Photo: A large male Green Sailfin Molly from four years ago and one of our breeders used in our attempt to create a giant molly. For about eight years, I’ve been working to develop a very large Green Sailfin Molly, which I creatively named Giant Green Sailfin Mollies (“GGSM” for short for the ... Read More
hybrids
Red Freckled Hifin Swordtail
Photo: A first generation Red Freckled Hifin Swordtail male in front of one inch grid to show size. Okay, it’s going to take a while to untangle the genealogy of this fish. Let’s take the female first. The pictured female is large. She's in front of a one-inch grid that shows she almost ... Read More
Sunset Variatus
Photo: Male Sunset Variatus I’ve recently begun blogging about the Variatus-type Platies we raise. For a discussion about the meaning of “Variatus-type,” check out an earlier blog I wrote about our Redtail Blue Variatus. This blog concerns our Sunset Variatus strain, which we developed ... Read More
Giant Redtail Blue Variatus
Photo: Pair of Giant Redtail Blue Variatus and male regular Redtail Blue Variatus Xiphophorus species, which include swordtails, maculatus platies, and variatus platies, hybridize readily. A while back I wrote, when I was writing for Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine, an article about some hybrids ... Read More
Blue Iridescent Sword
Once again the urge to create a new fish struck. So, today, while going through our blue mickey mouse maculatus, I imagined the iridescent blue of the platies on a swordtail. I selected a few female platies and, after some thought, picked a male swordtail to father the new color strain. Which sword ... Read More