For you Guppy Experts

[dchild]

I've established breeding tanks to raise "high quality" guppies and purchased some beautiful guppies from the internet sites for a good start. I separated the males and females into 10-gal tanks and use smaller tanks only for the purpose of breeding select mates.

While watching the mating activity amongst the guppies, I notice the males are "continually" attempting to breed. They bow themselves and quiver with excitement, sometimes darting at the female, but it always appears the females slip away with no mating taking place.

My questions to the experts: How quickly can the male guppy make penetration on the female to have a successful mating? Is a successful mating only a matter of a split second darting at the female? How long does one leave the males and females together in the breeding tanks to assure success? Do you just wait until the female becomes pregnant to know?

I would like to know if the males are actually having a successful mating attempt.

dchild
www.riverbarktreasures.com

 

[Piranha86]

If the males are with the females for more than a day or two, the female will be pregnant. Especially if you've seen attempts, she is most likely pregnant. My Endler's (wild version of guppy) make attempts on pregnant females all the time.

 

[NYCguppydude]

Is a successful mating only a matter of a split second darting at the female?
Yes. The males are ready to inseminate instantly.
How long does one leave the males and females together in the breeding tanks to assure success?
A few days just to be 100% sure
Do you just wait until the female becomes pregnant to know?
In a sense ..Yes!
I would like to know if the males are actually having a successful mating attempt.
It sounds as if they know what they are doing! Here's an interesting link to read....http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/12/1/59.full

Hope this helped!

 

[excuzzzeme]

Male darting is attempts at breeding but not always is the father the largest or best looking male. Males also do "ambush breeding" - when the female is busy trying to avoid a particular male, a less dominate one can make a "sneak attack" and do the dirty before anyone is the wiser!

For best results, you should have 2-3 females per male. A 1:1 ratio doesn't give the female any recovery time.

 

[dchild]

Hey guppy dude,

Very, very interesting article. It actually answered all of my questions and more. Without knowing it, I've been depriving my females of male counterparts for about 2-1/2 weeks. This is certainly why they seem to be so receptive. Also, the males being deprived of females, obviously makes them even more "horny".

I think I"m on the right track with my selective mating, and apparently the females are being bred within that split second I mentioned.

Thank You.............very helpful. Thanks to everyone else so far, the answers you have given helped me greatly.

dchild
www.riverbarktreasures.com

 

[Piranha86]

Do you have pictures of the guppies?

 

[NB_Aquatics]

If you have males and females do not worry... you will have hundreds of babies soon.

 

[dchild]

I'm certain about numerous babies being born. I was just curious about the specific act of mating. I think my answer is that the darting in and out at the female is their main method to breed. They also court quite a bit, but even then a quick dart in to the female assures the process.

As I said, I have established several breeding tanks and in each one selected two high quality males to place with five high quality, similar females. I did like the books suggested and considered size first, then color. I have left them together for three days, which I now believe is plenty of time for a successful mating. All of my females have been returned to their birthing tank awaiting delivery of many babies. (ha) Once born, I have another tank to rear the babies safe from adults. I do have two sources to sell them locally, so I'm excited to see what happens.

I have no pictures currrently but I will attempt to post some soon.

Thanks again to everyone for their responses.

dchild
www.riverbarktreasures.com

 

[excuzzzeme]

Keep in mind that the first few spawns yield smaller broods and increase with time and maturity. Breeding too soon will often yield smaller offspring as well. The closer you can get to full adult size will usually yield better results.

 

[dbosman]

Hey guppy dude,
I think I"m on the right track with my selective mating, and apparently the females are being bred within that split second I mentioned.
dchild
www.riverbarktreasures.com

Your breeding arrangements may or may not have any effect on the babies for up to a year. Live bearers can retain sperm for a long time.

For breeding purposes you'll need to select virgin females and rear them separately. When they are large enough to be in good health, then you can start -your- breeding program. You have approximately three weeks to pull virgin females. Some breeders don't trust that female live bearer over two weeks old to be virgin.

A book that will help you is "Proper Care of Guppies" by Stan Shubel
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: TFH Publications (December 1995)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 086622615X
ISBN-13: 978-0866226158

The genetics in Philip Shaddock's books is wrong.

Grab, and archive, anything you can get from Guppy Labs.
Such as
http://www.poecilia.com/g-b.htm

You can get to the the guppy labs website via the Wayback machine.
for instance their first e-bulletin.
http://web.archive.org/web/20041102140910/www.chimbolo.com/guppylabs/archives/jan04.htm