Guppy and Platy breeding

[saiwong]

Hello,



I purchased some new Platies and Guppys yesterday. However when added to the tank the existing male guppy was constantly chasing the new female Platy and ignoring all the female Guppys!!! Felt sorry for the female Platy so moved her to a different tank. I had hoped the male guppy would turn attention to the female Guppys but so far ZERO interest. Does anyone know why ?



Previously my male guppy's have always chased the female guppys and nothing has changed in the aquarium so it is very puzzling why male guppys are now not interested in the new female guppys.

 

[Autumnsky]

Do you know your water parameters?

Sometimes out of the safe zone water parameters cause fish to act crazy?

And sometimes, there is a particular jerk fish.

What size tank is it, how long has it been set up?

Do you know how the nitrification cycle works, you can check out the Aquarium Advice article in my signature link and find out useful information regarding making fish keeping better.

Also as a side note, the female is likely already pregnant and they can continue to reproduce for around 6 months after breeding with a male. So either way, you will likely have babies.

Do you have other tanks and foods available for the babies of the Guppies and Platies after they are born?

 

[Colin_T]

If you want to breed guppies and platies, have several tanks. One tank for males, one tank for females, one or more tanks for babies to grow up, and one tank for breeding the males and females.

Female common livebearers like guppies, platies, swordtails and mollies can carry sperm packets from previous matings for up to 6 months or even longer. They use these sperm packets to fertilise eggs when conditions are good. So even if you breed a pr now, the female can choose to use that sperm packet now or 6-12 months later. This means you won't know what the babies will be for a while.

If you want to breed for a particular colour, let the females use up all the sperm packets and when they haven't produced any more babies for 3+ months, then put a male with the female for a week. They will breed and then you can move the female back to her tank where she will use the sperm packets to fertilise eggs and produce young.


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As for the guppy being a jerk, all male livebearers are. Guppies and most common livebearers are territorial and hang out in groups of males or females. They have a pecking order with a dominant male or female bullying lower ranking fish to keep them in their place.

 

[saiwong]

Do you know your water parameters?

Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 5ppm

so everything is good.

The male guppy only seemed interested in the female platy.
I placed the female platy in a separate tank and
place all my guppies into a hatchy to see if the male would gain interest in
the females. However, sadly he did not.

After about 5 days I returned the female platy to the tank and the
mail guppy continued interest trying to chase and mate with the female platy.

Can a male guppy just feel that some females are just not his "type" ?

So is picking the correct male and female guppy's to like eachother
just a lottery and pot-luck to get a pair that likes eachother ?

 

[Colin_T]

Can a male guppy just feel that some females are just not his "type" ?

So is picking the correct male and female guppy's to like each other
just a lottery and pot-luck to get a pair that likes each other ?

Fish have their own preferences just like people and most animals. Some males like some females and not others.

If you have a number of males and females, they can usually choose their own partners.

Can you post a picture of the male guppy and female platy, just to make sure they are guppy and platy and not something else?

 

[Autumnsky]

I would remove the annoying male which is pestering the female and give him a "time out" and the other fish a rest.

Their breeding instinct is continual, so it isn't usual for a male to ignore the females in Guppies. In the years of keeping Guppies and Endlers, they usually just chase females non stop. mainly certain females the most, but usually any would be the rule.

Do you only have one of the specific kind of male you want to breed to the female Guppy?

Can you test out the chasing thing and if you were to put the pestering male in with only, say 3 female Guppies, does he chase them, with no other (Platy) choices? It isn't that important to test it out, but I am curious.