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Hello, I have a 20G with 2 female platys, 1 female betta and 1 M sword tail.

I was wondering if they would crossbreed, and if they do will the babies be handicapped or something and what would they look like?

Also Is this too much for a 20G?

10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys

They'd look like nothing more than platies with short swords, and this sort of hybridizing is generally discouraged in the hobby. Most stores will not accept the offspring when you are overrun with them, or they will just use them as feeders.

It would be best to separate the two species before they breed with each other.

---

I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

What are the problems that make it discouraging in the hobby?

10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys

when it isn't done responcibly, like u can cross breed fishes and never tell anyone and that line is passed on and on.


and sometimes like in the case with endlers livebearer, it is important to keep the blood lines pure as their numbers are decreasing. You will often find people like on aquabid selling albino endlers, but they mearly crossed an albino guppy to an endler. and while most are responsible in telling you this, there are a handful who won't.

personally, if it was done and the person never sold any babies and kept them for their entire life and never let one of them out of their lines, than i dont see a problem. i only have a problem with it when people dont do it responsibly and they go to a lfs and breed with other stock causing all kinds of hidden genetic traits due to lack of care.

Ill be giving the babies to friends who are eager to see the babies so they know that the babies are crossbred, what will be diffrent with these crossbreeds?

10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys

than if u plan on giving them away, i wouldn't cross breed them. i would just breed prue lines and give them the babies. b/c i have a feeling that even if u hold up your part of the bargin they wont and problems will happen, so i wouldn't do it.

really there is no advantage of cross breeding to make a fish look different as both platies and sword tails look the same. the only real differnece is the sword, and if that is so amazing to look at than just get swordtails.

The reason I bought a swordtail instead of a platy is 2 reasons, 1 the guy gave it to me for free and 2 I wasent able to find platies anywhere, I got my other 2 platies a long time ago and now the only petstore tht I know has them is a about a hour away. I was pretty shocked that they had almost every livebearer except platies and mollys. I dont even think he is a pure sword he must be a mix because of his short sword and it goes upwards instead of down. When I used to see platies in petstores they were usually mixed with swords, guppys and mollies, so most of them are probably crossbreeds..I'm excited to see the coulor of these future babies, Ill leave the babies in the aquarium and whichever live ill keep, and If I have too many ill just give them to friends, I could use 2-3 swords/platies in my other aquariums.

10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys

Bettachris is right about giving the babies away. Even if you are upfront about them being crossbred, someone else might not be later down the road. Plus the crossbreds could breed again and again, leading to severe deviation from the original species and probably bad inbreeding. Poor health and/or deformation will likely result. Why would you want to produce some wierd cross anyway? It doesn't seem that you are going to get any kind of interesting product.


IMO the breeding of any type of creature is not something to be taken lightly. It's a big responsibility. Whether you are breeding pure bloodlines or attemping any cross the main things to keep in mind are quality and improvement. You have to start with specimens that are of the highest quality for their type and select individuals that have the desired genetic traits. Breeding is something that should be done with improvement of the bloodline in mind. I haven't tried any breeding of fish yet, but I have seen the results of haphazard breeding in horses. Let me tell you I have seen some really sad results. There is no point in producing sub-par crosses or purebreds. It just hurts the animals' future. If you really want to breed fish, take the time to do the research and do it right. You will be much happier with the results and will also be supporting the hobby with responsible ownership.

- Meow -

Dammit the swordtail some how jumped out of my aquarium, well no breeding anythime soon for me.

10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys

just to add an example:


look at hybred bettas now, people ARE mixing imbellis to splendens like crazy now, and i see all of these bettas over the internet, and it has gotton out of hand now.

so it doesn't seem like much, but inturn it is.