# Will lyretail mollies Breed?



## gr7070

I was digging around online and stumbled upon something stating that Lyretail Mollies have trouble, or won't breed for most. 

Any truth to this?

In addition, will silver mate with creamsicle or black, etc.?


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## navigator black

Some domestic form mollies have deformed gonopodiums, the male reproductive organ. They're the ones that are a dead end, as the male has no way of fertilizing the female.
The colour varieties cross easily. They are all hybrids of different species of wild molly - hybrids done over the past 80 years or so, and the colours don't matter to them in the least.


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## gr7070

Thanks!



navigator black said:


> They're the ones that are a dead end...


Is there an obvious physical difference? Or, even a less obvious difference?


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## gr7070

Also, is one color dominant, genetically? How do the colors work out statistically?


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## gr7070

navigator black said:


> Some domestic form mollies have deformed gonopodiums, the male reproductive organ.


Bump. 

Can anyone provide some help? Is there an easy way to tell if one is deformed or not? Is the deformation readily apparent or does it take a keen eye or even more advanced detection required to spot a deformation.


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## navigator black

I am not the best source, as I only keep wild-types and do no line breeding or creation of domestic varieties. Friends who play with fancy forms tell me that if the gonopodium has extra finnage (it is not a straight tube) then problems can be expected. What happens (I expect) is that the genes for long fins can affect the gonopodium length, and add finnage where finnage is a liability. The sex organ becomes disfunctional as it ceases to be more or less straight. 

I can't comment on colour dominance - I'm not a line breeder. But at least a half answer is also a bump.


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## gr7070

Thanks!! Much appreciated!


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## zero

i was wondering about this myself....i thought i may have a gay molly! i brought two females to go with the male and he doesnt seem interested in them at all!


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## navigator black

A dominated male molly will act asexual to keep the dominant male from killing him, and a lot of livebearers have late bloomers you think are females but that are hormonally suppressed or late blooming males. It's pretty rare to have a male molly with no interest in sex - but then again, aquarium store mollies are hybrids of multiple species (anywhere from two to five) and that would seem to increase the chances of behavioral changes. 

Just the idea that some lyretails have so much extra finnage on their gonopodiums that the organs no longer work should be an indication of how much linebreeding has messed some of these fish up.


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