Mixed Platy Breeding

[Phinny]

New to fish keeping/breeding. If I keep different color platies (e.g. blue, red, gold) in the same tank, will their offspring be "mutts"? 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

You’ll usually get 25% each of mother and fathers colors and then it’s all about the other colors in the parents lineages and you’ll get mixes or mutts. 

[Hobbit]

Ooo genetics! Genetics are fun!

I’m just starting to breed platys so I’ve done a decent amount of reading about their genetics. Here’s a great summary if you’re interested in diving down the rabbit hole:

https://ephieslivebearers.weebly.com/uploads/5/7/7/9/57793349/practical_platy_genetics_1.0.pdf

Here’s some general principles:

Gray/dark body is dominant to gold body. That means if one parent is dark and the other is gold, their offspring might be all dark, or 50/50 depending on the genes the dark one is carrying. This also means that gold bodied platys will never, ever give birth to dark bodied platys. (Just remember that females can store sperm, so you never know what color male she bred with unless you raised her yourself.)

Gold body is dominant to white body. So same principle as above.

Tuxedo pattern dominant to plain.

Wag is dominant to non-wag.

All that said: yes, the offspring will be “mutts” but they will probably be really interesting! If you pull out a color you like, they won’t breed true (only produce offspring that look like them) because their genetics will be mixed, but if your goal is just to get some pretty fish, then that’s not a problem.

[CalmedByFish]

On 9/12/2021 at 12:20 PM, Hobbit said:

 gold bodied platys will never, ever give birth to dark bodied platys.

Tuxedo pattern dominant to plain.

Wag is dominant to non-wag.

I just got "dwarf red coral platies." They're all shorter than a typical platy, and all males and females are solid orangey red. Should it be that all offspring forevermore are also short and solid red?

[Hobbit]

Most likely they’ll have babies that look exactly like them. It’s advantageous for wholesalers to keep platys that breed true.

The red body gene (according to that paper I linked) is Y-linked dominant, which means if they do have any “mutt” color genes in them from generations ago, it will show up in the female fry first (probably as a gold or white body, if I understand things correctly).

There’s also a chance that some of the females had a chance to breed with different varieties at the fish store before you got them.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

The dwarf/teacup coral or fireball platys are an established breed, been around awhile @CalmedByFishI think you’ll have them breed true as @Hobbitmentioned.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Here’s mine

[CalmedByFish]

@Beardedbillygoat1975 Oh! You've got some too! 😃The only other person I'm aware of who has them is @Irene. (Her videos is how I found out they exist.) Are your longest ones just 2 inches? I've heard that's as long as they get, but my oldest females *seem* longer. Not like I'm gonna catch one to measure. 

 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@CalmedByFishnone has broken an inch and a half. I’ve hand mine since June. Came as 1/2” fry. They’re beautiful and tons of personality! 

[PineSong]

Here are my platies, bought from a local chain store, where they looked mostly gray/silver with blue-ish speckles in a tuxedo pattern. Once I got them home and healthy they are mostly mostly purple-ish blue. One or more of them had fry in QT, so now I have 6 fry: three pale yellow, three dark gray. I am hoping one of them will turn out to be a blue male so I can keep this beautiful blue strain going. 

[PineSong]

On 9/12/2021 at 1:20 PM, Hobbit said:

Ooo genetics! Genetics are fun!

I’m just starting to breed platys so I’ve done a decent amount of reading about their genetics. Here’s a great summary if you’re interested in diving down the rabbit hole:

https://ephieslivebearers.weebly.com/uploads/5/7/7/9/57793349/practical_platy_genetics_1.0.pdf

 

Thanks for posting that--I'd seen in before but forgotten most of the details. I'm going to have fun identifying what my fish have going on.

[Irene]

On 9/12/2021 at 9:23 PM, CalmedByFish said:

@Beardedbillygoat1975 Oh! You've got some too! 😃The only other person I'm aware of who has them is @Irene. (Her videos is how I found out they exist.) Are your longest ones just 2 inches? I've heard that's as long as they get, but my oldest females *seem* longer. Not like I'm gonna catch one to measure. 

 

I think my largest female is about 2" as well, but my males range from 1.25-1.5". And so far, they have always bred true for me. The babies start off anywhere from pale peach to orange, but the juveniles all end up coloring up into bold red-orange. I seriously love them so much. I know I should try other livebearers, but I think I'll just have to set up another tank for that because dwarf red platies are so beautiful and fun to watch. 😍

[Sherry]

I’m interested in Dwarf Platys, too. Did you guys gets them at your local fish store?

[PineSong]

My stores never have them. I’ve seen them for sale on Aquabid.