Guppies and platys

[falesdk]

Ok I'd seen that some people put guppies in their saltwater aquariums and decided to try it. I asked for a male and a female, they were in seperate tanks...but I think instead of a fancy guppy, the woman (walmart - go figure) gave me a female platy...

I know its a female because shes in labor right now

All of the pictures I've been looking at online have made me think that this is a platy instead of a fancy guppy...I dont know for sure.

Both of the fish are doing wonderfully acclimating to the saltwater tank...but will the guppy and the (possible) platy mate? I want a mating pair, but I dont want to inbreed the platys.

Hopefully someone with experience with these fish can let me know. Thanks!!!

 

[Luis A M]

A picture will solve your peoblem

 

[falesdk]

Well, really I don't care if its a platy or a guppy, I'll keep it either way...I just need to know if a platy will breed with a fancy guppy. If not I'll just go buy another female to mate with the guppy, and let the platy be. If so though that'd be pretty neat.

 

[Siklid]

your confusing

first you dont want them to breed then you think its cool ...


thats how i read you posts

 

[falesdk]

lol no I just need to know if the guppy and platy would mate. I just dont want the female to start breeding with her children (the ones shes having right now).

I think the guppy/platy babies would be fun.

 

[clownfish75]

No they wont, platies and sword tails will mate but not guppys and platys or guppys and swordtails.

May i ask why you wan tot keep freshwater fish in a saltwater tank?

Christian

 

[David M]

I have kept salt water mollies for years. Originally the idea was to feed the babies to young seahorses but it turns out cb seahorses are waaaaay to lazy to chase after a live fish. (WC horses love 'em though ). Anyway it just became a habit, I've always kept a strain going. They are excellent at algae control in a reef tank, will not bother corals or any other fish and will school, which everyone always enjoys. A male with 2-3 females is a nice addition to a reef. There are so many fancy varieties now there just has to be one you like.

Now as for guppies I have not had much luck getting them to breed in SW. The adults do fine but no real success with reproduction. I have a couple now but no babies from them yet. I'm gonna get some more soon, a larger group to see how it goes.

I have read that both platys and swordtails can be acclimated to salt but it doesn't make sense to me. Honestly I don't believe it but I've never tried. If you think about their original natural habitat it's unlikely they could tolerate full salt in the long run, but maybe?

Back to the mollies. What I have found is that if you just "dump" them into salt a few will survive but it's not optimal. A slow acclimation over a few days or a week is much better. I just take a ten gallon tank (fw) and swap out 1 gallon of fresh for salt each day for about a week. IME the original fish will die out early, within the first year anyway. However, any babies that are born in salt water will live forever and grow to be the most impressive mollies you have ever seen. I have a FIVE year old female black lyretail that is every bit of 5", when people see her they refuse to believe it's really a mollie She is the last of that strain, I have a few dozen gold ( or "sunset") lyretails now representing 4 generations.

 

[AIMFish]

As mentioned the guppy and platy will not be able to breed. The platy however is probably carrying enough sperm for at least 1 if not 2-3 more pregnancies! In your circumstance I doubt any harm will come from allowing the sons to breed their mother.

 

[falesdk]

Alrighty, awesome, thank you very very much for your answers.