questions about guppy raising

ssuchem13

ssuchem13

Tower Tank Master
Oct 4, 2011
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chicagoland
Real Name
Eric
so i have a batch of guppy babies that are almost 3 weeks old and are starting to develop color, but only some actually have black tails like the mom, the rest are clear. so at what age can i put them back in the tank with the mom, im not really trying to be supper effective at breedingjust tryin to give them a fighting chance.\once i can tell what their colors will be i will either feed the non colored ones to m,y ram/gourami if they are small enough, or throw them in my pond with the mosquito fish. also at what age can you fully tell their basic coloring?
 
if you're just messing around then you can put it with the mom in a week or so, they really only eat very small ones. and usually by 1.5 months you should be able to tell distinct colors but sometimes it takes longer. By 3 months you can breed them again typically but again it varies.
 
FYI, the ones that look like they have color now will most likely be male. Generally livebearers, along with most fish, should have fewer males than females in your tank so that the females dont get stressed to death by constant "adoration" from the males. Should you choose to only keep the colored fry and feed the rest, you will have an unbalanced population in no time. Females generally start developing color I've noticed at around 2 months and some of my female keepers have been more brightly colored at 3 months than my male culls who were prettier at 1-2 months.
 
Not all females will eat their young, some will while others won't. However, if you are going to be a serious breeder, you will need to separate the males and female fry. Preventing them from mating at a young age will help to develop healthy and larger off-spring. Having births at a young age induces smaller broods as well as smaller fish. Just because they can breed doesn't mean they should be allowed to. I have been reading about temperature affecting the sex of the guppy and still researching that.

The culling of less than perfect off-spring will help to ensure a healthy colony. Taking the time to do this will result in people knowing you have quality stock over the average person that has too many because they didn't take time and pay attention. Although I am neither an IFGA member or breeder, I still do what I can to provide a healthy stock. It pays off more in recognition than monetarily. Sometimes having bragging rights makes it all worth it. I no longer breed guppies and only do it when I feel like it. After this summer I may have more time and get back into breeding again.
 
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vwill279 said:
FYI, the ones that look like they have color now will most likely be male. Generally livebearers, along with most fish, should have fewer males than females in your tank so that the females dont get stressed to death by constant "adoration" from the males. Should you choose to only keep the colored fry and feed the rest, you will have an unbalanced population in no time. Females generally start developing color I've noticed at around 2 months and some of my female keepers have been more brightly colored at 3 months than my male culls who were prettier at 1-2 months.
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ok thank you good to know, the tank the moma is in is densely planted with lots of floating hornwort, im debating putting them back in now and maybe culling one or two of the dark ones. and really im not serious about it, id just like to eventually have a good food source for when i get my big tank and oscar in a few months, so a breeding colony is all i want really.
 
ssuchem13 said:
id just like to eventually have a good food source for when i get my big tank and oscar in a few months, . . .
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Unless you plan on gut-loading them your Oscar is going to starve trying to eat them. Pellets are far more nutritional than guppies ever will be. Today's foods have more vitamins and needed nutrients that aquarium raised fish need. Oscar's need a varied diet to thrive as do all fish. Do not confuse a tank raised Oscar with a wild one. There are far more nutrients available in the wild than in a tank. Feeding them guppies does nothing for the needs of their diet.
 
Hmmm I've been trying to breed guppies myself and I've been having horrible luck. I keep my aquarium very under stocked.. I had 4 male guppies and 6 female guppies in a 55 gallon.

So far I've lost two male guppies for no reason and my largest female guppy also died for no apparent reason. I cycled the tank with three zebra danio (which are alive and well) and used old media from another aquarium to get BB in the tank. In fact I lost a guppy this morning after doing a 50% water change this weekend and adding Prime, weird???

My guppies just don't seem to live long. I've had a problem with them eating the fry as well though I've tried to provide a lot hiding places, I feed the fry to my clawed frogs as treats as the frogs will hunt them (honestly they've only managed to eat maybe 3 of them out of the 6 I had in there over the course of a month..).

I am interested in breeding feeders but I apparently have seriously bad luck with keeping guppies alive..
 
excuzzzeme said:
Unless you plan on gut-loading them your Oscar is going to starve trying to eat them. Pellets are far more nutritional than guppies ever will be. Today's foods have more vitamins and needed nutrients that aquarium raised fish need. Oscar's need a varied diet to thrive as do all fish. Do not confuse a tank raised Oscar with a wild one. There are far more nutrients available in the wild than in a tank. Feeding them guppies does nothing for the needs of their diet.
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i was gonna gut load them, and i planned on feeding pellets most of the time anyhow, just something every now and then as a treat/ something for it to hunt. also i plan on feeding some of the small fry to my betta aswell. idk just seems like live food every once in awhile would be enjoyed by the oscar, it wont be its sole ndiet for sure.
 
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