Guppy Breeding???

[NinjaTetra]

Well with the near completion of my 37 gallon show tank I have a new project in mind- breeding guppies. I have my old 10 gallon, so I'll just use that... I'll probably take out the decoration, switch and out the gravel and water, and plant it... Some java moss at the bottom, a bit of pennyowort at the top and some hornwort and anacharis all throughout the tank, anchored, for hiding spots for fry will be good right? I have 4 male Endlers livebearers, I was thinking about getting a female guppy of some sort. I figure I can then get a red or orange male guppy (the endlers are blue, green, and yellow) and fairly well choose which one I want to have with the female. My questions are: where do you get infusoria? About how many fry can I count on surviving, and about how many born? I don't want to euthanize any fry, is there anywhere specifically that would take them?? I'll have to ask my lfs if I can give (not even sell necessarily) them fry, but is there some guppy pick-up agency I never got the memo about? Which I highly doubt. As far as I know, nobody near me wants to buy fish... I wouldnt mind terribly to keep them as pure bred endlers if that means I could get rid of them. I have blue and tiger varieties, looking for var.. cobra atm.

 

[pcdebb]

FYI: If you have 4 male endlers, you will need plenty more females. 1 male to 3 or 4 females. The males wanna do it ALL the time one female for all those males and she'll be dead.

 

[Mebbid]

To properly breed livebearers you need at minimum 7 tanks.

1 - 5 gallon breeding tank
2 - fry grow out tanks 20g+ (40 breeders are best)
4 - 10g+ tanks to separate the males and females.

You need to keep 2 separate strains going that you can cross every 4 generations or so to keep the line healthy.

The process is to basically start with a breeding trio of 2f and 1m. Once the females are obviously pregnant separate them into two separate tanks and allow them to give birth. Keep the babies from the two females separate in the grow out tanks until they can be sexed. At that point separate them into their respective sexes into the 10g tanks. Once they grow select the best duo out of each batch and mate them together. Rinse and repeat. Cross the best ones out of each batch every 4 generations.

The other way without any predictable results and resulting in random traits is to throw them all in the same tank and let nature take its course. These are going to give bland colored fish however.

Lastly, crossing endlers and guppies is a big nono. Keep the strains pure and you will have an easier time unloading them.

 

[NinjaTetra]

Okay... So from what your saying, I can possibly have one batch of fry in the 10 gallon, unload the fish, and repeat? Without great colored fish... Hmmm... Maybe I'll forget the project and just keep a shrimp-tetra combo, and let the shrimp do any and all the breeding. Thanks!!!

 

[Mebbid]

Okay... So from what your saying, I can possibly have one batch of fry in the 10 gallon, unload the fish, and repeat? Without great colored fish... Hmmm... Maybe I'll forget the project and just keep a shrimp-tetra combo, and let the shrimp do any and all the breeding. Thanks!!!

If you wanted to breed in one tank then your best bet would be to get a true or nearly true breeding trio and just leave them there. That way the offspring will look similar and not get the randomization that mixing will bring. Another neat option is to go with wild type guppies which are amazing looking in their own right although they can be hard to find.

wildguppies.com