Attempting Guppy Breeding?

T

TheLupinLady

Registered Member
Feb 19, 2012
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I am a relative newbie to fish, but have a ten gallon tank and probably a twenty gallon that are more or less lying around the house right now. I've been talking to a friend of mine who used to breed guppies when he was younger, and he said it was really fun and that he ended up with some pretty fantastic colours, and I've been thinking about doing the same thing myself. How many guppies should one get to start? And for a twenty gallon and ten gallon tank, how many would I be able to have in total? Or do I need a much larger tank? And any advice for somebody planning on trying this?

Sorry if these are regarded as really stupid questions, but I'm new, so humour me. ;)
 
If you are developing a strain of guppies, you will need several tanks for raising fry. I must say that I am not experienced with the specifics of creating a strain of guppies, so I will tell you the basics of breeding them. As a general rule, have at least 2 females per male, with 3 females being ideal. In a 10 gallon, that means that you can have about 2 males and 6 females. Keep the temperature around 78F and feed plenty of high quality foods to keep them in the breeding mood. When a female is ready to drop her fry, place her in a smaller tank that will be set up to grow the babies. A good setup for guppy fry is a 5 gallon bare-bottom tank with a sponge filter. Once the female finishes giving birth, remove her or she will eat the fry. The fry are born rather large and can take powdered flake from the beginning. For best growth, feed baby brine shrimp, microworms, golden pearls, and hikari first bites 3 times per day. To keep up with this heavy feeding, do 50% water changes 2x per week.
 
If you want show guppies, only purchase stock from breeders who show their fish in shows - and win.

If you're just wanting to have some pretty fish, purchase female guppies that are attractive to you. They will be gravid and will give birth with in a month. You can have the joy of watching them grow and develop. Starting at three weeks pull female fry from the main tank and put them in the other tank to grow them up. Much over three weeks and the females will have been hit on and gravid themselves.
 
Hi
Depends on your goal. Limit yourself to one strain from the very beginning . The first goal is to produce a "PURE breeding strain of the feature your looking for. That requires VERY careful record keeping lots of space. absolutely ruthless culling. Get your stock from someone who had your goals in mind if you can find them.
I spent over 20 years producing "Red jet " swordtails with 25 aquariums and 6 ponds and still did not arrive at a pure strain.lol The really tough part is separating the sexes the younger the better. the earlier you can spot the feature your looking for the better. Be prepared to spend a lot of time and energy on the process. BTW If you're really serious
get acquainted with Mendels laws. and how they apply to your strain . gary
 
a lesson in genetics is helpful if your looking to breed true strains, but if it's just "breeding" your interested in and not breeding a specific trait, then you would be wise to find out how to keep them from breeding in any tank. :)
 
dbosman said:
Fish don't have a childhood like hominids.
Click to expand...

Seriously?

Anyway, I'm referring to their physical size not age. I can't see how it would be possible for to carry eggs and have them develop inside a body that is less than half the size of full grown guppy.
 
I brought home an accidental feeder guppy with my shrimp, the guy just could not get her back out of the bag. She was not even 1/2 inch when I brought her home. I don't know how old she was but def. juvenile - she's over 1 inch now and only recently seemed to stop growing (or at least slow down) 2 months after bringing her home. No other guppies in my tank. She's about to give birth for the SECOND time here any day now. So I'd say they sure can develop eggs inside when much smaller than their adult size!
 
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