number the females, no matter what genus, the females will be stressed.

KyWildFish

Guppies breeding with a platy is like breeding a hawk with a goose. Its not going to happen outside genetic engineering.

fishyuser63

How awesome would that be? I'd call it a gooawk.

KyWildFish

That or a Hoose. But Canadians already call a house a hoose.