Selective Breeding Guppies

[DiddleBug]

I was wondering about trying to selective breed guppies.  I have just 2 10 gallons, but they seem to be the best fish I can breed in that size of tanks.   I have 4 young half black tuxedo guppies I think.  They are probably siblings.  I got them at a LFS for cheap.    If they have fry I'd like to find a new bloodline to mix in there.  Should I get more from the LFS or get some online?  I'm don't have a ton of money to blow, so they have to be at a reasonable price. I really have no clue how to selective bred.  I know you're supposed to keep your best fish from your batch of fry and breed something good with them and so on, till you have what you want.  What are your thoughts?  

 

[Ny82]

I happened to find an all black male at the lfs, put 2 half black females in and started the black guppies that way. The fry have been gorgeous. One of them is a dark purple. I kept 5 male fry, 1 female fry  and am going to get different females, still half black though. It's so much fun seeing the results, even just from LFS

 

[DiddleBug]

Yeah, I've seen a large variety at the LFS. I can probably sell my extras to them too.  i might just keep a few from each batch and keep the best as I don't have a lot of room.  Would you happen to have a picture of any of your best guppies?  i'd love to see them.  

 

[Dreamer03]

The only issue you might have is that if you get females, they might be pregnant by some other male thsn you desire. But after some time it csn work. Or if you have s female you are 100% has not beenw ith other male fish, that can work yoo.

 

[meandmykribs]

I would recommend that you separate the males and females for now that way once your females are no longer pregnant you know for certain that the fry will be from the male you have put with her, unfortunately females can hold onto sperm for upto 6 pregnancies so you may have a wait ahead of you

 

[Ny82]

Yeah, I've seen a large variety at the LFS. I can probably sell my extras to them too.  i might just keep a few from each batch and keep the best as I don't have a lot of room.  Would you happen to have a picture of any of your best guppies?  i'd love to see them.  

 
I keep my good ones and sell the rest as males only or females only. The female fry go into the 2nd fry tank in the kitchen, the males stay in the 1st fry tank.
I have seen some lovely cobra tail females at the LFS I was really interested in them (this is after I gave up my guppies lol) Would be interesting to see the results from my black fry and cobra female. Then again she would probably come pregnant from the LFS so she would go straight into the 2nd fry tank. 
 
I have recent pics on my thread in the livebearers journals section. It's the "planned fry journal, just for fun"

 

[the_lock_man]

But Ny, you are lucky in having a consistent outlet for the fry. That's the biggest problem in breeding guppies - trying to find somewhere to take the fry.

 

[Ny82]

But Ny, you are lucky in having a consistent outlet for the fry. That's the biggest problem in breeding guppies - trying to find somewhere to take the fry.

 
This is very true, my LFS don't take them, although the one I get my live food from took some black ones as they didn't have any black strain. Then I was supposed to sell all my guppies and give it up, so I kept some males but I miss it so much that I am going to get females again!

 

[DiddleBug]

My male died last night! I have no clue why. Also, is it even possible to selective breed with only 2 small tanks? I could keep just some fry here and some fry there if that would help.

 

[MrsEspoNYC7]

IMO you probably need at least 3 tanks, I have been trying to set the same thing up and I have very limited space. I'll explain ...
1 tank males only ( tank1)
1 tank females only ( tank 2)
1 tank to put your chosen couple in to breed...(tank 3)

Put your best couple in tank 3 to breed them and once you notice the girl is pregnant you can move the male back to the male only tank. This eliminates the need to move your pregnant girl and she'll have a nice stress free pregnancy, once the fry are born you can move the female back to tank 2 (females only). Just keep an eye out for fry in the female tank because they can have several drops from one impregnation. You wouldn't want a male fry in your female tank by accident .

 

[Ny82]

My male died last night! I have no clue why.

Also, is it even possible to selective breed with only 2 small tanks? I could keep just some fry here and some fry there if that would help.

If you have 2 tanks and you want to selective breed, why don't you get 2 males in 1 tank and 2 females in another. When you want to breed put a male and female together in each tank, make sure you have lots of plants for fry to hide if you want to save as many as you can. Once they have bred, take the males out and put them into the 1 tank and leave the females together. This way they will have the fry together and it's fun trying to guess the mum lol.

 

[DiddleBug]

I might try that. I could use a breeder net for the fry I find so they can grow a bit in there and then I can release them at 1month or something. I've done it before.

Assuming my females are half black tuxedos, what color male should I look for? I was thinking half black or all black if I can get some, or maybe blue of some shade. The LFS gets quite a variety. Your thoughts?

 

[Ny82]

I personally found the all black male first then found females of the half black variety to match him as I had never seen an all black guppy before. I had some all black fry which the LFS took off me as they had never had any either. The 2nd batch however have electric blue and purple tails with either black or yellow fins. These are the ones I kept as they are striking. I am wanting to get black females for them to keep the black going. One of my males from my black male/black female has a green body. It's bizarre. I wish I had a decent camera to capture the purple and green!
It's upto you really what you want. There are a lot of reds/yellows so maybe something different would be a good seller?

 

[DiddleBug]

I'm not really sure what sells well. There seems to be a lot of reds and yellows, as you said. This was the first time I'd seen half black guppies at the LFS.  I like the blue colored ones and also black, so I'm not exactly what I'll do.  I might see what the LFS have in a week or so.  My 3 females are probably pregnant anyway (not from Jupiter my male), but I have no clue what the fry would be like.  Do you think I should try and get another male from the LFS, as long as he's very nice? 

 

[Ny82]

What I usually do is stand for a while and pick out the one which is the most unusual-that's how I came back with my lime green/yellow endler cross. Looking for a female for him too! 
Just keep going back and see what catches your eye.  I will post a pic of my males if that's ok, just to show you the type of thing I go for.