By Rosario Arijón

The first guppy with elongated fins appeared originally in Germany in 1958. The fish breeder Heinz Krüger developed it starting from a spontaneous mutation occurred in his fishroom. It got the name of Berlin and it is supposed lost in 1970. Apparently the Berlin guppys were weak and susceptible to diseases and there was not much interest about them at that time.

As far as I know, since 1970 up to the present day, elongated fins guppys were developed in four different places of the world: Singapore, Germany, Japan and Uruguay

SINGAPORE

The Ribbon guppy appeared in a fish farm as a spontaneous mutation.

GERMANY

Dr. Föerster found in a pet shop a Half Black Red male showing the characteristic elongations. This Ribbon male imported from Singapore was bred by artificial insemination in the Giessen University and got the name of Giessen .  

JAPAN

The Swallow guppy was developed starting from an elongated fins strain imported from Europe. Besides, Ribbons imported from Singapore gave birth to japanese strains with the characteristic elongated fins.

URUGUAY

The Veiled lebistes appeared by spontaneous mutation. A Black female with elongated fins was born in my fishroom. I found it when it was two months old in a raising tank of 250 litters together with two hundred virgin females selected at a very young age.

At that time, I didn´t know about the Berlin guppys and far from seeing pictures of them. I keep the vivid memory of such particular day when I was about to feed the usually starving females like a swarm beneath the water surface. For a moment I could glance something exceptional that got immediately out of my sight.  I stared to the tank for a while until I could individualize the unique female.

I mated it to a normal finned male from a strain originated from the triple crossing of Black, Cobra and African. The Black Fantasy type was the first Veiled lebistes strain produced in Uruguay.

What in Uruguay is named African, in other places of the world is known as Red Tuxedo, Half Black Red or Harlequin. Likewise, the lebistes that show different coloured and sized spots or marks in the caudal fin are known in Uruguay as Fantasy strains. In other countries these phenotypes are named Glass, Grass, Mosaic, Bicolor or Multicolor.

A juvenile F1 male, son of the first Veiled female
born in my fish room.
Photo by Dr. Gustavo Dittrich  

The first Veiled males had caudal fins shaped like the juvenile individual of the photo. I considered these were ragged caudal fins and I took steps to eliminate such fault that disappeared easily.

Daughters of the first Veiled female born in my fishroom,
sisters of the upper picture Veiled male.
Photo by Dr. Gustavo Dittrich  

An abnormal fins growth can be observed in Veiled Lebistes. This characteristic is shown by males and females. The males are fertile but incapable of fertilization because their anal fins are abnormally elongated. 

 
Juvenile veiled and normal sibling males

 

Juvenile Veiled males

Regarding general maintenance, they have no special demands and their fertility and vitality correspond to any of my regular lebistes. The fins shape of one week old fry may determine which individuals will develop elongated fins.

The mating of Veiled females to normal finned males produces a 1: 1 ratio of normal and elongated  individuals. Until 1999 the basic breeding technique I used was the inbreeding method, so the regular male breeders were always selected from Veiled strains

Two times I recorded the effects of a suppressor gen. Veiled females fertilized by related normal finned males gave birth to all normal finned descendants.

As a note, once a group of regular sibling females from a Veiled strain developed caudal fins like males. They did not breed well and the few descendant females born had normal caudal fins. 

In 1999 I imported fourteen guppy trios -eleven trios for me and three for a friend- and I started several outcrossings. Each parental generation was formed by a Veiled Full Blue female and a normal finned male from an imported strain. Half of the animals born showed elongated fins. The way to safeguard a good genetic diversity was to avoid selection and breed all descendants born.

This experience proved that the mass breeding of Veiled Lebistes does not produce good results. Very quickly mixed populations of both regular and Veiled females arise dropping altogether without any cultivation control. Although the veil trait is dominant, a continuous breeding without a proper selection leads to a reduced number of Veiled individuals and a decrease of fins quality. A line impoverished by mala praxis shows pelvic and pectoral fins that resemble normally extended, while the only abnormal extension observed is the anal fin. A similar process can be observed in dominant elongated fins from Xiphophorus genus types. Without a proper selection the dominance may be strongly affected.

Some lines present a major variability of the dorsal fin although pectoral, pelvic and anal fins are variable too.

 

Sibling males from a polymorphic and polychromatic veiled line

I found out the genetics of the Giessen, Ribbon and Swallow guppys. I´ve seen pictures but I never had specimens of these elongated guppys in my fishroom to be able to compare them with the Veiled Lebistes.

I shared part of my stock with a friend that owns a fish farm in Magé, Brazil, and with a hobbyist in Cleveland, U.S.A.

As a general rule, along all these past years the caudal fins of males as well as females showed an even growth. Occasionally I get females showing a slight uneven growth of some fin rays  that remind the F1 females, daughters of the first Veiled female.

Aside of Veiled Lebistes I breed elongated fins strains from the genus Xiphophorus. For instance, veil and lyre factors are both dominant traits. The lyre factor responsible for the elongation of the upper and lower rays of the X.helleri caudal fin also causes an elongation of all the other fins.

Time ago, I could observe that some of my lyretail X.helleri showed one or more extended fin rays in the middle of the caudal fin. This uneven growth happened rarely and called my attention. I found out that these extensions are pointed as demerits in contests and that some breeders considered  them as ugly and unstable. I took care of this faulty lyretail swords and after several years I could establish lines with multiple fins extensions. 

Specimens from multiple extensions pools mated to regular lyretail swordtails produce some lyretails with improved fins.

Melanistic albino swordtail with multiple extensions

Regular lyretail sword male from  variations of the white color

 
Lyretail male swords from variations of the white color with improved fins

In addition, the plumetail in platys is a most interesting research field. The typical elongation of the middle caudal fin rays is variable regarding length and width.

Regular plumetail platy

As well as the lyre trait, the plumetail may produce appealing shape variations

 
Some plumetail shape variations

I acquired accurate information regarding Swallow guppy genetics. This information provided by generous people, plus my experience with the Xiphophorus lyre and plume traits, have impelled me to pay better attention to guppy females like the ones shown in the following pictures.

Some lines occasionally produce different fin shapes that are quite appealing when the females are very young and change to almost normal veiled phenotypes as they grow. I´ve been observing and breeding these females for a while. This research, that looks quite interesting and may be promising, is being focused on females caudal fin shape.

As stated before, some of the guppy males of the eleven trios that arrived at Montevideo in 1999, fertilized virgin Veiled Full Blue females. The import I carried out, that produced disappointing results during the first two years posterior to the arrival, allows now a completely different evaluation. Whether the difficulties of diverse kind precluded an eventual success with the original strains, the genes of some of these trios enriched my fish room gene pools.

Perhaps the most interesting side of this import was the chance I had to compare amongst different pure breeding degrees and their corresponding viability. I also remark that I could witness the effects of true outcrossings, provided my animals were kept isolated and inbred for many years.  As a further reference, not even one of the outcrossings showed the expected hybrid vigor.

In view of present results it is obvious that the import that I carried out in 1999 was an invaluable investment.

The inbreeding technique, often censured, let me create, recreate, and keep varieties along all these years. It was the only way to concentrate and keep characters that, in case of  loss, could not be replaced by purchasing at the pet shop around the corner. This breeding technique also led to spontaneous mutations. The Veiled Lebistes and my first albino Xiphophorus helleri, - that later originated my regular and melanistic variations-, were the easiest ones to establish, taking in account all the spontaneous changes since I met fish in my childhood.

On the other hand, since 1999 till today, I observed the benefits of the outcrossing method. Not only with regard to lebistes, but also with Xiphophorus helleri. In 2001 I mated some of my X.helleri to the ones that a friend from the U.S.A. shipped to me. From these outcrossings, perhaps the most remarkable achievement that I am trying to develop, is the lyretail sword that shows a regular anal fin instead of the abnormal extension characteristic in lyretail X. Helleri males.

I experienced diverse inbreeding and outcrossing degrees and both techniques are equally valuable.