Artificial insemination Hybridizing

[Ken Martin]

I read the article on livebearer AI, and found it intriguing. Seems to me that the most interesting potential for the technique would be in experimenting with hybridizing across genera (platies and mollies, mollies and swordtails, guppies and swordtails, platies and swordtails, etc.), where fish do not breed. Has anyone in the forum had success with AI, and does anyone know if it has been tried across genera?

[Fishguy2727]

Swordtails and platies will hybridize on their own, most actually are hybrids.

Other than that it sounds like something that will only been done in labs.

Forced hybrids like that can create some serious issues for the offspring and should not be done.

[Ryuu]

I agree with fishguy, when types of fish are hybridnized, they end up having a lot of problems like crooked spines, breathign problems and much more... Its a bad idea to hybrinize.

[Fishguy2727]

Well, hybridizing is one thing (when they decide they want to). Forcing it and bypassing their natural barriers is the issue. And even some 'natural' hybrids are bad. I wrote a little article on it, it is in my blog and a sticky (I think in the general section).

[Ken Martin]

I have heard that mollies and guppies will crossbreed, but have only seen one picture of an adult offspring. They are said to be sterile, which might be a marketing plus considering that the multiplication rate of livebearers can be daunting for some folks. I'm just wondering, if the barriers between livebearer genera may be anatomical and not genetic, if some curious and enterprising fish-breeder has already tried it and what the results may have been?

[Fishguy2727]

Hobbyists can't try it, it requires special equipment and a lot of know how to artificially fertilize livebearers. If they were egg layers you could strip the eggs from the female and force fertilize them with a male by hand (how fish farms collect and use eggs and sperm).

It is not just anatomical. There are other barriers such as hormones, behaviors, triggers, etc. There are a lot of things that can isolate the reproduction of closely related species.