Vampire swordtails breeding

I used to breed mollies but never any with fancy tails, so after rehoming my CAE I needed something to keep my plants clean, and was looking for good community fish. Well the lack of vibrant colors in mollies I decided on Platies, well fast forward a few months of studying , I buy 2 'sets' (1 male 3 female is one 'set' not offical just what I call it)

well a month later I go back to my LFS and there is this pair AMAZING looking female swordtails, all red lyre tail, called vampire swordtails. Ive read that platies and swordtails are 'basically' the same fish and have bred with each other, and its not like I can breed them with a vampire male, since the lyre tail males have trouble breeding because of the tail, so should I try to breed them with a male platy or buy a normal swordtail male?
46 gallon bowfront tank

 

Those are Red Albino Lyretails, whoever is calling them "Vampire" should be shot (I have many, more colorful suggestions, but this is a family forum).From the shape of the dorsal fin, the first one also appears to have a hi-fin gene.

I would try to find a nice red albino normal finned male to breed with those girls. Barring that, I would breed them with a normal red male. The fry will all be normal colored, but carrying an albino gene. Either one would produce roughly 50% lyretails.

Some people refer to Albino Reds as "Red Red Eyes", or RRE. It is an annoying name to me, but at least it's not "Vampire".

 

Could the store order you an albino red eye swordtail male to go with them? Or a normal red male? (I think they would be classified as red velvet in most petco places.)

 

Well I liked the name and that's what the tag said. But is it likey the male platies will breed with them? And I want them to be more colorful like my male sunburst platy, but with the lyretail amd high fin. And it doesn't seem anyone out here sells lyretail platies ive been looking for a while (the high fin is a bonus) I do have a female koi swordtail that my male sunburst platy chases from time to time. Since you seem to knlw thes names do you know the real name of the 'strawberry' platy, pearl pink with a red tail and black spots?

 

Without a picture it would be hard to say on the strawberry platy.
While they will breed, I do not know if you will get the results you are looking for, in this case lyretails - it might be a smaller portion or it might be none if there is another gene dominant to it in the platy male.
They are probably pregnant already from being at the store though.

 

 

The tank only hold those two females, and the owner only buys two at a time because they don't sell often but he likes to look at them. (Sells them as a pair for $30)

 

Closest I can guess for the pictures platy is rainbow wagtail. They come from a seller, most sellers do not separate if they are selling to stores. So it is likely they are pregnant before they got to the store.

 

If the Lyretail females were only with Lyretails, odds are they are still virgin. It is possible for the Platy to breed with them, but usually it is male swords breeding with female Platies.

That particular variety of Platy has gone by several different common names. I think one name used for it was "Strawberries and Cream", and that may have been shortened to "Strawberry" by someone too lazy to write out the whole phrase. I can respect that.

It is possible to breed them with any male Swordtail, but there is no guarantee what, if any, colors will come out. I can pretty much bet that the first generation will all be Red, as that is a dominant gene, and the strain has probably been bred to be homozygous.