Breeding Different Guppy Strains in the Same Tank

Jumko

Jumko

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Jun 18, 2004
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I was thinking of using a 20g long to breed two or three different guppy strains separated by dividers. My question is, does the male guppy need to physically come in contact with the female to inseminate her or can the sperm "travel" through the water, potentially causing unwanted mixing of the different strains?
 
They need to physically meet I think.
 
They will need to be together, it will not travel thru the water
 
yeah definately need to come into contact. if you have a look at your males you will notice the anal fin is a long tube type thing called a gonopodium. this is how he delivers his sperm.
 
Yeah, just like women can't get pregnant swimming with men. :D
 
I guess it's unanimous that physical contact needs to occur. Makes sense considering they're livebearers. I know many fish (salmon for example) breed through means of external fertilization (female lays eggs and male fertilizes afterwards). I just wanted to make sure that not all fish sperm carry the same properties of being mobile in water.
 
Guppies require physical contact. Unfortunately once can last a year. Many female live bearers can (not do, can) retain sperm for up to a year. That once can be sometime between four and eight weeks.
Serious guppy breeders will tell you that to maintain a clean genetic line, you need five to seven tanks for all the stages and back crossing.

Another small problem is that if your divider allows one filter for the whole tank, fry will get from one side to the other.

Keep your eye on thrift stores, Craig's lists, and your local or not so local fish club for more tanks.
 
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