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I have a male lyretail molly and want to get him a mate but I cannot seem to find any female lyretail mollies at any of the fish stores in my area, will he pair up with any type of female molly? or does it have to be a lyretail?

yes, a molly is a molly, just has been altered a different way.

Lyretails are hybrids and as such will not be that fussy about a breeding females variation, as long as she is either identical to him (another lyretail) the orginal species poecilia sphenops, or a hybrid thereof like a black molly with which he will share pretty much identical genes. There are lots of variants.So basically hes spoiled for choice since mollies from that hybrid line have become incredibly widespread and are among the most popular fish in the hobby.

Obviously something like a sailfin molly wouldnt impress him as its not really compatible for hybridisation, its twice the size and has different water requirements.He also probably wouldnt breed with a dwarf molly,lemon mollies , micromollies, porthole mollies etc. ( note these are distinct species- not hybrids or selectively bred mollies)

Im seriously not into hybridisation or the continuation of it , but if you must breed him, a black molly female would be a good choice for strong offspring.If you want lyretails find another one since the characteristics of colour and form having bred him with a black molly might not be that vivid or unusual, but will probably lead to a stronger fish. The black colour of mollies is just like the melanisation of sports found in nature throughout any number of species and it doesnt lead to lots of deformity or weakness, its one of the more naturally occurring results of mutation and hybridisation and isnt necesarrily as detrimental as say - fin or body shape mutations.

Last edited by longhairedgit at 07-Sep-2005 21:41

all my mollies interbreed... :hrugs:: i guess, i dont really care what they look like. i have a lyretail dalmation female that has a sailfin molly after her. so far i have not had any interesting offspring from that mix. but i hope to some day. and yeah. you can get any female molly you want, and they'll probably breed. those little fish can produce millions of babies i swear!

*Chelle*
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I love the fishes cuz they're SOOO delicious...

he will pair up and breed as long as it's a molly, he will not mind it's shape. IMO & IME i won't go with black mollies because they are more susceptible to diseases than the any other mollies, especially to the disease Ich.

ronn