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Hey guys what up,
I been looking around and I need to more info,

I want guppies,
Yup, I know they breed like crazy but I have recently goten very interested in them.

I know the very little basic,
they breed every month,
Shoudl be two males to each female,
I read the profile here on them,
I know some other masics but thats about it,

If you guys could fill me in on as much as possible that would be just so ever great.

Thanks Guys later

OK some basics on guppies

They can begin breeding at 3 months but average is 4-5 months old.

You need to have 2-3 females for every male, or the male will harrass your poor female to death literally

The female is usually a lot larger than the male.

The typical batch of fry of a young female is 5-10. As the female gets older she carries more and more fry per batch...sometimes as many as 200

You need to have a well planted area in your tank for her to hide herself when she decides to deliver, and for the fry to hide in:%)

I would plant the bottom and then let some float...I love anarcharis, it works well for both

To feed them, I typically keep a mix of flakes, dried blood worms, and dried brine shrimp, and anything else I have on hand...dump items in a ziplock bag and grind between your hands till dusty...I feed it to adults and fry alike.

Your fry won't be truly swimming the first couple of days, but dart about in small areas, they will only be maybe 1-2 mm in size at birth and are translucent...

Did I say that females have fry once a month 28days-32 days? if not there it's said...uh typical tank temp in mine is 76*F...

I think that's all but when I think of more I'll let you know, hope it's a good beginning...

heidi michelle

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

Thank you so very much, *clicks to print the info*

Thanks, Later

Think I might get a small 10 gallon thats planted reall good with live plants, for the babie to grow in untill they are big enuf to put in the larger tank,
Not sure tho Thanks alot


Last edited by integra_for_life at 06-May-2005 23:13

I don't know if you know how to tell the difference in male and female livebearers, do you? If not here are a couple of photos, I really need to take some new ones now that I have a decent camera, but heck there isn't enough time in a day for everything

Female guppy--take note that on females the anal fin (the one on their bellies) is more of a fan shape. I always think of back in the 1800s the women holding the pretty fans to cool themselves:%)


Male guppy--the male guppies anal fin, known as their gonopodium is more stick like


both anal fins are circled in red

A pregnant female will become almost square and looks like she will explode anytime...

Here is the front view of a female that had fry about a week later:


Here is a front angle view, you can tell that she is looking quite full, on this delivery; her first she only had 6 fry I believe


Oh when a female is getting ready to deliver she will become less, and less active, and will stay close to the bottom of the tank, and may even try to hide...don't worry this is her natural instinct kicking in, because she will be a more vulnerable during this time...

Also a female will have a black spot (gravid spot) just above the anal fin. The larger and darker the dot the closer she is to having her fry. When she has them if you want to be able to predict when she will have her next batch of fry note it on the calendar, she'll have them again in about a month

Also after she has dropped her fry you will notice her "gravid spot" will turn a redish pink color.

Please, also keep in mind that you may end up buying pregnant females, even if they are in a female only tank. Once female livebearers become pregnant they can have as many as 9 batches of fryfrom just one rendevous with a male. So incase you didn't get it, a female can stay pregnant and have 9 litters of babies after being with a guy once, and not having a male around at all, so choose your male well, because once your females have been with him, you will be having lots of fry

This also means that if your male dies for whatever reason, you don't have to go out and get a new male to keep having babies, for at least 3 months but as many as 9:%)

Again I think tht is all I know for the minute, I'm sure that I'm forgetting something again, and it will hit me laters...have fun! heidi michelle[/font][/font][/font][/font]

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

Awsome! Thanks alot man prolly took you some time to type it all,
thanks for taking the time!

Awsome, I am hinking about going out tonight or in the morning to just get two females for now
(even tho I know they may be pregnent)
And I'll get a male in like a week or two once I get another tank up and going to the babies,

Thanks again, Later

Integra,
whatever you do, please Quarantine your guppies before you put them in your tank!!
Guppies are loaded and loaded full of diseases and parasites.
Heres my story,
for more than a whole year I was breeding guppies. Doing really well too, on the way to creating my own strain I call the "Mickey Mouse" guppy. I had a thriving breeding population, a 10g tank where pregnant moms would go to deliver, my "Nursery tank". One day I went out the LFS for some supplies, and I saw 2 male guppies and 2 females that were perfect candidates for my breeding program.
I brought them home, aclimated them, and released them into the population.
Unfortunately, despite the fact that they looked healthy, one of the fish had Columnaris disease. It went like a wildfire through my guppy population. I lost over 100 guppies in 12 days, and spent more than 70 dollars in medication. The disease slowed, but continued to wipe out every single one of my gupps, and some of my platys.
You dont know how sad it is to look in your tank, and see not 1 or 2, but 20 fish floating dead. Watching the fish became horror, because they would literally drop dead in front of me.
I dont want this to happen to you.
Quarantine those fish in the new 10g you get. Keep em there for a month before you add them to your population, and QT any new guppies you get at any time, even if they look perfect.
Otherwise, guppies are wonderful fish, friendly, colorful, and breed faster than rabbits.
Keep 4-5 females to every male so the females get a break.
Try not to choose "long bodied" guppies, these have always died on me. Try to choose nice plump fish with short squat bodies, nice and small too- this way you get young fish. Those big long bodied ones are old old fish, they wont live long anyway.
Good luck, and Quarantine!


Come Play Yahtzee With Me!
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Sneaky Pete is right, be sure to quarantine any new fish you getI had a similar problem back in December, where I just had to add 1 new male to "bring in new blood" was Leslie's suggestion. I found one that I had to have, and bang for a month there was loss. I'm finally building up to where I was fry wise, though I know it will be some times before I ever have the number of adults I once had, and to think the week before I added that one male I had sold back 20 of my young adults We all learn from experience...if you can afford it go ahead and get the 3 or 4 guppies you want now, that way they are all quarantined at one time Don't worry about setting up a fry tank just yet, just be sure to have some plants for them to hide in...and enjoy your new fishy friends...

Oh and don't worry about the time it took to type that post, it's great to be able to share what I know to someone who appreciates it...

heidi michelle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I see a lot of people who
Got to have a piece of me
I'd give the shirt right off my back
If I had the nerve to say
Take this job and shove it
I ain't working here no more
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

I'm happy to say that I
just went to my lfs and got 2 female guppies and one male guppies.
ALl very colorfull, expecially the male

I'll post pics up in a little bit

Awesome I'm so happy for you They will be sure to bring you loads of fry and delight at the same time...Remember how I said I should find better pictures? Well, this weekend I was digging through my pictures, and editing a lot of them:%) and ran across this one...I haven't labeled it yet, but will in the near future...

heidi michelle

ps can't wait to see the pics of the new family



heidi michelle attached this image:


"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

OK I don't know why that didn't except, but here it is again, and this time I've labeled the fish and circled the fin you need to look at to determine the sex of said fish, incase you forget or want to double check the store:%) Both the male and female pictured were young, now they are breeding like nobodies business. Enjoy...hml

heidi michelle attached this image:


"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

Wow, Very nice pictures

I know, I'm so Happy
And they look so great!

I just took pics of them so I'm uploading them now,
Sry but my digi cam is crapp, but you'lll get the idea

The male of very colorfull, Red and sems to be like glowing red

Later

I have also decided to hold off on my #1 hobbie for
an imported motor fron Japan and have decided to start up a 20G long

Here is the link,

Sorry I only have 1crappy pic of my male but hey its better than nothing, and there are other random pics sry


Ill get my friends digi cam to get better pics

Here it is,

http://honda-tech.com/zeropost?cmd=fshow&id=28

Thanks, Later