Non-breeding guppies!!

[lmw80]

Do NOT adjust your screen
Do NOT rub your eyes
Do NOT clean off your glasses

You have read correctly.

Ever since Daniel and I moved from NJ to PA our guppies have not been breeding. At first we thought it was the initial stress of the move, but we now think between the stress of the move and the subtle differences in the water, the combination of the two has caused them to stop breeding.

I had one pregnant female who got what looked to be a hernia of sorts and did not make it.

It's a brackish tank - [acronym:2787d071f5="Specific gravity"]sg[/acronym:2787d071f5] of 0.005 that houses guppys and a knight goby (poulation control). I am upset about the non-breeding for a couple of reasons....first and foremost...healthy guppies breed - end of story. 2nd reason, the babies provide live food for the knight goby. He has gotten much thinner, and while he will take the sinking meat pellet, he doesn't always eat all of it or any of it.

Today after work, I stopped by the [acronym:2787d071f5="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:2787d071f5] and got a male/female pair. Hopefully with the introduction of new "blood" I can kickstart the whole breeding process again.

[Regen311]

My guppies aren't really breeding either. I got some females from my sister, whose guppy had babies, and then bought a male. Her guppies seem to be doing just fine in the breeding department, mine however, are not. I have male/female mollies as well and no babies from them either.

[JohnPaul]

While normally it seems guppies don't need any help, I know with many other harder-to-breed species, often getting some live food in their diet helps to encourage them to breed. Do you currently feed your guppies anything live? If not, perhaps it is worth a shot.

[lmw80]

I have heard that live food is a great conditioner for breeding, however, since I am not currently "breeding", only hoping for babies more for food, I didn't think it would be the proper investment for me.

When I do try my hand at breeding gouramis, I will definitly try the live foods...thanks!

[youronlysin]

I could send you some of my guppy fry. Mine seem to be quite prolific at the moment. I look in my tanks on a daily basis and havent noticed any fry in the community tank, but I did a complete substrate change last night and after moving rocks around I stirred up several babies. I still have about 35 one month old fry in a 10 gallon tank and now I see about 7 new ones in the community tank. I thought leaving the parents in the community tank would provide for some population control, but Im gonna get overwhelmed here real quick. Do you have any fish shipping materials? Just send it to me and Ill send it back full of fry.

[frog girl]

I have a mosquito fish (gambusia) that was accidentally introduced to my aquarium it is not quite as colorful as guppies but pretty nice & she is a female. I have never looked at a male close up. They are normally pond fish used for mosquito control & as you say feeding other fishes. They might be more tolerant of your brackish conditions & like guppies they are live bearers that breed like rabbits.

I have never kept a brackish tank so I don't know much about them but I do know that guppies come from very fresh water streams in a tropical area (I think an island in the Caribbean). Anyway maybe the extra salt is making them unhappy.

My gambusia get quite a bit bigger than guppies but there are many species & they last all winter in freezing weather & do fine in 80 degrees when parts of the pond really heat up. In fact mine seem to prefer the really warm areas - especially the pregnant females. They will nearly beach themselves sometimes in an effort to lay in the sun .

[Regen311]

Can't be the salt, my sisters tank with more salt than mine (I have snails and cory cats, she doesn't), is doing fine. Her guppies are happily breeding like crazy.

[TankGirl]

That is interesting, Lori. I recently moved one of my Endler's tanks over to my father-in-law's house and since they have been moved they have not bred, either, and that is extremely unusual, as you know. It has been 3 months or so. I am thinking the stress of the move has caused it and I think the only thing to do is what you have done, add new blood, and wait.

It is not critical for my FIL but for you the relationship is symbiotic so I hope things get rolling soon - I think you have done the right thing by adding a new pair.

[FancyGuppyGuy]

how old is your fish food??

[lmw80]

TankGirl - the male is MIA - the only thing I can think of that the goby ate him, which is weird cause there are females in the tank that are smaller than he was. I can only hope he made some friends with the girls before he went.

FancyGuppyGuy-the flakes are recently new, the freezedried foods, a little older, a few moths. We give them a variety of the flakes and freezedried.