Guppy Breeding Plan

[Stargazer.]

Hey guys , just wanted to seek others opinion on my current guppy breeding setup. Any advice and comments would be appreciated.

My breeding setup is a combination of line and colony breeding, which goes by the following:

I'll be running 2 lines of the same strain with 4 tanks per line, so a total of 8 tanks. Each line contains a trio of guppies which are of the same strain obtained from different breeders, so they aren't directly related.

In terms of the setup both of the lines will be setup the same way.

So firstly for the 1st tank I'll be running a 15 gal for the trio of guppies. Once the females have dropped fry I'll instantly move the fry into the 2nd tank which will be a 10 gal for the fry to be in for a few weeks (2 or 3 weeks). Then I'll transport the fry from the 2nd tank to a 3rd tank which will be a 40 gal grow out tank. Once im able to identify the males and females from the 3rd tank, I'll move the males into the 4th tank which is also a 40 gal grow out tank and the females will remain in the 3rd tank.
This process will be happening in both of my lines, then I will get the best males from Line 1 and transport them into Line 2's initial trio and vice versa. The best females of both lines however will remain in their respective lines by being placed with the initial trio of guppies in the 15 gal. The remainder of the unwanted male and females in the 40 gal will be sold to my lfs.

That basically sums up my approach and would like to hear your thoughts on this approach. I'm hoping this tactic will minimise deformities in the guppies and enhance particular characteristics present in the strain of guppies i choose to breed. As i will be constantly taking in the best males from each line and crossing them with the females from the opposite line.

 

[Colin_T]

I would try to keep the original trios separated from each other and the offspring. I wouldn't add the young to the breeding tank.

I would try to have 6 or more females per male in the breeding tank. This reduces the stress on the females.

I would let the young females grow to a year old (at least 6 months if you don't want to wait a year) and then put them in a breeding tank with a few nice males and leave them together for a couple of weeks, then separate them so the males go back into their own tank. The females can then be kept in a female only tank with lots of plants and allowed to give birth without males being present. When the females have used up all the sperm packets from the different matings, then you can put them with a different male/s.

I would try to get more unrelated bloodlines, even if it's just males. The more bloodlines (variation) you have to begin with, the fewer deformities and health issues that should arise over the years. You can do it with just 2 bloodlines but more is better.

 

[emeraldking]

Well, using breeder fish that are of the same strain but obtained from different sources could still be far related to eachother. But that's not that important in your case. inbreeding for the first couple of generations won't result in deformities or bad quality guppies. For all breeding forms of guppies are a result of first generations of inbreeding to enhance certain traits. But after 4-5 generations it will be wise to add new blood or further related specimens to the breeding project.
Of the F1 generation, you can divide those in a number of groups as well. And let them grow up as separate groups to use for mixing up in later generations. This works as well.