Betta Fish Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Guppy breeding and selling questions.

2.4K views 16 replies 6 participants last post by  AccaliaJay  
#1 ·
So my guppies are breeding like rabbits. Since october 3rd my two females have produced 24 guppy fry. Seeing as its almost time to tell the genders apart I've done my research and hope it will be as easy as it looks. However there i one thing thats extremely bothering me is who the mother is of the last two batches. My two females are named Diamond and Zora.

Diamond had 5 October 3rd.
10 more fry appeared October 18th.
October 26th 9 more fry appeared.

I know their called gravid spots but I just say stomach much easier in my opinion. Diamonds stomach has looked black since I got her and Zora plus two males on sept 17 I think she was pregnant when I got her. However Zoras stomach has only went from basically clear looking to like redish pinkish I guess you could call it and thats it I never seen any eyes in either of them. They have looked fat at the time of births. So I would guess Zora had hers on October 18th and Diamond had more the 26th. That would make sense right? Or is it possible that Diamond had three batches?

And as for selling questions. I would like to make a little money to help with buying more food or saving the money for more fish that I plan to have in the future. The closest pet store sells guppies 2 for $5 not the best care there either. That pet store is a 45 minute drive. The petsmart sells them for $1 each. But to drive there is like 2 hours (I know its crazy). So how should I price the guppy fry for when I sell them? Also should I wait until their colors are in to sell them? I will also be asking about the peoples tank set ups because I would hate for them to be going to a home where theres no water changes, small tanks and stuff you know.

And one last question. Where can I find bags that are made for transporting fish?
 
#2 ·
Are you intending to sell them privately or 2 a petshop?

I will be honest here no offence intended but I doubt you will get more than 10 or 20 cents each for them, That's if the petshop even wants them.

My LFS would take them off your hands for free and use them as feeders.

Now if you were to get into selective breeding it may be a different story show guppies can reach into the 100-200 dollar per trio range.

I absolutely adore Guppies but just cant seem to keep them alive.
I can keep Kuhli Loaches Bettas Shrimp but for some reason not Guppies.
 
#3 ·
I was thinking privately. I don't want them to be feeders x.x thats just... no thanks and plus the petstore does not take very good care of their fish. And their parakeets were in a cage about the size of a 20 gallon and there was atleast 15 of them in there. I felt so bad. But my mom won't let me have a parakeet. She says their mean. She wants a cockatiel.
 
#4 ·
I find guppies to be easy to take care of. My next type of aquatic animals i want to get are cherry shrimp, some type algae eater but depends on what my petsmart has. And ADF's. Those are what I really want to try but I need a bigger tank. Which should be coming this christmas. I've had bettas, guppies and ghost shrimp so far
 
#5 ·
i want to get are cherry shrimp
Cherry shrimp are good and should breed for you. I have mine in a 2 foot tank with a Betta and she cant seem to eat them as fast as they breed.

Im actually setting up a tank for some crystal black shrimp.

some type algae eater
If you mean fish be very careful here and ask the members here for advice some of those sorts of fish can be aggressive.

Some Apple snails or Mystery snails would be nice and they are beneficial to the tank as they eat left over food rotting vegetation and even fish poo.
Seriously Apple or Mystery snails make cool pets and are quite easy to look after. I used to have 3 that I trained to come to the top of the tank for blood worm.

As Proof.

Image



I don't want them to be feeders x.x thats just... no thanks and plus the petstore does not take very good care of their fish
I figured that, its why I warned you.
 
#6 ·
I don't know what it is but i do not like snails or slugs XD And I've heard way to many horror storys about snails. Its gonna have to wait till I get a 10 or a 20 gallon tank. I'm probably gonna go with a 20 gallon cause if you think about what I want I need to get more female guppys to even out the ratio. Unless I give one of my adult males to my brothers girlfriend who will be taking some guppy fry thankfully. And I want at least 2 maybe 3 ADF's. First I need to convince my mom that its not weird to have a frog in a tank lol. She gave me the weirdest look ever when I showed her a picture of them.
 
#7 · (Edited)
I may or may not try a snail though. I've never actually had one but I'm just saying they creep me out. Its tempting but the scale between their creepiness and how I would like to try one for my guppy fry tank since theres nothing to eat what gets to the bottom since I'm to scared to put my ghost shrimp in there since I heard they can eat the guppy fry.
 
#10 ·
On you original questions.

Diamond could have 3 batches of fry, I have read that a female guppy could have 5 or 6 batches of fry from a single breeding with a male and each batch will be smaller then the last. But in my experience it's normally 2 some times 3 batches.

On selling the fry that is hard to make any money at it. My suggestion is run a add in your local Craigslist, trading post paper or even find a local fish club. The price will need to be lower than the fish stores because their fish have a warranty with them, I suggest 6 fish for $5 or 15 for $10.

They will sell better if they are about 2 months old so their colors should be coming in good at that point. After their colors come in people will pay more for the fish, so if you wanted to allow them to grow out you to adult you could get $1 each no problem. Only thing is you will need more tanks for that so you can keep the males and females in different tanks. That way people know they are buying "Fresh" females.

You could sell some to the local fish store for store credit. I have sold some to my local store and yes you don't get much but it does add up. They like the fish 3-4 months old so the colors are nice and bright. Like I said you won't get rich but you could pay for a a few bottles of fish food each month.

Also while I agree with you I would rather the fish go to a good safe home that doesn't happen that often. You could get lucky and find a local person that really likes guppies and might buy some but most people are going to be looking for feeder fish or a few fish for their kids tank that will last a month or two and get thrown out.
 
#11 ·
Yeah I understand its not as easy. If worst comes to worse theres a women who my parents hate (unknown reason) but she offered to take any off my hands to start up her 29 gal tank again. But that means free so... I need to get another tank because I have 1 tank that could be used for a male or female tank however that would lead to one gender still being in the actual guppy fry tank. So I need to get a small tank soon. Or ask my brothers girlfriend if she could bring her tank over and I can have her take one gender of guppys and then sell off the ones she doesn't want after they grow. She wants some but shes not here alot due to babysitting. I told her I would gladly help maintain her tank if its here but if its at her moms house where her half brother can get into then I cant really watch and make sure their healthy. Her half brother is really young and he stopped taking care of his betta because he lost interest so her other brother and his girlfriend took the betta in. So I really do not trust him.
 
#12 ·
I asked her about the tank and she agreed to bring it over. I would feel bad not to split the money with her. So less money for me but its worth it to at least help her earn money to support her love for chickens and she said she likes guppies and shrimp. So I'll for sure be letting her take her pick out of the guppies she likes.
 
#13 ·
Good luck with them. Guppies are one of my favorite fish I have a few tanks of them plus I'm always growing out more fry. Just keep in mind enjoy the tanks and fish, if you can make enough money for some fish food great but if not not a big deal.
 
#16 ·
The more and more fry you have you'll soon realize that trying to regulate every aspect of every home the guppies you sell go to is futile. I sell online and through craigslist and while I might wonder where my guppies are going I don't worry about it. Those are mostly culls that would have been fed to frogs otherwise. Guppies have dozens and dozens of fry for a reason - to increase the chance of survival because many are meant to die. It's a fish eat fish world out there.
 
#17 ·
I've decided to keep them till their colors come in. Then I'll sell them. It might be slow at first since its gonna be winter but I know exactly where to sell them. Theres a facebook pet posting page for the county I live in. I can post there and also craigslist. All I'm missing is where I can get bags to transport them. Would anyone happen to know where you can get some.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.