It is not news that many fish out there are either crossbreed or interbreed. There are many fish that could crossbreed and have offspring, etc. There is a popular question among hobbyists which is, ‘ do swordtails and Mollies breed?. Mollies are in the Poecilia family whereas Swordtails are in the Xiphophorus family. These are two different fish from different families, although both of them are livebearers and could live together peacefully. In this article, you will learn if they could, and other things too so read to the end.
Do Swordtails breed with Mollies? Yes, A male Swordtail fish and A female Molly fish could mate, but Molly will die if she becomes pregnant.
As I stated above, these are two different fish from two different families, and it is very rare to see fish from different families crossbreed and succeeded, unless in a very rare case.
You may be wondering why they can’t, or why they will die if they try to do it, well, I will explain that in a minute.
Although both make good tank mates, because they are very suitable for each other, based on the fact that both are very peaceful and tolerant of each other, that may be the reason people thought they could crossbreed.
Why Swordtails Can’t Breed With Mollies
1. Whenever both fish mate and get pregnant, it always leads to fatality.
This alone shows that they are not compatible when it comes to having offspring together, and that is why it is not recommended to do that.
2. They are of different species, types, and from different families.
Generally, it is recommended not to breed fish from different families, because by so doing, you may endanger their lives, and even if you succeed, the offspring might not be what anybody wants because they might be very fragile and always sick, etc.
These two points above are enough reasons to discourage anybody from trying to breed these two different fish.
Both are livebearing fish, they have one unique ability, which is, to store sperm in their body for a very long time, and use it to reproduce constantly.
What am trying to say is, that many people think that swordtails and mollies could breed and succeed in having offspring because, maybe they have kept a single female Molly and a single male Swordtail fish in a tank, and all of a sudden, the Molly reproduced.
Well, am sorry to disappoint you, the other fish is not responsible for the reproduction as you might be thinking because, the females of these fish can store sperm from their male counterparts for a long time and use it to fertilize their eggs, which they house in their body, and produce fry when hatched inside them.
So, both fish can breed, and even if they do, it won’t be successful because they are not from the same type nor family, despite having many things in common.
What Fish Can Breed With Swordtails?
To help you more, if you are looking for the type of fish that could breed with your swordtails, then they are:
Platy fish. Platy is a member of the Xiphophorus family.
They are of the same family as the Swordtails, so they could easily breed without any of them getting harmed, nor the offspring.
So it is always recommended to breed only fish from the same type and family if you want to interbreed.
So Platies could easily breed with swordtails because they are of the same family of Xiphophorus.
Conclusion
Swordtail fish don’t successfully breed with Molly fish, so don’t try it for any reason.
