Beginner Fancy Guppy Breeding Setup Advice

[karigupi]

I was hoping to get along to the show at the weekend & get some pointers, but as I couldnt go, I thought I would ask on here, for any advice people might be able to offer please.

I would like to set up our first go at breeding a specific line of fancy guppies, I'm buying a couple more tanks, which when divided will give me approx 4-6 sections, I now this is probably not enough, but its all I will have until Jan.

Hubs has agreed to get working on the fish room for me as my christmas pressie, but that will be a few months in the making.

Which line of guppies do you consider the most beautiful? I know everyone will have their own opinions, but would be interested to see.

Where do you buy your breeding stock from? I have joined the BLA, will there be info on guppies available in the monthly publication? Any ideas how I could find a local group?

How many pairs should I start with, or would a trio be best?

Do you keep all the males together & all the females together, choose the best pair, place them in a breeding tank, how long do you leave them together to ensure they have mated? Then do you leave the female in the breeding tank, remove the male & await the big day?

Phew! So many questions, sorry, but any advice or info would be great.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

See the fluorescent Blue males in the foreground.... That is the strain I would suggest

When they have multiplied sufficiently, it is a good Idea to seperate the males & females so the selective breeding can be done... Males also grow better if they are not exposed to females

Use hornwort floating plants for the fry to hide in (this is the amount I throw away every week, so it is a fast growing plant)

Start off with a minimum tank size 24 x 12 x 12"..... Get 3 Males and 12 females..... Do not remove any of the fry.....

 

[helterskelter]

I was hoping to get along to the show at the weekend & get some pointers, but as I couldnt go, I thought I would ask on here, for any advice people might be able to offer please.

Shame you could not make it was a great weekend......

I would like to set up our first go at breeding a specific line of fancy guppies, I'm buying a couple more tanks, which when divided will give me approx 4-6 sections, I now this is probably not enough, but its all I will have until Jan.

I use 18x12x12 for my breeding females, i then rear the fry along side her and remove all males as they develop, all the males can go together as long as u can clearly tell the different line's

You should then only breed the best males with the best females.
If a female produces a strange batch of fry dump them unless u want to work with them.
if u have several breeding females together u never know which is the bad female.

Hubs has agreed to get working on the fish room for me as my christmas pressie, but that will be a few months in the making.

:
Thats good news

Which line of guppies do you consider the most beautiful? I know everyone will have their own opinions, but would be interested to see.

First choise is tail type u like.
Do like large tail or short tail, I personally like short tails.
Then what colour do u like? i like anything
Do u like Swordtail guppies?

From there we can look at what there are about

have a look at last years video
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvjYnb-ar5w

Where do you buy your breeding stock from? I have joined the BLA, will there be info on guppies available in the monthly publication? Any ideas how I could find a local group?

BLA has a couple of auctions, or get to know some breeders like my self
Dont buy from shop or you could be in for a lot of work as matching females are very rare

How many pairs should I start with, or would a trio be best?

I work from 1 pair as a usually but if u can get trio's all the better.

Do you keep all the males together & all the females together, choose the best pair, place them in a breeding tank, how long do you leave them together to ensure they have mated? Then do you leave the female in the breeding tank, remove the male & await the big day?

Sorted of covered above
Select the best looking fish i want.
I then leave the male with the female for 2-3 weeks untill she's clearly pregnant.

Phew! So many questions, sorry, but any advice or info would be great.

More than welcome to carry on but burnt a whole in keyborad i think now!

 

[karigupi]

Thanks for the replies Sorry about the keyboard helterskelter lol.

I think I have the idea now, can sort my tanks out, & start choosing some fish to work with. I love the longer tailed males.
The black & white one which was on the pictures you put up was stunning.

I found these guys at an LFS a few weeks back & would love to breed something like this, unfortunately these were not a pair & were kept seperately, the female is already pregnant & we've no idea who daddy is.

Will have to come back & add pics in a bit, flickr has gone belly up!

 

[karigupi]

Sorry I didnt come back to this last night, flickr went belly up, then my youngest was sick, oh the joy of kids!

Right, as I was saying I found some guppies at my LFS, they werent together, but were from the same batch as far as the staff knew, the female was pregnant when I got her, so I will have to see what comes of her next drop, if there is a female in the drop with the same colouring, would it be worth trying to breed from her? I would prefer to use a pair from a breeder & I will search some out, but I figure its worth a shot with these, as they are so pretty.

I've not seen any swordtail guppies in my travels, but the few pics online i've seen they are stunning, I really like black & white & red, but am drawn to the colours on the pics above, the metallic blue on the body, with a few black spots, if I could get one where the tail was blue & white with black spots instead of orange I think that would be my perfect fish! lol