Choosing Your Live-Bearer

Before buying the necessary equipment for breeding, you first must decide what live bearing fish you want to breed. The Guppy is usually the most popular choice, but you may want to consider the other live bearers.

While there are several live-bearing fish, I will only be discussing four. Guppies, Sailfin Mollies, Swordtails, and the Platy, or Moonfish.

These fish are very colorful, and easy to increase. They have no qualms about mating, and will do so constantly. If you choose to breed Guppies and Platies, a word of caution, they will interbreed and produce unappealing, sterile offspring. I have never had a problem in this area, and if so, the solution is to sell them as a "feeder" to your local pet shop.

The Guppy (Wild type and Fancy Tail) -Lebistes reticulatus

Guppies are very friendly among themselves. Males do not fight as is demonstrated by Mollies and Swordtails. Guppies come in several bright colors, with new strains being developed all the time. The male will usually have color on his entire body, while the female's finage is colored. The males constantly are courting the females by spreading their fins and fluttering their beautiful tails.

Guppies are quite hardy that can stand a wide temperature range, but the best temperature for the Guppy is 75-80 degrees F (24-27 Degrees C). The male is usually 1 inch (2.5 cm.) in length, while the female is larger at 2 inches (5 cm.)

The Sailfin Molly -Molleinesia latipinaa

The Molly is a very large fish and tends to grow to 3 ½ inches (9 cm.) in length. The male can be white with a bluish, greenish, or pinkish cast to the scales. They can also be black, or speckled. The male possesses the beautiful sailfin, which can extend the whole length of the back and be higher than the depth of his body. Females may or may not be colored as attractively.

The Molly requires a tank temperature between 75-82 degrees F (24-28 degrees C). They are best kept in a large aquarium to discourage stunted growth. The aquarium should be illuminated with strong lighting to encourage the growth of algae as Mollies are mainly vegetarian. In addition to greens (such as boiled spinach) they require a diet of all kinds of dry and live foods.

The Platy or Moonfish -Platypoecilus

Platy males grow to about 1 ½ inch (3.8 cm.), and the females to about 2 inches (5.1 cm.). The Platy comes in many varieties of color. The golden colored ones usually retain the name "Platy" while other colored ones are called "Moonfish" because of a cresent shaped spot on the base of their tails.

The temperature range should be between 68-80 degrees F (20-27 degrees C), but they can withstand temps of lower degrees for short duration. However, keeping the temperature constant is very beneficial as the Platy is very sensitive to change.

Swordtail -Xiphorus The swordtail comes in a large variety of colors. Only the male possesses the sword, and will grow to about 3 ¼ inches (8.2 cm.) including the sword. The female will grow to about 4 ¾ inches (12 cm.). Like the Mollie, Swordtails require a large tank for free-swimming in order to keep their growth from being stunted.

Cross Breeding While some of the above species cannot be successfully crossbred, a few are and produce amazing results! Guppies and Mollies can be crossbred. It is also said that Guppies and Swordtails have been crossed to create the swordlike tail of the Swordtail. However, because there is not concrete evidence of this cross, scientists find it more logical to assume a chance development in the tail.

Breeding is a very exciting experience full of trial and error. Every breeder, new or experienced, has to learn from his or her mistakes. I hope that you join me on the adventure!

© 2001 by Shannon Beehm, All Rights Reserved