Breeding

[ZackyBear]

They're all so very pretty, too ;^;

[Mo]

Breeding another type of fish for experience will be completely fine as long as you can provide the optimal homes for them.

I would recommend breeding an easy beginner fish for starters and raise the fry similar to how you would raise bettas.......

are great beginner breeder fish as they are profilic breeders and there fry are relatively hardy, I currently have a Guppy fry tank outside aswell as a male guppy tank, I am planning on having a successful breeding colony after I raise the fry to adulthood.

Guppies are relatively easy to breed as they are livebearers and have been known to multiply without any sort of assistance for breeding and preserving the fry. Males and females will naturally breed when plac in the same tank and for minimal stress, along with best results, you ideally should have 1 male and 3 females. The gestation period for these fish are short and you should have babies after about 28 days. Only of fertilization occurs

Guppies require little or no maintenance to get the fish to breed yet I would treat them as you would when breeding bettas if you are planning to get ready, if you were to breed guppies as they are usually bred, you would gain little experience from this so ideally you would want the below materials

1 20 gallon fry grow out tank for an average spawn size of around 50. Please note though that a guppy spawn wont be nearly as large

A heavily planted 5-10 gallon spawning tank, though in this case you would want a minimum of 3 females and a male

A high a quality breeding pair with no deformities

Homes for all of the fry

Heaters

Filters

Cover for the fry

[MaisyDawgThirteen]

How many babies would you get from 3 females? Could you use the same tank for spawn and growout?

[Mo]

Around 100. If all of the fry survive and you are able to save them all I would use a grow out and of around 35 gallons to keep them all in.

[MaisyDawgThirteen]

Do you feed them BBS? Or just crushed up flakes? My guppies only except crushed up flakes. -.-

[Mo]

I feed them BBS and every so often crushed up flakes. They appreciate the BBS much more, and I would expect more vigorous growth from using it, along with other food cuctures such as microworms

[MaisyDawgThirteen]

Originally Posted by Mo

I feed them BBS and every so often crushed up flakes. They appreciate the BBS much more, and I would expect more vigorous growth from using it, along with other food cuctures such as microworms

Cool! My LPS sells BBS eggs. If I ever do decide to breed that'd be great! :D

[Mo]

Yup, the brine shrimp them selves are amazing little creatures and are fun to own and have multiple purposes, that is one of the main reasons why they are so popular...
PS they do love heated water though. I have gotten a nice colony without heating the water but for best results, you would want a good temperature of around 78 degrees, as you would keep bettas in

[MaisyDawgThirteen]

I keep my guppies at 75? With a heater . . .

[Mo]

I am talking about Brine Shrimp.... Guppies actually do better in temperatures around 74 and live a lot longer thn they would in tropical setups. So good job for giving them the optimal temperature, most people don't do this