Decided I'm going to start and breed some fish. I'm going to try out some delta guppies and see what colors I'll get. Probably going to sell and trade them. :woot:Yeah it's a ton of work but I'm ready and have knowledge.
Breeding
- Thread starter Neatfish
- Start date
The last time I was breeding it was a 5.5g this time I'm using a 10g bare bottom I always use smaller tanks to breed. I have extra tanks setup ready to go if I decide to move any fish after. About to move at the end of the month so I'm in no hurry to rush things. Might even pick up a couple buckets for fry.
A few tips and things to be really aware of when breeding guppies: (I used to breed and sell japan blue guppies)
1.) Keep at least 2 females to every male if housing them in the same tank, but house in separate tanks if you can. I kept my females in a separate tank and only moved them in with the males to get them knocked up. This significantly reduces the stress to both genders. In my experience, males not kept with females will live a lot longer since they are not constantly burning all of their energy trying to impress, chase, and inseminate females. The same goes for females that are given a break from being constantly harassed by males.
2.) Remove the fry from the parent's tank and separate genders as soon as you can tell. Most adult guppies will eat their fry. Also, guppies are notorious for releasing growth inhibiting hormones into the water. This is so that the strongest and best guppy fry grow quickly and the rest dont. It helps with natural selection in the wild. However, in an enclosed aquarium, those hormones can build up to the point of really inhibiting growth and health of your fry. I had 3 fry tanks: one for when they were too young to tell genders, then one for each gender that the fry would be moved into once I could tell, but they were too small to be safely housed with the adults.
3.) FREQUENT feeding and water changes on fry tanks. I fed twice daily and I usually did 2-3 water changes per week at least. This helps remove excess nutrients and those growth inhibiting hormones. You will get much faster growth for selling and healthier babies this way.
4.) Cull any deformed babies. It happens to most breeders. They get a kinked or shortened spine, or missing an eye, or something like that. You dont have to kill them, I usually gave them away to people who needed feeders or just wanted free fish and didnt care if they were deformed. But they should be removed from the breeding population to make sure that those unhealthy traits dont get passed on to the next generation. People who breed for color may cull any dull colored babies, but I didnt have that problem myself.
I didnt follow the first 3 tips when I first started breeding. It may take more time and money, but it will be worth it if you are truly interested in breeding to sell. The amount of healthy babies I ended up with when I started with my 4 females and 2 males in the same tank was around 10 per month. After following the above tips (given by other members here), I was up to around 60-75 healthy babies per month and they grew much faster and so were ready to sell sooner. My males lived their full 3 year lifespans where when kept with the females they wouldnt make it much past 6 months. My females had far fewer instances of abortion and stress death.
1.) Keep at least 2 females to every male if housing them in the same tank, but house in separate tanks if you can. I kept my females in a separate tank and only moved them in with the males to get them knocked up. This significantly reduces the stress to both genders. In my experience, males not kept with females will live a lot longer since they are not constantly burning all of their energy trying to impress, chase, and inseminate females. The same goes for females that are given a break from being constantly harassed by males.
2.) Remove the fry from the parent's tank and separate genders as soon as you can tell. Most adult guppies will eat their fry. Also, guppies are notorious for releasing growth inhibiting hormones into the water. This is so that the strongest and best guppy fry grow quickly and the rest dont. It helps with natural selection in the wild. However, in an enclosed aquarium, those hormones can build up to the point of really inhibiting growth and health of your fry. I had 3 fry tanks: one for when they were too young to tell genders, then one for each gender that the fry would be moved into once I could tell, but they were too small to be safely housed with the adults.
3.) FREQUENT feeding and water changes on fry tanks. I fed twice daily and I usually did 2-3 water changes per week at least. This helps remove excess nutrients and those growth inhibiting hormones. You will get much faster growth for selling and healthier babies this way.
4.) Cull any deformed babies. It happens to most breeders. They get a kinked or shortened spine, or missing an eye, or something like that. You dont have to kill them, I usually gave them away to people who needed feeders or just wanted free fish and didnt care if they were deformed. But they should be removed from the breeding population to make sure that those unhealthy traits dont get passed on to the next generation. People who breed for color may cull any dull colored babies, but I didnt have that problem myself.
I didnt follow the first 3 tips when I first started breeding. It may take more time and money, but it will be worth it if you are truly interested in breeding to sell. The amount of healthy babies I ended up with when I started with my 4 females and 2 males in the same tank was around 10 per month. After following the above tips (given by other members here), I was up to around 60-75 healthy babies per month and they grew much faster and so were ready to sell sooner. My males lived their full 3 year lifespans where when kept with the females they wouldnt make it much past 6 months. My females had far fewer instances of abortion and stress death.
If you just want to breed as a side hobby in one tank and to watch the miracle of fishy birth, you can definitely breed in the same tank using a breeding box. Just dont expect to get enough surviving babies to actually make any kind of a profit selling. Also, if keeping both genders in the same tank, please please stick to at LEAST 2 females per male, preferably more. Otherwise you will have dead females before you know it. They will literally get harassed by the males to the point where they are so stressed that the birthing process will kill them. One insemination by a male guppy can last a female for many pregnancies, but the males are always trying to make sure that it is THEIR sperm that fertilizes the next batch of eggs.
