Saltwater & Reef

shadyfish · 04-09-2011, 12:14 PM

I've gotten tired of feeding my barracuda fathead minnows. So I went and got 4 guppies (2 male 2 female) I want to breed them and use the fry as feeders once they get to the right size. I figure they will be healthier than the diseased rosys petsmart gives me. I've never bred fish before so can anyone give me some pointers?

alLexX · 04-09-2011, 12:28 PM

get more females

pizza guy · 04-09-2011, 12:41 PM

Here is a website.
How to Breed Guppies - wikiHow

EndlersEatGuppies · 04-11-2011, 10:59 AM

If you want to breed and not care about them as pets but 3 males for 2 females and wait for the magic to happen.

BigJim · 04-11-2011, 11:17 AM

Breeding guppies is like trying to hit the ground when you throw a ball. It's pretty hard not to. I would get one male for every three females. I know my male guppies have no problem harassing more than one female.

Shetland James · 04-11-2011, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigJim

Breeding guppies is like trying to hit the ground when you throw a ball.

I lol'd hard. (I have to explain this comment for the sake of the user 'Hobnob' or whatever. I found this comment FUNNY, I was not laughing because I thought that Jim was wrong.)

Breeding guppies is easy, easy, easy. Get as much females as you like. Get 10, 20! As long as you have a suitable team of males to give them a good seeing to you'll be fine. At best, you'll have a fresh batch of little guppies every 21 days. They're about 2mm when born though, not big! Another suggestion is Platies or most Mollies. Both live bearers and produce at larger numbers, with Mollies gestation period being a bit longer (balloons can take about a month)

shadyfish · 04-11-2011, 12:06 PM

I need a quick gestation time these are not pets but food so the quicker I can get them born matured is better for me

Shetland James · 04-11-2011, 12:09 PM

Turn up the heat then. Fish, probably most but don't hold me on that, tend to grow quicker and thus live shorter if you have a higher temperature. Their metabolism is generally faster. Also, remember to feed your breeders live foods or highly meaty foods - you'll get a better product.

I don't know if you need to grow the babies or not but if you do then consider feeding the newly borns baby brine shrimp or daphnia, as this meaty food will encourage growth and development.

You're looking at gestation of guppies to generally be in the late 20's as far as days are concerned, but as I mention there are ways to semi-naturally accelerate the process.

EDIT:

Also, if you have a local fish store (instead of a chain) you could ask them NOW if you could pay, say, an extra 20p/c on female guppies if they'd move them into a tank with some males (they are kept seperate in most shops) so that when you pick them up they are already pregnant. Problem here would be that you'd get a whole bunch of babies at the same time, but this isn't too bad because a} you don't have to feed them all right away and b} probably within hours, possibly even minutes after the last baby has popped out the big momma will be pregnant again. Watch guppies for even 20 seconds and you'll see males trying it on with any female guppy nearby. It's pretty relentless. Sometimes they'll chase the female around constantly. It must be exhausting.

Hobgob · 04-11-2011, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shetland James

I lol'd hard.

Breeding guppies is easy, easy, easy. Get as much females as you like. Get 10, 20! As long as you have a suitable team of males to give them a good seeing to you'll be fine. At best, you'll have a fresh batch of little guppies every 21 days. They're about 2mm when born though, not big! Another suggestion is Platies or most Mollies. Both live bearers and produce at larger numbers, with Mollies gestation period being a bit longer (balloons can take about a month)

Are you dumb read things. It's says hard NOT TO as in its Easy