Guppy Breeding Program

[Buck Sh0t]

I was wondering how some of you guys eventually get to that perfect guppy strain? I am going to start breeding my guppies soon and i just dont know much about what i need to do to get a good strain going. Anything specifically you guys do that after a few generations they start to look like a show guppy? Thanks!

[jetajockey]

The most important thing is to cull often. Figure out what you are going for, whether it is large finnage, or a certain coloration, and segregate the ones that show the best of this trait.

If you want to take it a step further, separate them by sex as soon as possible, and then pair up the best specimens of the two. Repeat this over and over and each successive generation should be closer to what your goal is.

[kdpuffer]

You should also look on google, I found a link on breeding guppies a while ago that I found very helpful. It detailed the common color/fin varieties and also said which gender caries the genes on to the fry. Apparently in some varieties it's only the female that passes on the desired traits. I recently got into guppy breeding as feeder fish that I can appreciate looking at.

[Buck Sh0t]

Well i was kind of wanting to do grass guppys or cobras or snakeskins, any advise as to how i should be sure that they dont start to look like wild guppies?

[kdpuffer]

Well the first thing to do would be to Seperate the males and females from each other and you will then need to wait 3 months. Guppies give live birth and a female guppy can hold a males guppy goo for up to three months and self fertilize with it. After the three months you want to introduce a female to your selected male, works best if kept in a tank just the two of them. Let him do his seduction thing then remove the female. As far as a good idea on timeline till he plants his seed I have no idea. Once the female is read to give birth, squared off, put her in a breeding trap/box so have her fry. Once she is done put her back with the females and the best thing in my experience is to release the fry into thier own grow out tank. They grow faster that way. I just breed mine as pretty live feeder fish so I leave the males with the females and don't worry about color.

[PoppaRyno]

Remember also that breeding a wild strain in every 3rd generation is very beneficial. It helps keep your lineage strong and healthy by passing on the immunities and hardyness obtained in the wild.

Also beware of breeding nets\traps because it can stress the female out. For feeders thats perfect, but in my experience i get bigger fry drops when the fem is free swimming. A good way is to put her in the tank your gonna grow the fry in abt a few days\week before shes ready to pop. And when shes done remove her back to her regular tank and the fry can go undisturbed. You can usually tell they are abt ready to pop when the body "squares off". Hope this helps.

[kdpuffer]

That's actually a good idea with moving the female, only issue is her eating the fry, has that been an issue for you?

[PoppaRyno]

Keep her well fed, but always remove her as soon as you can after giving birth. Guppies are omnivores so if it fits in their mouths, most likely theyll try it. But plants in the fry tank will give them places to hide to avoid hungry mom.

[kdpuffer]

Next go around I'm def gonna try that, I hate stuffing mom in a breeder box.

[Buck Sh0t]

Awesome suggestions, ill definitely try this, how many gallons do you guys usually have for a fry tank?

[PoppaRyno]

I use a 10gl bare bottom tank, foam filter, plastic plants floating for hideouts. The bare bottom is because baby fry will swim into the gravel to hide, when spooked, get stuck die and decompose. But youll never know til your water turns toxic from babies you cant see rotting. That was a hard lesson learned by me. Lol. Here is a pic of one of the fry tanks i have.

[Buck Sh0t]

Anyone else want to post pictures of guppies they've bred or their breeding set up? Just curious as to how people are doing it themselves!

[DwarfGouramiCrazy]

I've been breeding guppies for a few years now. At first I let them breed freely, but after about a year I decided to try and get a pure strain of blue guppies. After giving away all my other ones, I was left with 6 or 7 guppies, all from the same father. Its been about three months since then, and I am still getting random coloured fry at times, but mainly blue ones, just like I want!

[PoppaRyno]

I too am working on a blue strain. Blue diamond to be exact

[jetajockey]

Here's a few of the guppies I have been breeding. They haven't been too prolific unfortunately, but I think if my source water is a bit soft for their liking.
full gold


chili endler

RREA redgrass thai


bluegrass thai



platinum mosaic thai

[joyaust]

I am also just starting to specifically breed, I let her have one batch of random drops,I have now matched her with my beautiful male, just to see what happens I have a 15lt fry tank I will move her to very soon, what is a blue diamond guppy, my two males look similar to the Thai ones shown,

[joyaust]

Originally Posted by jetajockey

Here's a few of the guppies I have been breeding. They haven't been too prolific unfortunately, but I think if my source water is a bit soft for their liking.
full gold

chili endler

RREA redgrass thai

bluegrass thai

platinum mosaic thai

Did you start with particularly fabulous fish or have you worked your way up breeding. I have added a pic of my Dave male because I am just in love with him

[kdpuffer]

Wow nice guppies, my operation is week compared to that, I have a green cobra male and some mixed females. I also have another small male that is just starting to color up red and blue with a long sword tail. Should be nice when he gets bigger.

[jetajockey]

Those are all imported lines apart from the chili endlers that I received from a friend.

[Aron]

First, apologies for the picture quality they were so active and I tried to picture them with my phone!

This is my blue lyre tail guppy that I tried forever to breed and finally a couple month back a regular looking female finally kicked out some little fry which grew up with his tail and fin features!





The adult





One of his fry a little older now but still developing colour and size every day!





Also in this picture I have a yellow cobra guppy who has grown with the tail feature. Maybe just an anomaly or a variation!?