Can I Slow Or Stop Guppy Breeding

[zellus188]

I have 25-30 guppies in my 29 gallon-127 liter tank that I have had for a year and a half. there have been up to fifty in this tank if not more but I have had many deaths. I would like to find a easier way out than buying another tank and seperating the males from females. lately the fish have been doing population control on there own but I still have been getting babies slipping through. Is there any way to slow or stop the breeding process of the guppy. Any thoughts!!!!!

My crooked guppies

 

[smegforbrains]

Either get rid of males or females completely. Females can store sperm for 6 months, so they can keep getting pregnant when they want.


The other option is to divide the tank in two, but you still have the stored sperm issue.


BTW, the crooked Guppies do not look good. Are these original ones or grown babies?

 

[zellus188]

The original deformed guppy is gone know but she lasted almost a year and a half she died about a week or so ago but I also have fancy males like this born in this tank. In alot of ways these fish can be kinda cool they are a definite eye catcher and they have a totally different way of behaving. Also the first deformed guppy was born in the tank.

 

[smegforbrains]

I personally would do everything I could to prevent any further breeding of deformed fish of any kind. IMHO, it is unnecessarily cruel on the fish.

Yes, nature produces her share of 'freaks', but that is no reason to artificially increase the number.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The original deformed guppy is gone know but she lasted almost a year and a half she died about a week or so ago but I also have fancy males like this born in this tank. In alot of ways these fish can be kinda cool they are a definite eye catcher and they have a totally different way of behaving. Also the first deformed guppy was born in the tank.

Those crooked guppys are the result of serious inbreeding then if they were born that way- you are doing the fish no favors by allowing them to inbred this much. Inbred fish have reduced life expectancies, weaker immune systems (so more likely to get sick and encourage disease in your tank and make you run up costly bills for fish medications etc) and produce poorer quality batches of fry in general.

I agree with smegforbrains, you should either get rid of the females or the males completely- if you get rid of the males completely though, the females will probably produce fry for up to a couple more months before stopping though. If you keep an all-male guppy tank, it would be best to have about 10 male guppys, as so to help disperse any aggression they might display towards each other.

 

[Corleone]

I see a lot of deformed guppies. Anyway, get rid of the females if you want to bring an immediate stop to breeding. They're bigger, and generally not as pretty, and even without males they may continue to have babies. Without females around, you can stock male guppies fairly heavily because of their small size, and a well stocked fancy guppy tank can be gorgeous.

If the tank didn't have so many guppies, I might suggest the simple addition of other species. Community life isn't generally amenable to livebearer breeding, most if not all of the fry will get eaten. I've found that if babies are surviving, reduce feedings when you see a female about to drop, and don't feed at all for a day or two if there's fry in the tank. Hunger and nature will take care of the rest.

 

[LongS]

Not sure on this one, but i have been told to mabye get a fish that will take care of the babies naturally.

Not sure what type of fish would eat the babies and leave the adults though. Mabye someone can help with this?

My friend has a red-tailed black shark in with 2 male guppies and 4 female guppies. Although there are sometime babies in there i don't think they survive.

 

[OldMan47]

A red tailed shark is not something that you want in that tank. It may not be that big yet but will get plenty big to eat adult guppies. I'm afraid Corleone is correct, there is no room in that tank to add predators to help control the numbers.