Wags

[CACAdmin]

After first letting just nature take its course in breeding my platies (just to see what I'd get with the various mix of genes in the tank). I started selectively adding traits I prefer (still not specifically pairing off any two).

One trait that I prefer is red (or darker-colored) wag platies (regular or hi-fin). Finally, in the latest fry, I am starting to get mostly wags:biggrin:. Hopefully, this continues.

Of course, when they're really tiny (as the last batch are) I can't tell if they're hifins or not... they're just too tiny (they're in the 70G & play hide and seek in the Texas Holey Rock). Once they are big enough to catch, I'll move them to the 20G fry tank.

[Melody]

Congrat's on your breeding progress. If I recall correctly, the wagtail is a dominant trait that morphed out of comet tails (thin stripe of black on both the top and bottom of the tail). There have been many breeding programs in which the comet trait wasn't noticed that produced wags and lots of them, much to the selective breeder's dismay. The wagtail originated with X. maculatus.

So you're ahead of the game there - no selective breeding required to make the desired gene dominant. The other thing that works in the Platy breeder's favour is that unlike other Livebearers, the female will utilize the last insemination first. In other storing Livebearers, the female will spit out fry from one mating for months no matter how long she's been with other males.

They're a lot of fun to breed because the results are so unpredictable. Pair one color variety with the other color variety and you can get countless combinations of the two. Just don't cross a wag X. maculatus with a Swordtail - the combination often results in fry who develop Melanoma. Many of them live for a very long time though. For that reason, they're used extensively in cancer research.

Have fun with them!

[blainep]

I really like the Wag Platys as well, I have an ever growing family of Red Wag Platys.

I'm thinking of mixing a few females with a little of Melody's Plumetails to see what kinds of results I can get.

I don't know likely it would be, but I'd like to see if I could breed a Hifin, Plumetail Redwag Platy. :D

[CACAdmin]

I think it would be fantastic if you could, so we'll see what happens... best of luck to you... as for possibilities... let's ask Melody... she seems to have researched all the genetic possibilities... Hey, MELODY... (where'd our expert get to now???...lol) I'd like to hear what she has to say as well as I have a couple of Plumetails too.

[Melody]

Expert....pfffftttt! I just have a knack for picking the brains of people who actually know what they're doing....lol.

You'd need to get the Hifin gene in there, but otherwise its easy. Just cross the Plumetail male with a Hifin Redwag female. The wags really show that Plumetail off. You'll get some regular Plumetails, some Hifin Plumetails, some Hifin Regular tails and maybe some regular Platy finnage. The trick will be in getting the Redwag in the Hifin Plumetail results. To do that I'd mate any Hifin Redwag Plumetail fry. If there isn't a pair with the right color/finnage combination in the first batch of fry, I'd mate any one that had the right combination with one that had the right finnage but not the color. Since the wag will likely dominate anyway, you can go after finnage first. If the color wasn't dominant you'd have to work on that as well as the finnage. Did ya get all that? lol

This is my Hifin Plumetail breeder and a female he was chasing mercilessly tonight. He has potential - he's big, nice colors, his dorsal is well formed, but its not long enough. Still too much Maculatus interfering, but that just gives me something to work towards.:D

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-PlumetailPair.jpg

He's on most of my females now. The other males either went to other people like yourselves, or they're residing in other tanks with like females so I keep the nicer color strains going.

[Melody]

Just a demo of the 'Breeding Platy's is a box of chocolates' thing, I have no redwag Plumetails in this tank, nor do I have any non-plumetail female Redwags that are old enough to breed, yet this little guy showed up. {Pardon the flash glare}

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-JuvRedwagPlumetail.jpg

I suspect he came from a silver & red wag female, shown at the top of the following photo:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-PlumetailPlaties2.jpg

Throws are one of the things that make domestic livebearer strains so much fun to breed.:)