dwarfgourami
Fish Connoisseur
Ok I know fish are not in theory supposed to breed across the genus lines, so in theory it should be fine keeping the two together. But I also know that limia melanogaster was originally counted as a poecilia, and only later transferred to the limias (some technical detail about the number of rays on the fins or whatever). Question is, do the limias know or is there are a risk that they will interbreed with my guppies? I have been googling till my eyes ache. One (German) website/fish forum says 'yes, yes. it's quite ok, they won't interbreed', a Norwegian one says 'no, don't do it, they will hybridise'. I know black-bellied limias are not the most common of fish, but has anyone heard of this either way? I have no interest in trying to interbreed them, as I can't imagine I'd come up with anything very interesting if it was possible.
. Even if not... still, I'd say go right ahead and mix them. They're probably more likely to crossbreed than other cross-genus mixes, since having once been in the same genus would indicate that they are pretty closely related, but since they have now been separated I wouldn't think it'd be something to worry too much about.
