Swordtail Questions

[rarefish]

When I bought my female swordtails, they had no swords. Do males only have them? Also, if a platy and swordtail mate, are the fry non-breedable hybrids? Thanks ahead !

rarefish

 

[Wisperian]

Yep only males have the swordies and yes platies and swords can breed and I suppose the fry can breed too..... deformaties lol gl

 

[Guppylover]

The fry from platies and swordtails wouldn't be deformed... more likely half of the swordtail and half of the platy.
Yes, it's only the male swordtails that have the swords...*yawn*
sorry... so sleepy


goodnight...

 

[Robert]

Platies can breed with swordtails, guppy lover said that they would be half platies and half swordtails, that's not true, all the babies will be a mix of the 2, not one or the other.

 

[TorPeteO]

Most swordtails for sale are already sword/platy crosses. The swordtail's got most of their different colour sequences from being cross-bred with platys. So, they are not lame, they can reproduce.

Also, while male swords are the only ones that have swords, females are able to spontaneously change sex in a single-sex environment (like in Jurassic Park, but with fish instead of dinosaurs). You may see the female begin to become less round and the bottom of the tail extend into a sword.

 

[WheelmanCA19]

I believe those females turning into males are more "late bloomers" than actually changing sex. I will stand corrected though if anyone has ever had a female swordtail give birth and then later become a male though.

 

[TorPeteO]

That's possible, but I've read in several books that the females can change sex completely into males. Could be that I misunderstood, though.