# can guppies mate with platy fish???



## Luzy85

.


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## Tallonebball

i would say no


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## Guest

LOL no. this is like asking can a cat mate with a dog and will i wind up with a CATDOG!


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## Luzy85

I asked because the girl who soldme my fish at petsmart told me the could, she said its rare but it has happend, so I was kind of confused.


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## hXcChic22

She's wrong. Guppies can mate with mollies, and platies can mate with swordtails. Other than that, those 3 types of livebearers CANNOT interbreed.


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## fishloverzj

IT HAS!! DO NOT LISTEN TRO TTHEM!! IT HAS HAPPENED! *pant*. Serioudsly, listen to that girl at petsmart. They aren't all idiots!


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## hXcChic22

fishloverzj said:


> IT HAS!! DO NOT LISTEN TRO TTHEM!! IT HAS HAPPENED! *pant*. Serioudsly, listen to that girl at petsmart. They aren't all idiots!


Platies and Swordtails come from the same species, which means they can interbreed. 
Guppies and mollies belong to the same genus, which means THEY can interbreed. 
All livebearers are in the suborder cyprinodontoidei, which means they are classified together by definition (because that suborder contains both livebearers and egglayers) but it does not mean they are all genetically compatible. 
Platies and guppies are from different genuses. Although this is a human classification, they are just not very compatible. Normal hybrids are only able to be created by interbreeding two different species, but that come from the same genus. How about we put it this way?
They MIGHT, VERY rarely, manage to mate and actually produce a result. However, the result is most likely not viable at all and will probably die. 
If you had some fry in a tank, that came from a female platy, with only male guppies, there is a logical explanation other than "OMG I have platy guppy hybrids!!!" Females can hold sperm for a very long time and any fry are from a previous fertilization with a male of its type.


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## Guest

but i do know this for a fact some breeder out here has genetically managed to breed molly lookin guppies. very weird lookin fish. color and fins of a molly, including the half moon tail but the mouth and head of a guppy.


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## emc7

1. They will try. Males will chase anything. Females general choose their own kind if given a choice. 2. Outside the genus hybrids in livebearers are rare, but seeing the pic on this forum of gambusia/swordtail hybrids I'd say not impossible. No telling if fry will live, or if they do, if they will be able to breed. Never say never, I guess. I'd bet some geneticist will prove it happened at least once like humans and Neanderthals.

But guppy pregnancies are already risky, If one carried bigger hybrid fry, most like the mother would die and take the fry with her.

Just keep one type of livebearer in the tank, then you know "who's the daddy" and you won't have aggression or food competition issues either.


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## Peeps

No they can't, usually only tropical species breed with their own kind.


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