Advice for a young Aquarian

[Marine Megan]

My 8 yr old son is wanting guppies and is intrested in breeding them to sell. He will be starting out small in the 3.5 gal and move on to a 5 or 10 gallon tank. What (kind of guppie) would be the best for him to make a profit on? (how ever small it may be lol)
(I breed American Miniature Horses and he is wanting to start his own little business like mom?)

 

[colinquilliam1]

Good on him. Its the males he should look at. People buy if they have nice colourings but they are cheap and he wont get much. My fiance breeds them 3 males to 2 females.

They like plenty of plants and rocks to hide the babies. Plus stops the others eating them. If he gets a birthing net you can move the mum before she has them. Females have the black spot underneath.

Good luck

 

[Toad]

It should be kept 1m per 2-3 females, more males than females and the girls will be stressed out and harrassed. Technically you don't even need males to start, as most pet store guppies are already pregnant when you buy them.

You'll want to start out with the biggest tank possible, 10 gallons would be minimum. Also, does he have someone set up to buy from him? I've had guppies for years and sometimes couldn't give them away, let alone find someone willing to buy them. And they breed constantly, females usually drop a batch about every month.

Not trying to put a damper on the idea, I've just seen a lot of people get into it and then get over their heads with cleaning tanks and fish that they can't get rid of making even more fish they can't get rid of.

 

[Marine Megan]

Good on him. Its the males he should look at. People buy if they have nice colourings but they are cheap and he wont get much. My fiance breeds them 3 males to 2 females.

They like plenty of plants and rocks to hide the babies. Plus stops the others eating them. If he gets a birthing net you can move the mum before she has them. Females have the black spot underneath.

Good luck

Thank you

 

[Marine Megan]

It should be kept 1m per 2-3 females, more males than females and the girls will be stressed out and harrassed. Technically you don't even need males to start, as most pet store guppies are already pregnant when you buy them.

You'll want to start out with the biggest tank possible, 10 gallons would be minimum. Also, does he have someone set up to buy from him? I've had guppies for years and sometimes couldn't give them away, let alone find someone willing to buy them. And they breed constantly, females usually drop a batch about every month.

Not trying to put a damper on the idea, I've just seen a lot of people get into it and then get over their heads with cleaning tanks and fish that they can't get rid of making even more fish they can't get rid of.

No...no buyers set up yet. Lol
Still researching and looking into things before he gets his toes wet. Looking into selectively breeding and not just consistently having fry once a month unless he has the demand for them. Males and female would be kept separate unless breeding.

 

[Toad]

Females can store sperm, once she's pregnant you're looking at babies for up to six months.

 

[Mebbid]

Successfully breeding a guppy strain takes a ton of tanks, but is very interesting. If you want to breed quality guppies look here: https://www.ifga.org/basicbreeding

 

[emerald76]

Hey,

I almost started breeding guppies years ago and I began with about thirty tanks, but there was no market and way too many fish. I could've filled every tank in a matter of months. I would highly recommend looking into one of the easier egglayers instead. They are a bit more difficult to breed but you're more likely to have a place to send all those fish. Especially if you don't breed one of the super high end guppies and cull carefully, you'll have a lot of plain or low quality fish that no one wants to buy. I don't want to put a damper on your plans, as I had lots of fun with guppies in smaller tanks that I wasn't trying to sell, but you really don't want to become overwhelmed and discouraged.