Just my preference and after many years of breeding them succesfully its still working today. But yes more than 5 per strain after the first 1-2 gens. Not to mention if you want to do it correctly (not just if you can manage) then youll need a whole new set of tanks to introduce a new trio of that same strain as to avoid inbreeding. But hey, if you can manage to breed for generations correctly while introducing new blood to the strain for health and avoiding inbreeding, then please share. Until then ill stick to my way & the way taught to me by an old IFGA standards judge.
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I could care less about the IFGA standards. They are the Self proclaimed guppy gods....they know it all and go way to far with it, way to serious about it. These are little fish that live for 1.5-2 years max, not show dogs.
I dont know of a way to keep pure guppies properly without at least 8 tanks, two lines of the same strain. Just like you. And me personally....No, No way am i keeping 8 tanks just to keep one pure strain. Its not worth it unless you have a basement or large room where you can setup alot of tanks. I just dont have the space for such an operation, but believe me i could.
The problem with IFGA is the way they say "This guppy's tail has to be such size"
I understand that its no diffrent than say a dog show, but personally such large tails are unhealthy for male guppies.
Im sure there are some nice people in the ifga, but its not something i ever care to get into or be a part of personally. My dad use to be a member and showed and won guppy contest back in the 70s and early 80s. He even beat Stan shubel once in female HB Blue.....But for me they are too crazy about fish being perfect. Ive seen them reccomend to people to cull guppies that i would consider breeders!
The method that im gonna try, is the same the fish farms use. Mix males and mix females seperately in same sex tanks, but have diffrent strains. Mate the same colored Strains in a 5 gallon, return to ten gallon, and raise the fry together until you can tell what strain and what sex they are.
In theory you could keep 3 strains of guppies pure in only 4 tanks.
1 ten for males, 1 ten for females, 1 for fry, and a 5.5 for mating.
Its also easier for the smaller tailed males to hit the females, especially in a smaller 5 gallon tank.
Just the way i am gonna do it. Pet store varieties are also easy to get fresh blood whenever you want.
