Raising baby guppies...

[val]

I have set up a tank for a friend with extremely prolific guppies. I have had at least three birthings in the past 3 months. Now, I've read that the males will be stunted and not grow their tail to full size if they have sex prior to attaining maturity. Is this true? For the oldest batch, I'm just now able to see some sexual differences and can tell the difference between males and females. Should I separate them and how big do they have to get before I can reintroduce them into the general population? How old are they before they are fully mature?

TIA

Val

 

[wetmanNY]

What is it about sex that puts us in such a panic? Such fantasies are sometimes fired by religious teachings. If you were doing laboratory- controlled breeding, you'd want to segregate the males from the females before there was any chance of some random crosses. But your parietal rules are less restrictive I'm sure.

Stunting does follow crowded conditions. Lots of water changes and plenty of room make for big strong guppies.

 

[swany]

Yeah right Wetman!! They may go blind too!!!

Val,
The question is if you want to maintain a pure color strain. If so, you need to separate males from the females before their gonopodium develops. Usually at the age of one month (depending on growth). This will keep the less desirable males from fertilizing the females.

I'm not sure what you mean about the general population. The guppies I have give birth in the same tank as the adult live and continue to grow their until they are mature. Maturity and growth have a lot to do with space, water quality and food. Under the right conditions you will have really nice fish in 4-6 months. Although some guppy strains can take longer to develop.

 

[val]

I don't care much about the color strains, just that the male guppies are attractive in general. The tank is in a child's playspace/party center that is called "Guppy's" which is why I set them up with guppies (otherwise I would have done GF).

So, if the males can live in the tank, reproducing all the while, and still grow their tail fins to full size, then I'm happy.

Val