Hi-Fin Swordtails

[Leroy]

I'm hoping to breed a Hi-fin Lyretail swordtail male x Lyretail female however I remember reading somewhere, at some point in time that Hi-fins have trouble breeding as the anal fin is too large.

Was curious as to what others have experienced or know about them.

Pics of the culprits in questions!

Male:

Female:

[Charlie]

let me just say your fish are

[cesarz]

You have to do the breeding the other way around if you have the fish. Lyretail male x Hi-fin female.

But if you only have those fish in the pics, observe if the anal fin (gonopodium) has actually developed a tube, you may cut this to the appropriate length and it will be functional. BUT if it has not formed a tube, the male is virtually useless.

[Cheesejawa]

Can I just say that the male is the most awesome thing I have ever seen! Are you going to sell any fry?

[Leroy]

If I can actually get them to make babies then sure I'll be selling them once grown :lol:

Thanks for that Cesarz, although I'm finding it hard to know what this 'tube' looks like. Is it very distinctive or is it something I have to look hard to find?

Never bred livebearers so I'm no guru just yet

[Insect Direct]

I had some very similiar not so long ago and they bred just fine, treat em like any other livebearer IMO just feed em up and shouldnt have any trouble, i wouldnt go chopping tubes :lol:

[ryanjury]

I have these as well but was assured by the shop the males were infertile no matter how awesome they looked Have got a normal male to cross with the them and then try and cross back to get some that look good in the future Both females came "inpregnated" so who knows what the babies will come out like..

[purplecatfish]

Looks like you're trying to do what I looking at doing, and here's what I found out:

There are Lyre-tail and High-fin genes to consider.

Lyre-tail males have a gynopodium that is usually physically too long for mating. There are artificial ways to breed them though.

High Fin males are usually crossed with Lyre-tail females which gives a 50:50 ratio of high-fins and lyre-tails.

If you don't have a high-fin male you can cross a normal male with a high-fin female to produce a 50:50 mix and then use one of those.

For the genetically literate, I'm talking phenotype not geneotype. And lyretails would be heterozygous.

Now if only I could find a nice high-fin male in Auckland