lyndatu

Hello

We are planning to keep a guppy tank. We also want them to breed. However, what are the requirements for guppies to breed? But maybe they don't need any requirements to breed because they are very prolific breeders? Thanks in advance!

Dino

Lots of floating plants for the fry to hide in.
We pull most of our guppy fry to be placed in a grow out tank.
As for the making fry end of things, the guppies will take care of that themselves.

Jessemama

ive been thinking about getting guppies and breeding them since i will have a nice size tank that at the moment has no fish in it. So basically once the female has the fry keep them serperated for a while even though guppies will be the only fish in the tank??

Chief_waterchanger

You can either pull the females and use what is known as a birthing tank. (A birthing tank is just a heavily planted tank (usually 3-10 gallon for smaller fish) that is used to house the female until she is finished having babies, then she is moved back to the original tank and the birthing tank becomes a grow out tank.)

Or you can leave the females alone, let her have the babies in the original tank and net out the babies to put into a grow out tank as you see them. (Make sure to have plenty of dense floating and midwater plants for this method.)

Or you can leave everything alone and see how many survive, usually you'll have one or two survive if you have some hiding places, even if not pulled.

We recently had a female guppy left in her original tank with 4-5 other guppies have 43 fry that we pulled. That is the method that works for us the best, but find what works for you.

(There is no right and wrong as to which method you choose to use. )

susitna-flower

Hi Lyndatu, What did you do with the fish you had in the tank? I see you are going ahead with plans to have guppies. Hope it works out for you.

MagpieTear

I was under the impression Guppies were like dust bunnies and dandylions... Turn your attention away from them for a few seconds and when you return, there will be more.

Barbrella

I was wondering the same thing myself....

COBettaCouple

Yes, with guppies, the question is how to keep them from breeding. Livebearers are great reproducers and guppies may be the best of them all. Just provide hiding spots for the guppies like floating plants, guppy grass and even changing the substrata to marbles, along with plants and caves.

lyndatu

Hello

My old fish? I was originally planning to kill them all, but I realized that this would make me an evil fish monster, so I found them homes in the nearby LFS. They seem happy. Thanks for the concern!

Guppies in the store are a little expensive, so I'm planning to get 2 females and 1 male to have my own baby guppies. I'm very excited! I want them to breed and breed! The tank is now cycling, as well as the quarantine/fry tank. I'm also to planning to get a Ghost Shrimp to clean up the leftover food, and a pleco(not a common pleco) to clean off algae. Thanks for all the info, you make me so excited! Come on ammonia! Go down!

Here's a pic of my main 20-gallon tank. Sorry it's quite blurry.......I'm only using a camera phone......also the tank is foggy either from bacterial bloom or the gravel isn't clean enough.......

Light on:


Light off:



This was really the original design, but we forgot about the bulky air pump of the overhead filter, so we changed it a bit.


Ammonia reading after adding ammonia: higher than 8.0!


I'm so excited to see them live out and breed. Thanks all!

guppiemaster892

My guppies just get pregnant from just being in the tank with 2 or 3 guppies. When i got my female guppy, she was already pregnant. I have 3 males and 1 female. So she will be having more guppies. She already had 16.

Austin {Aquarist}

Guppies really don't need much to breed but if you want the fry to live you should include java moss in the tank for them to hide so the Other guppies don't eat them : \

swords3711

Uh oh, the question is how to keep them from breeding...lol

Just remember your nitrate levels will spike when your ammonia drops in order to complete the cycle

Coryd55

Ahh I want to start breeding guppies eventually. After I have had my halfblacks for a few days I love them. Two of my females are already pregnant lol. Hes a stud.....well hes just being a male guppy I guess. Anyways the LFS that I bought them from said they would buy the fish once they started showing color in the tail. So I want to setup up a 29G breeding tank, 10G fry tank, and a 30 long grow out tank. Just have a few colors and tails in the breeding tank and see what comes out. Put them in the fry tank til they get too big and then switch them to a 30 long growout for a few months until they show color and then sell them back to the LFS and then end up building a fish house and have a huge guppy thing going down. I don't plan on doing true strains and all. Just making babies, growing them, and selling them. Keeping the occasional ones to breed more.

angelfish220

I had a tank and was trying to breed my guppies but the zebra danios beat them to it!

swords3711

u need a male and a female and ur good...lol

guppiemaster892

If you want a lot of babies then just get a couple of males and get a couple of females. BOOM! You got babies!

Chief_waterchanger

It is recommended to have atleast 2 females per male. You do not need more than one male to keep 20-30 constantly pregnant females going. It is smart if you have a decent size tank to use 2 males and have the rest of the tank taken up with females, incase one of the males die.