I'm trying to decide on an interesting cross for my blood red sailfin swords. I'm assuming that all mine came from the same line. I want to cross out to strengthen the line and perhaps get some other interesting color variations. I thought of a black Berlin cross or should I cross back to a wild fish?
Open to suggestions (I'm not familiar with the genetics involved in this particular strain)

Hi Jonas,
As a novice, Berlin high fin sounds very attractive in my head. If I were you, that's what I would try. Even I am eager to see what experts say.

Cheers,
Mohan.

If I were going to outcross to a wild fish, I'd choose Birchmanni. If you've seen the hybrids bred by Dr. Levine, you'll know why I say that.

Otherwise, throw a dart at the rainbow...LOL...there are so many choices. A black body with those red fins would look spectacular.

Since the strain is heavily inbred, my focus would be on finding an exceptionally healthy line of responsibly bred Swordtails in any shade. Nice & big (size is often the first thing to go in a fancy line).

I wouldn't worry about colour at this point. Worrying about colour and finnage first is what makes inbreeding bad. Inbreeding in itself isn't bad, it just has to be done responsibly. Sounds like you're on your way to doing just that!

I'd love to see the outcome .

Melody,
Thanks for the reply. My males are about 3-4 inches(not including sword), and appear to be young adults. The females are actually shorter , about 3 inches but heavier bodied. The biggest male is getting heavier bodied. I have 9 in a 50 gallon planted. I'm doing 20-30% water changes every other day to daily. Hopefully they'll get a little bigger.

I've never seen domestic male swords over 4 1/2 inches body length. But I have seen wilds 5 inches or slightly more, a friend of mine brought back from a collecting trip, back in the 90's.

I'd be nice to get some monster swords. These guys remind me of sailfin mollies only with swords

Black_Knight,I have made this cross already ,using a red black eyed sailfin sword.

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Cooper,

I've seen plenty of your fish pics. They are always very nice. That one is cool, you can see the hints of red in his scales.
Did you use a lyretail female?

He's a beaut!

That is a female,below is a picture of a high-fin male,a brother to the female above.

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LOL I was focused on the dorsal and missed her semi-transparent anal fin. I wonder what it is about the lyre finnage that produces the more transparent look quite often? I've had a lot that don't look like that too, but it seems to be a relatively consistent trait in lyres. Maybe it's the black ancestry, since they're often bred for clear finnage.

The hifin male reminds me of my old black strain, but they had a gold dorsal. I could never get the width on them though. Length well into the sword, but not wide enough. I didn't have access to better genes and they never threw me anything better to select. The better genetics in your strain are apparent by comparison. My current black Platy strain has the genetics for it - it has been a much more rewarding strain to work with.

excellent male