[help] how to breed guppies?

[kenn777]

i'm planning to breed guppies myself... can anyone help me.. i dunno wat 2 prepare and wat to do... is guppies picky for sexing or they just making babies with every opposite sex guppies? how many male and female do i need in a tank? wat to do so that they'll make babies? how old guppies is proper to be fed to a checkered albino garter(40 cm long)? thx guyz.. really need some help here...

[Stefan-A]

Guppies are almost fool proof. You need a big enough tank, with plenty of vegetation both at the bottom and at the surface. The babies are born about 4 weeks after mating (IIRC) and first sink to the bottom and either find shelter there or head towards the surface. Guppies reproduce like crazy, but they'll eat the smallest babies.

There was something about the hardness of the water, that's was important too. Can't remember what it was, though. Some aqua-forum would probably be the best source of info on care and breeding.

[kenn777]

does it need a lot of attention? or just leave it mating n do nothing?

[Stefan-A]

They don't really need any attention, apart from normal maintenance. The guppies don't need to be encouraged to mate in any way and as long as the babies can hide from the adults, the fish will multiply pretty quickly. Just note that that it will take several months before the second generation is mature. You can speed it up a little by catching the babies that you find and raising them separately from the adults. Not only will they grow faster, more of them will survive of course.

[kenn777]

They don't really need any attention, apart from normal maintenance. The guppies don't need to be encouraged to mate in any way and as long as the babies can hide from the adults, the fish will multiply pretty quickly. Just note that that it will take several months before the second generation is mature. You can speed it up a little by catching the babies that you find and raising them separately from the adults. Not only will they grow faster, more of them will survive of course.

thx a lot.. one more thing though, so guppies arent picky about their mate? how many Fs and Ms do i need in a tank? thx man..

[GGarter]

Concerning the water quality, its not a big problem.
Of course the water should be changed regularly (half of the water changed) but you don't have to do anything about it besides that. Some species require additives such as chemicals to bind ions and organic compounds added to the water, but guppies are very hardy in that aspect.
To the male/female issue I wouldn't keep too many males compared to females as the males will court the females continuesly. If too many males are present the females might get stressed. I keep aproximately 3 males for every 7 females and the females are still pregnant almost continuesly.

I would recommend a quite deep aquarium because my experience tells me they breed more frequently, and it looks good too.

Bottom line is that guppies will breed in a bucket if fed properbly and getting enough oxygen...

[Stefan-A]

I don't completely agree that guppies are hardy, at least not the ones that have been bred for aquariums. Some (but definitely not all) breeds are very sensitive about stuff like pH, mineral content and even salinity. Apparently many of them are bred in brackish water and do better in that kind of environment than in fresh water. The problem is that you never really know which they are selling in the stores. The natural form is a completely different matter, they would indeed breed in a bucket of water and when I still kept guppies, I would have "killed" to get my hands on a few of those. I kept mine at a female-male ratio of 3:1.

[kenn777]

thx a lot guyz...

[anji1971]

I've never purposely tried to breed guppies, but when I got the first garter, I bought three or four feeder guppies to try her on. When she wouldn't eat them, I figured I'd just keep them in a little bowl as pets, and within a couple weeks I had 12!! So I don't think it will be very hard to get them going!!

[KITKAT]

Guppies... my area of childhood expertise!

First, water quality is EVERYTHING... but guppie babies are so small that normal filtration can suck them to oblivion... so frequent water changes are the route to success.

The second thing everyone makes a mistake on is size of container...

A ten gallon tank will hold ten adult guppies in healthy condition. One gallon to one inch of fish is the general rule, if you are using regular tank sizes (no hex, tall, bow front, or other funky proportions).

Next, is temperature. Guppies can live between 45 degrees farenheit, and 85 degrees farenheit. However, optimum breeding temperature is 78 degrees. More, and the metabolism runs high, making them eat more... foul the water more... and less, and the length of time between litters of babies increases.

Guppies do well with a TRACE amount of salt in their water. Get aquarium salt at the fish store and follow directions.

The healthiest strain of guppies I ever raised were crosses between fancy guppies and common (feeder) guppies.

It is hard to find healthy feeder guppies because pet store employees think of them as expendable, and touch them with their bare hands when counting them out. This usually does irreparable damage to them.