Endler Guppies

glyndawn · Nov 21, 2011

hi folks i have 3 female endler guppies and 7 males ive had them now 5 weeks if not longer but there not having babies yet is there any reason for this

soybean · Nov 21, 2011

Do you have any other fish in the tank?

It could be they are being born in the night and eaten/being sucked into the filter/etc.

eaglesaquarium · Nov 21, 2011

I agree with above. Check your filter often. My dad always kept livebearers and we would find fry in the HOB filter all the time. But, mainly they would be hiding in the gravel or in the plants, but before long they became lunch.

If you are looking to breed them and haven't been noticing the females getting squared off, then there might be other issues. I would recommend you get your self a mess of java moss, or similar. The fry will look for something like that to hide out in while they grow. Java moss will also provide them with some food as well, as the moss will house some microfauna that the fry can eat.

By the way, your numbers are backwards. Generally, you want 2-3 females for every male with any livebearer. I would watch the females for stress with that many males trying to mate with them and so few options available. Of course, increasing the number of females will greatly increase the amount of fry. What size is your tank? What other fish are in the tank? Guppies are a fish that generally ignore their own fry, so if you put these into a species only tank, I'm sure you would get some fry out of it.

MBOU · Nov 21, 2011

Not enough females for a start! You need more like twice the number of females to males.... E.g - 1(male):2(female)..

-Too many males will stress the females by constantly harassing them, a stressed female will produce less babies if any at all...

-Depends on the age of the females!! They might only be coming up to breeding age!

-Other fish, even other guppies will eat the babies, you need lots of decor in the tank for babies to hide in..