Well I posted this topic in another part of the forum but it has only had ten views in four days with no responses so I figured it might get more views here. Well the new website is coming together. I have decided to start my information gathering with one of the most popular fancy Xiphophorus in the hobby first. If anyone has any information on the genetics, origin or any details of this strain please let me know. I think doing it this way will not only help me gather information but it will also help the ALA forum gain more content,,,thanks.

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So how come it's called Sanshoku?
Because of the color pattern?

They named it after the patterns from pond koi. It is also sometimes called showa or calico.

I want to buy some females if anyone has them. I have a lyretail koi swordtail male that I think could cross with the females for some neat looking fish.

Alex, excatly how can a lyretail male can cross to Sanshoku females? Because most lyretail males' gonopodium are too long and deformed to mate naturally. Sure there are few rare Lyretail males with normal gonopodium. The other way is A.I by take milt out of lyretail males and injected into the females hole but with high riskes.

I have showa females.Right now I have a showa male with a couple of lyre tailed females.I know of two other people right now who are working on the same thing,a lyre tailed showa.So far no luck!!!showa's don't cross that easy.

Mine has a normal gonopodium. I Think that if I try I can get some good looking fry.

you have a lyre-tailed male with a normal gonopodium?

Awesome! I used have a lyretail male with normal gonopodium few years ago but that time I was just a kid.

In Livebearer #204 I made reference to the "so-called" male Lyretail Swordtails with normal gonopodiums.
I used "so-called" not to cause an argument, but because I'm not sure if these males (which I have only seen photos of and have not worked with), are genetically the same as a True Lyretail which have all of their fins lengthened.
The tell, tell way of proving that these males are genetically "Lyretail" is to breed them to common finned females only (remove all Lyretail females from the breeding program). If offspring with Lyretail finnage are produced, then they carry the actual Lyretail trait. If only common finned and/ or fish with finnage like the "male Lyretail with normal gonopodium are produced then a different trait is present, not true Lyretail.
Dr. Joanne Norton mentioned years ago that males in some strains of Hifin Swordtail (without the Lyretail trait), developed a short extension to the top of their caudal fins resembling a Lyretail. This could be a similiar development on a common finned fish. I say this because all of the photos of these males that I've seen show a very short top extension, never close to matching the lower extension.
Again, I'm not trying to start an argument or make enemies, I just want to know if the proper crosses (No Lyretail females), have been made before calling these males "Lyretail".
I'm am not nearly as smart in genetics as some of the other people on here, but I have studied and bred Fancy Xiphophorus for many years.

Darrell E. Mefford