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| Can red swordtails breed with standard goldfish? I have both in my pond, and I'm seeing baby goldfish (about 3" long now), blue swordtails, red-and-blue swordtails (including a blue with orange dots on her side), and... what I'm calling "gold swordtails". Some look like young goldfish in face, size, and coloring, but have black tail fins and/or swordtails. Others look like swordtails (including, in some cases, swords), but are larger and are a luscious golden color, with no black fins. I like it, not complaining, but I assumed they were different species and couldn't interbreed. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Swordtails are live bearers originally from Mexico and nearby. Goldfish are a form of carp like fish from Eurasia that lay eggs. Swords need temperatures in the high 50°s or more to stay alive while goldfish can handle winter water temperatures where the ice freezes for many months. |
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| I'm pretty certain goldfish and swordtails can not interbreed. Swordtails I believe are livebearers meaning they give birth to small fish. Goldfish are egg layers. If your really curious take a few out and look at them in a tank to get a better look. |
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| rsingley, I pulled out several this morning to get a good look, that's why I started this thread. They are bigger than the adult swordtails, but have black fins and/or swordtails, with a lovely golden color. Maybe I've discovered a new mutation; Giant Golden Swordtails. (tm) I put them in a different pond so I can see what happens as they mature. thanks, |
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- Posted by frankielynn (My Page) on Tue, Mar 19, 13 at 21:23
| Did you take any pictures? I would love to see your Giant Golden Swordtails. |
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| Hi Swords/platies can't cross with goldfish due to an entirely different method of reproduction. They are livebearers while GF are egg layers. I raised platies swords in my pools for many years until the deep freeze of 09 lol. Last i heard there are at least 200 color /fin and size morphs They hybridize between the families of platies /swordtails easily, resulting in an incredible variation due to selective breeding. As to size they range from about an inch to around 6 inches ,maybe more?? a whole rainbow of colors and fin forms. Last I heard on the epitome of .swordtail breeding was "Red eyed /red, hi fin .double sword ,lyre tailed ." Don't even remotely resemble their wild ancestors lol i raised "Red wag" meaning red bodies with black fins but ended up with over 30 color and fin forms over the years. If interested in setting a strain you'll need some knowledge of genetics as well as a lot of control of parentage . My particular goal was a set strain of" Red jet" meaning half the body was black, half red but the closest I got was polka dot though i did get a nice strain of " red wag" without any trace of orange usually called "Red velvet" As to the yellows /gold/ orange varieties have no idea where the standard is today.There are books available on the subject gary
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| Pictures? what a great idea! Wish I'd thought of it. I'll try in a few days, when they've forgotten the horrors of the net. I talked to the person who gave me the swordtails a year ago. SHE also got a few giant goldens (there goes my fortune for a new kind of fish!). |
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