Someone tell a beginner like me, on how to Breed Guppies?

Could someone tell a beginner like me, on how to Breed Guppies
What do I have to know about breeding guppies?
Do I have to know if they are female and male?
How many males do I need?
How many females do I need?
How big of a tank do I need for breeding?

 

I would use a 20g for breeding.

1M to 2F is a good ratio to start.

It's really easy to tell males from females. Females are larger and usually have a mostly grey body. The analfin is rounded on females and pointed on males.

Make sure your tank has a lot of hiding places, the parents may eat the babies. The babies will eat algae and anything else small enough to fit in their mouths.

 

I have 6 guppies males. So how many females would I need?
Also can I use fake plants? or Do I need real plants?

I would use a 20g for breeding.

1M to 2F is a good ratio to start.

It's really easy to tell males from females. Females are larger and usually have a mostly grey body. The analfin is rounded on females and pointed on males.

Make sure your tank has a lot of hiding places, the parents may eat the babies. The babies will eat algae and anything else small enough to fit in their mouths.

How to tell the sex of guppies. Take all the fry and place in one tank, and whoever gets pregnant is Female, take the females and place in one tank, and take the males and place in a different tank. lol well I am not sure if that's the way to go. haha

 

You can use fake plants. Make sure they're silk, the plastic ones can be too sharp for the fish's fins.
Ideally you don't want the males to outnumber the females. They breed very quickly so if you don't want to get overwhelmed with babies you should trade a couple of the males for females.

I'll attach pictures of a female (top) vs male (bottom) guppy if that helps

 

It looks like I need a new fish tank, so I can breed the guppies. I get another 20 gal long. I want to breed to make money on Ebay. That is where I bought 3 male guppies.

 

You would really need a back up plan on selling guppies. Sometimes it doesnt work out how you think it will. Just a heads up on that.

 

What do you mean by back up plan. Do you mean with the guppy fry, or with females, or male guppy fish? or if I have enough fish to sell? or do you mean by shipping a fish in a box?

 

Like what do I do with these fish if they dont sell.

 

The fish, if they do not sell, is I keep the fish. and wait, until the fish sell, what do you think of my backup plan. lol.
After I get some fry I would separate males and females, to stop the breeding.

 

You will need a LOT of tanks for guppies. They breed super fast.

 

It looks like I need a new fish tank, so I can breed the guppies. I get another 20 gal long. I want to breed to make money on Ebay. That is where I bought 3 male guppies.

I’d suggest you think this through, including questions like. . .
1. After all the extra expenses and time involved with breeding fish, how much will you actually “make”? Or will the extra expense exceed what you can sell the fish for (meaning you could spend more than you make)?
2. What will you do with fish that don’t sell? Could unsold fish cause you to have to give them away or lead to more expenses (i.e., more tanks)?
3. How will you ship the fish and are you familiar with how to safely ship them? And who pays for shipping (which can be quite expensive)?
4. What will make your guppies different than those available in most local fish stores? In other words, what will draw buyers to your guppies? And make them willing to pay to have them shipped?

 

I'm not sure how to safely ship a fish. I would have to watch you=tube. Which I'm watching right now. I learned a lot.
Also with the guppy fry, if I have some fry left, couldn't I feed to the other guppies? Or I could separate the male and females. once I have some fry guppies. I'm not sure if I sell if I would make a profit, or not. I'm not experienced to know these things. I would have to take a chance and see what happens.

 

How to make a little money breeding fish.
Its simple really .
To make a little money breeding fish start with a big amount of money and you will soon have “ a little money “

But seriously I add a link to a channel from a tropical country that needs no heating and where it rains most days of the year so water changes fall from the sky. I would like to share this channel with you donnabright2002 as you are researching the hobby. Many of these fish are sold in your town no doubt? Note the number of tanks/ containers/ old refrigerators needed to separate males females and each batch of juveniles.

A worthwhile look.

 

i imagine maybe that the ones you cant sell maybe your LFS will take them for store credit? though it might be low store credit. its still store credit. i currently have 2 females and 1 male with a few snails in a 30gallon. not sure what im gonna do when they have babies. but ill let future me deal with that

 

Hi donnabright2002, I’ve tried guppies a couple of times over the 30+ years that I’ve been keeping fish. I was also looking forward to seeing babies and I recall the first time it happened (22 years ago) I did not even want to go to work. I wanted to watch the babies and perhaps even catch “momma” letting some live little babies loose into the aquarium. I had a 46 gallon bow front and plenty of room.

These things breed like rabbits. You don’t have to do anything except put opposite sex guppies together. The whole process becomes much less exciting except for the genetics and watching the babies grow out into adults to see what they’re going to look like.

You want more females than males because if you only had a few females along with your 6 males, the males would relentlessly chase the poor females to exhaustion/death. The females would have trouble eating because they’s get ambushed by males with the drive to mate constantly. They could never rest as they would need to be constantly on the move.

Keep in mind also, the females can carry the sperm inside and turn out babies even after being at home in your aquarium for six months by themselves without a male in your tank at all. I believe it has been found that they can hold the sperm for 10 months. So preventing the multiplying can be near impossible, even if you do separate males and females. Expect to constantly see babies in your female tanks regardless of your best efforts to put the brakes on breeding. Also, it seemed to be that temperature played a role in the sex of the offspring. Sometimes it seemed I had mostly male offspring, and at other times it seemed I had mostly female. That is just how it seemed to me at the time. I have no idea if that is a scientific fact or not, but it was an interesting realization for me in my experience.

In time, if water parameters remain good and you feed your fish, you may eventually need more new tanks. They are not referred to as “millions fish” for nothing. Lots of inbreeding comes with spinal deformities and the more fish in the aquarium, the more often you need to do water changes and fish can become stressed.

What to do with excess babies?

Maybe you can trade with another guppy breeder to add new genetics to your school.

Sure, the adults may eat some babies but not all. You could add an angelfish, or other larger fish, and hope they have an appetite for babies (mine did not, unfortunately).

You can make friends with a local fish store to trade off your excess guppies, as some have said.

You can put an add on social media or other online place with members in local proximity to you, but many people want them to feed their oscars or turtles, etc.

Shipping fish livestock comes with rules and regulations so if you intend to use an overnight service like FedEx, DHL, UPS, etc., you’d better check into their requirements. You may need to pass an exam of sorts and/or pay a fee as there are regulations for that sort of thing. Each state you ship to also has their own rules and you’d need to be aware of where you could send livestock, although I’m not sure guppies have many restrictions. I know certain plants do though.

I have had my fill of livebearers although I know many people do love them. I loved them while I had them but I am over them now. I’ve never kept any other livebearer and probably will stick to egg scatterers now. The snakeskin varieties were my favorites and if I happened to get some females with rainbow tails I was over the moon with happiness.

I ended up putting an add on a social media site with the ability to focus on my home area and I gave them all away, usually people wanted 5 or 6 (probably to feed to another larger fish or something) and I didn’t want to know so I didn’t ask. Some pretty colored fish were given away. At that time I was ready for a change and opted for one main larger fish for that 46 gallon aquarium to go with the bristlenose pleco and handful of corydora catfish.

Good luck with your guppies. Nobody can say you are going into it with your eyes closed now. I hope some of this info is helpful.

I'm not sure how to safely ship a fish. I would have to watch you=tube. Which I'm watching right now. I learned a lot.
Also with the guppy fry, if I have some fry left, couldn't I feed to the other guppies? Or I could separate the male and females. once I have some fry guppies. I'm not sure if I sell if I would make a profit, or not. I'm not experienced to know these things. I would have to take a chance and see what happens.

Why don’t you try to find a mentor who is already selling guppies online and ask them things like:

1. How profitable could a small scale (couple of 20 gallons aquariums) be?
2. How much do you spend on supplies? Boxes, boxing tape, styrofoam insulation for the boxes, breather bags, heat/cool packs, cushioning material for the bag inside the box.
3. How much do you spend on shipping? Are you able to squeeze out any profit from charging the customer more than it costs you? Can you offer any tips on livestock survival during the shipping process?
4. Which mutations are most desirable/profitable?
5. What lessons have you learned when starting your business and what would you suggest I consider before starting?
6. How do you control breeding and what do you do with excess babies?
7. What was the most challenging aspect to making money while selling fish online?

 

What will make your guppies different than those available in most local fish stores? In other words, what will draw buyers to your guppies? And make them willing to pay to have them shipped?

This is a very good pointer to be aware of. Why pay more (for shipping costs are involved) for the same guppy that I can buy at a store? You need to be sure that the guppies you wanna sell, that they're different from the ones at the stores to get the attention of potential buyers. People are very selective when they know that they have to pay more.

Could someone tell a beginner like me, on how to Breed Guppies
What do I have to know about breeding guppies?
Do I have to know if they are female and male?
How many males do I need?
How many females do I need?
How big of a tank do I need for breeding?

Maybe this link will help you a bit:
Fancy guppy 1 | emeraldking-aquatics
This is my own website. It's not commercial but an informative one. I do think it's important for you to read a lot about guppies.