Beginner Guppy Breeder

[AquaticHamster]

Hi.

I've recently taken up guppy breeding and I need a few questions answered.

1. How do I know when my female guppies are ready to drop?

2. Should I use a trap/breeders net?

3. I have two males and three females. Should I put all three females with one male or just two with one male? (I've heard different things)

4. How do I know if my females are pregnant or not?

5. Where can I sell the fry to if needed?

I bought all my females at petsmart and one of them looked pregnant when I got her. My friend who also breeds guppies says she is but Ive had her a week and shes shown no change. Shes more rounded and fatter then my first female which is fairly skinny compared but my third female is bigger then the first and shes apparently not pregnant. Ill try to post pictures later.

Also: I have a one gallon which is currently housing the guppies and I have a two gallon ready for the fry. Should this be enough? I dont plan to have a whole lot. And yes I know, the one gallon is kinda crowded with the four guppies but they wont all stay there. After the fry are born I plan to move a couple of them to another tank. I have a ten gallon as well but thats already full with 9 fish. My friend told me this should be enough but I just wanted to make sure.

Thanks!

~AquaHam

 

[fish48]

1. How do I know when my female guppies are ready to drop?

female Will look very plump can some times see the fry in the graved females

2. Should I use a trap/breeders net?

Traps are ok if the female is put in within 24 hours before dropping fry more then 2 days may stress the female or course premature births. Best to put her in A small tank with some plants for the fry to hide real or plastic plant will do keep fish well fed and she will usually leave the fry alone Or remove female soon after giving birth.

3. I have two males and three females. Should I put all three females with one male or just two with one male? (I've heard different things)

2 males and 3 females can be kept together when kept in a l large tank. It is best 1 male to 3 females

4. How do I know if my females are pregnant or not?

Most lfs female guppy’s are usually pregnant if you have them in with a male/males then they will most decently be pregnant

5. Where can I sell the fry to if needed?

You can take them to the lfs Most will not take fry/ You will need to grow them on to adults. with good water changes a temporary 1 or 2 gallon fry tank will be ok for the first 2 or 3 weeks. A ten gallon tank is best for growing on the fry

 

[hughessomefish]

Welcome to the Forums Aquatic Hamster,You will find that Female Guppies are ready to drop when their belly is squared off. To see what I mean by "squared off", this link is very helpful http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/253113-how-to-know-if-your-livebearers-ready-to-drop-fry-updated-150410/ The fish in the pictures is a platy but the Guppy will square off just similar (just not as big since Guppies are smaller than Platys). So when your female guppies are squared off that will tell you that you are close to a drop.

Now to the Million dollar question of if to use the trap or not to. The problem with using the trap is when you put a pregnant female inside of it you may run the risk of killing her because of so much stress, also they may abort the pregnancy, and in some cases that I have seen give birth to under developed fry. But their is a solution that I would recommend. If you would like to keep the fry then, when you see that one of your guppies has giving birth in your tank you can catch the fry with a net and place them in the floating trap. This stops the fry from being eaten and in some cases sucked up the filter. You can keep them in breeding trap till they are a bit bigger than the size of their parents mouths or any of other fish's mouth in the tank. For me when I have Guppy fry, which I do know I have four that are about 2months old and are almost ready to go back into the main tank, were their currently in the floating trap. I recommend you feed them crushed up fish food 2 times a day if possible and water changes help a lot to grow them faster.

Now to the ratio of males to females. Many say their should be 1male for every 2 females but I think your situation that you have is just fine. To know if your guppies are pregnant or not look at the link above that I posted, But if they have been in the tank with the male guppies I would more than likely bet that their all in some stage of their pregnancy.

Selling fry: The thing is guppies can give birth almost every 4=5 weeks so if you did save all that fry and care for them properly they would being to pile up in numbers and you would have a lot of guppies. Some people find it to much work to raise the fry so they just leave them in the tank to be eaten, but sometimes their is a lucky one that does live if your tank is well planted. I know the Petco and Petsmart in my area does accept fish but to be honest they don't give money for them. If you lived by a store that was just a fish store than they might give you a little but normally you really can't sell them for much, so if you want to sell them don't expect money. Just think of the priceless experience of getting to raise them!!

I think a one gallon with that many guppies is over stocked (to many fish). And if you do put the fry in the two gallon I would only do so if the tank is cycled. The two gallon is fine for them to grow in. But on option if you do get fry is you could put the floating trap in the 10gallon tank for them to grow in.

And any picture will help me and others determine if your guppies are pregnant or not.

 

[hughessomefish]

Hey Aquatic Hamster I was searching around for picture of a guppy ready to drop here is one from the Forum and it also comes with info on guppies. http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/34091-guppy/

 

[AquaticHamster]

Welcome to the Forums Aquatic Hamster,You will find that Female Guppies are ready to drop when their belly is squared off. To see what I mean by "squared off", this link is very helpful http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/253113-how-to-know-if-your-livebearers-ready-to-drop-fry-updated-150410/ The fish in the pictures is a platy but the Guppy will square off just similar (just not as big since Guppies are smaller than Platys). So when your female guppies are squared off that will tell you that you are close to a drop.

Now to the Million dollar question of if to use the trap or not to. The problem with using the trap is when you put a pregnant female inside of it you may run the risk of killing her because of so much stress, also they may abort the pregnancy, and in some cases that I have seen give birth to under developed fry. But their is a solution that I would recommend. If you would like to keep the fry then, when you see that one of your guppies has giving birth in your tank you can catch the fry with a net and place them in the floating trap. This stops the fry from being eaten and in some cases sucked up the filter. You can keep them in breeding trap till they are a bit bigger than the size of their parents mouths or any of other fish's mouth in the tank. For me when I have Guppy fry, which I do know I have four that are about 2months old and are almost ready to go back into the main tank, were their currently in the floating trap. I recommend you feed them crushed up fish food 2 times a day if possible and water changes help a lot to grow them faster.

Now to the ratio of males to females. Many say their should be 1male for every 2 females but I think your situation that you have is just fine. To know if your guppies are pregnant or not look at the link above that I posted, But if they have been in the tank with the male guppies I would more than likely bet that their all in some stage of their pregnancy.

Selling fry: The thing is guppies can give birth almost every 4=5 weeks so if you did save all that fry and care for them properly they would being to pile up in numbers and you would have a lot of guppies. Some people find it to much work to raise the fry so they just leave them in the tank to be eaten, but sometimes their is a lucky one that does live if your tank is well planted. I know the Petco and Petsmart in my area does accept fish but to be honest they don't give money for them. If you lived by a store that was just a fish store than they might give you a little but normally you really can't sell them for much, so if you want to sell them don't expect money. Just think of the priceless experience of getting to raise them!!

I think a one gallon with that many guppies is over stocked (to many fish). And if you do put the fry in the two gallon I would only do so if the tank is cycled. The two gallon is fine for them to grow in. But on option if you do get fry is you could put the floating trap in the 10gallon tank for them to grow in.

And any picture will help me and others determine if your guppies are pregnant or not.

Thanks for the help!

My two gallon has been cycling for about four days now and Ive moved three of the guppies into it, the two females I wanted to breed and my newer male.

With the selling of the fry I dont really care if I get money or not. I just need somewhere for them to go if I dont have room.
I also heard somewhere you can sell them online?

I was curious about my guppies being pregnant or not because one of my females hasnt changed in a week and a half. Plus, my first male didnt look like he was too interested in the females because he wasnt trying to breed with them, and my new male was immediately trying to breed.

Again, thanks for the advice! ;D

 

[Man of fish]

4 days isn't long enough to cycle a tank I'm afraid. An average cycle time I've heard is about 40-70+ days. Did you dose ammonia? Why keep the guppies in the 1 gallon when you have a 2 gallon? I reccomend you buy another slightly larger tank as well maybe a 5-15 gallon? for the adults then 2 gallon for the fry, but if you plan to grow them out you'll need at least a 10 gallon for the fry.

 

[hughessomefish]

Okay I recommend you do water changes 2-3 times a week because your tank isn't cycled. Your tank has been sitting cycling but the cycling that I was talking about is the nitrogen cycle. Since you are cycling your tank With fish I recommend you read thishttp/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/55309-a-record-of-cycling-with-fish/ . Also I recommend you read this link http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/10099-avoiding-and-treating-new-tank-syndrome/. If you don't properly cycle your tank One your guppies will die, Two They are less likely to breed,and if they do they will give birth to unhealthy fry. They themselves will be unhealthy if living in that is uncycled, Its really all about the water quality as I have in my signature. And you really can't sell your fish online because it costs way to much to ship unless their rare fish, no one really wants to spend an extra 30$ for regular guppies.

 

[This Old Spouse]

You should be doing big water changes every day because you haven't cycled your filter and you're grossly overstocked.

You need to go out and get yourself a liquid test kit (API Master Test kit, Nutrafin are a couple that come to mind) and test your water every day until the tank is cycled. You can see the "New to Fishkeeping?" link below my sig. Go there and read up on fish-in cycling.

And get yourself a bigger tank for these poor guppies. Goodness. It would be like you living in your bathroom with a toilet that doesn't flush.

 

[Cazgar]

My advice is don't do it.
Your tanks are way too small to start with
Those 3 females in just a couple of months could have over 100 fry, & no Lfs would take that many
I saved my first drop, 22 guppies now 4 months old, still too small to go new homes.
I leave them now in my community tank & even then quite a few have survived., as I type this I can see at least 6
Unless you have several well filtered tanks & a guarantee you can rehome them, then I wouldn't deliberately breed them.
After Christmas, I'm moving the males to a separate tank

 

[AquaticHamster]

Okay I recommend you do water changes 2-3 times a week because your tank isn't cycled. Your tank has been sitting cycling but the cycling that I was talking about is the nitrogen cycle. Since you are cycling your tank With fish I recommend you read thishttp/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/55309-a-record-of-cycling-with-fish/ . Also I recommend you read this link http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/10099-avoiding-and-treating-new-tank-syndrome/. If you don't properly cycle your tank One your guppies will die, Two They are less likely to breed,and if they do they will give birth to unhealthy fry. They themselves will be unhealthy if living in that is uncycled, Its really all about the water quality as I have in my signature. And you really can't sell your fish online because it costs way to much to ship unless their rare fish, no one really wants to spend an extra 30$ for regular guppies.

Well I heard little tanks dont need much time to cycle. My fish are doing just fine. First female gave birth to 5 healthy fry today. Second female is very pregnant and could drop any day now. And ill get that water change taken care of.

4 days isn't long enough to cycle a tank I'm afraid. An average cycle time I've heard is about 40-70+ days. Did you dose ammonia? Why keep the guppies in the 1 gallon when you have a 2 gallon? I reccomend you buy another slightly larger tank as well maybe a 5-15 gallon? for the adults then 2 gallon for the fry, but if you plan to grow them out you'll need at least a 10 gallon for the fry.

They arent in the one gallon. Theyre in the two gallon and theyre doing just fine. And I would get another tank but seeing as I have three in my room now my parents wont allow it. ' I have a 10 gallon but at the moment its full with other tropical community fish. I'll see what happens.

Oh and yes i did add ammonia killer and tap water conditioner.

 

[hughessomefish]

I still highly recommend at minimum 2 water changes a week seeing it isn't cycled, just because its not cycled doesn't mean your fish will drop dead. It means that an accumulation of ammonia will lead to ammonia poisoning which will kill your fish eventually with out water changes. Also the Ammonia Killer stuff doesn't help stop ammonia, water changes and a cycled filter does

Best of luck!

And congrats on the new fry

 

[AquaticHamster]

I still highly recommend at minimum 2 water changes a week seeing it isn't cycled, just because its not cycled doesn't mean your fish will drop dead. It means that an accumulation of ammonia will lead to ammonia poisoning which will kill your fish eventually with out water changes. Also the Ammonia Killer stuff doesn't help stop ammonia, water changes and a cycled filter does

Best of luck!

And congrats on the new fry

Okay ill definitely make sure to do that water change. Also, I forgot to mention that the filter isnt really a filter. Its an undergravel filter which in other words is just an airation device that adds oxygen to the water with an airstone and such. Correct me if im wrong.

 

[sammy8765]

Hi Guys I've also just started breeding guppies and I know how it works and everything and my females have had guppies once before but this time the fry look WAY different, they have very large tummies and not swimming around a ton, any ideas? theres also one who looks as if his tummy was deflated and just flapping around and when he's not swimming he sort of goes on his side.
-Sammy

 

[Paradise3]

OK... Here goes. You need more than a 2 gallon tank for guppies. Minimum of 5 Gallon for a few males on their own so with females and cause you are breeding them... 2ft tank minimum. I have just bought 5 guppies, 3 females and 2 males(I didn't choose to get 2 males, my partner did) and they will be living in a 30" tank which is two and a half foot long. I wouldn't put them in any smaller as I know from experience that females get bigger than males and can have anywhere between 1 and 150 fry at any given time. The tank needs to be heated and filtered, cycled for a good couple of months. If you already have a tank set up and that has been set up for more than 3 months, take some of that media out of the filter and put it in the new filter as this will jump start the cycle. This forum is a very informative forum and trust me, if you don't believe that guppies need more than 2 gallons then that's your choice but I've kept, bred and raised guppies before. I started off with 3 females and 1 male, within a month I had over 200 guppies because all 3 females gave birth at once and then continued to give birth once a month to over 50 fry each.

You need a filter, a proper one! If you don't have a filter the Ammonia and Nitrite build up, both of these are deadly to fish even in small numbers. Please either put the guppies in your 10 gallon till you can get them a proper tank sorted or take them back as you are doing them no favours. 5 fry for a female guppy is not a lot. she probably ate some because they were cramped/because guppies eat their babies. You're either going to kill them by keeping them like this or they are going to live very, very bad lives in a cramped and poisonous environment. I'm sorry this sounds harsh, but your guppies are suffering right now as I type this and as you read it.

 

[cpwebsite]

Hi.

I've recently taken up guppy breeding and I need a few questions answered.

1. How do I know when my female guppies are ready to drop?

Look for the signs of the squared belly especially in the front. That's typically a 48 hour warning, however from what I've seen your not prepared to handle a drop anyway.

2. Should I use a trap/breeders net?

Personal preference. Don't use unless you have too, not all guppies eat there babies.

3. I have two males and three females. Should I put all three females with one male or just two with one male? (I've heard different things)

I thought you said you have 4 fish? 2f/m or 3f/m works, 3f/m has less stress and is what I recommend but for those two its preference. However 2m/3f as you said doesn't work.

4. How do I know if my females are pregnant or not?

Gravid spot behind belly.

5. Where can I sell the fry to if needed?

Guppies give birth very easily so unless you sell thousands to chain pet stores (petsmart, petco) or breed specific varieties I wouldn't count on selling anything.

I bought all my females at petsmart and one of them looked pregnant when I got her. My friend who also breeds guppies says she is but Ive had her a week and shes shown no change. Shes more rounded and fatter then my first female which is fairly skinny compared but my third female is bigger then the first and shes apparently not pregnant. Ill try to post pictures later.

They probably are pregnant. But from what I've read in the rest of the post. Don't trust your friend.

Also: I have a one gallon which is currently housing the guppies and I have a two gallon ready for the fry. Should this be enough? I dont plan to have a whole lot. And yes I know, the one gallon is kinda crowded with the four guppies but they wont all stay there. After the fry are born I plan to move a couple of them to another tank. I have a ten gallon as well but thats already full with 9 fish.

My friend told me this should be enough but I just wanted to make sure.

Thanks!

To put it nicely, your friend lied. For four guppies (3f and 1m would be ideal), you should keep them in a 10g. A 1g just isn't enough room. You could put them in a 5g but I wouldn't recommend it, not necessarily for water quality but for swimming room. If you are planning on breeding them you will need to separate males and females which is another 2-3 10-20g tanks. Whats in your 10g thats too many fish?

~AquaHam