Guppy Question

[ymh1253]

A friend wants to start an aquarium with fancy guppies, how many?, and of what sexes would she want to put inside a 15 gal aquarium? I understand they are easy to breed live bearers. Thx

[Patrick S]

I would start with two males and four females if the goal is reproduction. Otherwise, a male only tank could support a dozen fish with no problem.

Patrick

[cdylnicki]

Slow & steady when introducing in a new tank.

I agree with Patrick, but would only start with 4 females for the first 8 days.  Small feedings once a day as the tank will start to cycle.  You can add another 2-3 females after that.

If you wanted to add males, add them after about 20 days because they will begin reproducing instantly!

Females will get larger then males so 6-9 maximum in the 15, plus 2-3 males. 

[Nerine]

to breed guppies: add warm water and presto! some might even "pop" on the way home from the store hehe

Keep in mind, keeping guppies on the warmer end of their heat limits will cause them to breed more and grow faster but also means that they will live a shorter life. Keep them a bit on the cooler side they won't breed as often and they will grow slower and live longer. Keep them in the middle, and they will grow average, and live their average life span!

I tend to keep mine on the cooler side most of the time and warm them up as fry for a bit or when I want to breed them!

Good luck with setting up a tank! Don't forget to cycle the tank first! You can take some seeded filter material from an established tank by trading a new sponge for a used sponge to someone in the club or from one of your own (if you have others set up?)

Agreed with Cdylnicki - slow and easy brings great rewards instead of frustration!

[ymh1253]

Thx for the advice. Like you said, I'll take it slow at first.

[HappyGuppy]

How many guppies you can keep in a 15g depends upon what kind of tank you have setup.  A dozen max if you keep plastic decorations and run a filter.   If you are *heavily* planted you could easily keep triple that, and if you run green water (not recommended for display tank, but perfect for breeding purposes) you could easily keep over a hundred. 

Based upon your original question I'd suggest you start with one really nice male and three females, ideally from the same breeding strain otherwise you'll end up with mutts (actually mutts are lovely).  Your tank will fill up.  I would strongly suggest that you keep some fast growing plants too - like hornwort, watersprite, elodea - to keep water parameters good, and to make the guppies feel at home with spots to hide and swim around.  Plus plants and guppies look good together.

[new_hobby]

Is there any reason why my friend's breeding guppy only give female offspring?

[ymh1253]

Being I only had 1 Tiger barb in my 30 gal, I had converted it into a community tank, I added 2 female's and a male guppy, a male and female swordtail, and 2 angels. I'm going to need to find the barb a new home I think, he's prob gonna be too aggressive. One of the guppies looks pregnant so I should probably put her into a breeding trap and keep the temp around 80-82 right.  thx again for the help.

[soleil1980]

if you want to have babies (and keep them) you should find another home for your angels... they are vicious creatures lol.  I used to have 4 angels in my 125g with guppies.  The adult guppies got along fine but the angels would eat the babies.  They even sucked them right out of the breeding trap through the small cracks underneath.

[HappyGuppy]

if you want to have babies (and keep them) you should find another home for your angels... they are vicious creatures lol.  I used to have 4 angels in my 125g with guppies.  The adult guppies got along fine but the angels would eat the babies.  They even sucked them right out of the breeding trap through the small cracks underneath.

+1

Adult guppies tend to do well with plenty of community fish, however guppy are often kept deliberately to drop fry as live food for the other fish.  If you keep a heavily planted tank a couple may possibly survive to adulthood hidden among the plants, but as someone else stated, if your goal is to raise your guppy population then you really do need to segregate them.  An easy way to raise a bunch of guppies is to toss some of your largest females into a gallon jar (minimum) or a small tank (say a 5 gallon plastic storage bin works too) with a light next to it.  Let the water turn pea soup green.  Feed them some flake food every other day, and when really green you can even "over feed".  A few months later fish out the bigger fish and add them to your community tank, leaving the little fry to mature longer.  Oh and buy some fake plastic plants at the dollar store and toss them into your greenwater breeding setup to give fry places to hide from momma.

[Janny]

+1

Adult guppies tend to do well with plenty of community fish, however guppy are often kept deliberately to drop fry as live food for the other fish.  If you keep a heavily planted tank a couple may possibly survive to adulthood hidden among the plants, but as someone else stated, if your goal is to raise your guppy population then you really do need to segregate them.  An easy way to raise a bunch of guppies is to toss some of your largest females into a gallon jar (minimum) or a small tank (say a 5 gallon plastic storage bin works too) with a light next to it.  Let the water turn pea soup green.  Feed them some flake food every other day, and when really green you can even "over feed".  A few months later fish out the bigger fish and add them to your community tank, leaving the little fry to mature longer.  Oh and buy some fake plastic plants at the dollar store and toss them into your greenwater breeding setup to give fry places to hide from momma.

This fascinates me. No cycling? No filter? No heater? I have separated my guppies for now because I don't have room for the fry in my tanks.

What else can you tell us?

[Nerine]

Angels LOVE to suck fry out of the breeder traps!!!

Move the angels to another tank or trade them for something else? breeding guppies should be in a species only tank....to successfully breed them you need to make sure to separate the mother, and if you want to breed for colour, you'll need to keep the female ALONE for at least 3 months, maybe longer to make sure she isn't having babies from another male!! they can store sperm for up to 3 or 4 months.

Then put the desired females with the male and wait a bit and then presto babies

otherwise you could be getting offspring from a male you don't even own (depending on how long you've owned these guppies)

cycling - yes it's a must! use the tank water to set up an established tank
filter - sponge filter doesn't hurt - works well and green water flourishes (I've been trying to grow it haha
heater - depending on how warm your place is, but you probably can get away without one, I don't have one on my guppy tank. Heated guppies tanks will cause the fry to grow quicker BUT it also shortens guppy lifespan. Cooler tank = slower growth. I have been doing this awhile and it seems to work guppies tend to live a little longer!!

I'm keeping my guppies in buckets on the floor with sponge filters and the fry get scooped out right away and popped into their own established fry tank kept at the same parameters as the parents tank.

Guppies are a LOT of fun!! enjoy your fish