Spawning Guppies

[SimonWoodstock]

About how often do adult female guppies give birth to fry, and about how many are produced on average?

Just wondering if the fry are getting eaten before I see them. Although, I haven't noticed the size of the female drop any(that is, if they get bigger while pregnant). Since I have had them, I have only gotten 6 fry. They are healthy and are almost 1/2" now. The parents were feeder guppies that I decided not to feed to a friend's oscar, so something could be wrong with them.

[dethjam316]

freakin constantly. i can't feed them to things fast enough.

[tricksterpup]

Guppies will have fry every 21-28 days, and will store the sperm from the last known mating for future batches. So if you take out the male after the first mating, you will still have fry a few months down the line.



jim

[SimonWoodstock]

oh...cool. for some reason i was thinking they had fry every few weeks. but if its around 21-28 days, it should be getting about time for another batch in a week or so.:)

as for not being able to feed them to things fast enough, i was wanting to set up a preditor fish tank and use them for live food. it's only 1 adult male, 1 adult female and six fry at the moment....once the fry grow up there is no telling how many will be showin up!

thanks for the replies!

[MrGoodbytes]

And they talk about rabbits..... :p

[OrionGirl]

I HATE to be picky, but this is one that needs correcting. Guppies and other live bearers do not spawn. In biology, spawning (verb) refers to the release of an egg mass, so while the young are a spawn (noun), the act of delivery is considered birth. Viviparous as opposed to the eggs resulting from oviparous species.

[SimonWoodstock]

maybe i should have said breeding guppies? you learn something new everyday.

you don't think since they were feeders that anything would be wrong w/ them? the male has alot of cool colors on him, they are different on each side. on his right side there are 2 blue, what seem to be iridescent, spots. he isn't completly grown yet, i hope it will get a full tail sometime.

[750t]

I started out with feeder guppies. The colors will come . Every generation will have more color. I even got a sword tail from somewhere. I use mine for feeders also, but they are by far my favorate fish. Just make sure you keep at least 3 females to 1 male. I have about 6 females to every male. Have fun. Tim

[rainbowprizimz]

Just keep in mind the more females you have, the more fry, the more feeders. But I have found that in order to raise several batches of fry, you will also need additional tanks. I always start my fry in a breeding net in the original tank that they were born, keep them in that for about a month or so. This allows them to use less energy searching for food, and more energy for growing. Just some input.

[yashinfan]

Originally posted by OrionGirl
I HATE to be picky, but...

I honestly think she loves it :) heehee

[dethjam316]

i agree, she probably does love it....i should have noticed that sort of thing, but i always forget about the titles of the threads i reply to anyway. point is...guppies make lots of babies.

[OrionGirl]

:p :p :p :p

Okay, so I like it a little bit. :D

[lesley]

Orion-

Are guppies viviparous or ovoviviparous? I thought that viviparous referred to things like placental mammals, where the embryos are fed directly within the mother. Aren't guppies basically holding fertilized eggs within the body until after they hatch?

[OrionGirl]

Viviporous refers to any animal which births live young, and this includes those that keep fertilized eggs inside the body until the young have completed gestation. It does not specify mammals. Ovoviviparous refers to eggs that are held inside the body for gestation and receive minimal nutrients from the parent, and is specific to fish, insects, and reptiles. Ovoviviparous is the more accurate, yet less commonly used, term for guppies. So, an animal can accurately be considered both, but mammals are not considered ovoviviparous (at least, none that I know of!), and there are mammals that lay eggs--the monotremes, including the platypus and echinda.

Interestingly, there are many snakes that bear live young, and the term also describes seahorses, where internal gestational care is provided by the male.

[SimonWoodstock]

You must be a biologist or something... or spent alot of time studying about creatures.

[lesley]

I think most live-bearing sharks are ovoviviparous too. Thanks for the clarification, OG.

[OrionGirl]

Computer geek for a fish division. Lots of biology courses--I would have gone into biochem if I weren't intimidated by math. ;)

Yep, sharks are included in the large family 'fish'. It's usually called 'aplacental viviparity' rather than ovoviviparity, but means the same thing.

[SimonWoodstock]

I must say I'm a little jealous of your knowledge. I tried to go into chem. engineering, but I had to drop out after failing everything I took. (apparently going to class under various forms of mind altering states is a bad idea...:confused: ) But now I'm back, taking Drafting and Design since I have been doing that kind of stuff for the last 6 years now. .....wish i were taking chemistry or some kind of wild life courses, even if just to learn more....

anyway, posts like yours is the reason i like AC so much.
thanks for all the input!

[OrionGirl]

You're welcome. I'm very fortunate that I have bosses that support my thirst for knowledge--they encourage me to take biology courses, and send me out to work with our biologists and culturists in the field. It's a real boon! There is always so much to learn!