Guppy not breeding

[rockwellr]

I got 2 female and 1 male guppy for the intention of breeding and have seen no results. I have had them for about 2 months, they seem healthy just no babies? Anything would help!

 

[Circus]

Are they all fully mature? Are there enough plants/decorations for them to feel comfortable? If water conditions are too soft, they may not have successfully bred.

 

[Metalhead88]

are we sure of the sex? are other fish in the tank? any chance the babies have been born and eaten?

 

[Colin_T]

Deworm your fish and feed them 3-5 times a day. Do more water changes & gravel cleans when feeding more to keep the tank clean.

Intestinal Worms like tapeworm and threadworms cause the fish to lose weight, continue eating and swimming normally, and do a stringy white poop. Fish can do this for months and not be too badly affected. In some cases, fish with a bad worm infestation will actually gain weight and get fat and look like a pregnant guppy. This is due to the huge number of worms inside the fish.

Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms. If the fish are still eating well, then worms is the most likely cause.

You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both lots of worms.

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second, third and forth treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time to prevent cross contamination.

You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.

Do not use the 2 medications (Praziquantel & Levamisole) together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish the next time you treat them. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.

 

[Fancy Tail Aquatics]

Deworm your fish and feed them 3-5 times a day. Do more water changes & gravel cleans when feeding more to keep the tank clean.

Intestinal Worms like tapeworm and threadworms cause the fish to lose weight, continue eating and swimming normally, and do a stringy white poop. Fish can do this for months and not be too badly affected. In some cases, fish with a bad worm infestation will actually gain weight and get fat and look like a pregnant guppy. This is due to the huge number of worms inside the fish.

Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms. If the fish are still eating well, then worms is the most likely cause.

You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both lots of worms.

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second, third and forth treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time to prevent cross contamination.

You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.

Do not use the 2 medications (Praziquantel & Levamisole) together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish the next time you treat them. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.

What the heck? Just because he said his guppies are not breeding( and no pictures) you went all parasites and using chemicals on it? You gave some of the dumbest advice I have ever seen in 15 years of breeding without knowing anything or cause? You seem like a copy and paste guy who does not breed or raised guppies? Wow, you will be in one of my videos soon for the response. Thank you!

 

[Colin_T]

All common livebearers (mollies, guppies, platies & swordtails) that come out of Asian fish farms, are full of intestinal worms. They usually have Camallanus (round/ thread worms) and many also have tapeworms. This is due to where the fish are raised and what they are fed on, namely sewerage ponds filled with Daphnia, copepods and snails. All of which can be hosts to parasitic intestinal worms.

If the OP (original poster) bought the fish from a shop, the fish are probably sexually mature, unless they specifically bought baby fish, which is unlikely because they bought them to breed them.

Most shops keep mixed sex tanks with males and females together. This means the females should be carrying sperm packets. Even if the fish were kept in single sex tanks at the shop, the OP has a male and 2 females, so the females should be carrying sperm packets.

The fish have been in the OP's tank for about 2 months, which suggests the conditions in the tank are reasonable, otherwise the fish would have died or the OP would be here complaining of a disease instead of just no babies from a guppy.

Common livebearers like guppies carry the developing embryos for about 1 month, so if they were gravid (pregnant) they should have produced something by now.

And the OP says the fish appear to be healthy.

This would suggest there is some other issue that is preventing the fish from reproducing. It could be cold water or lack of food, but even then, guppies will still usually breed.

I have seen this problem in livebearers thousands of times. The fish live and eat and swim about for months but don't produce any babies. They get dewormed and 2 months later there are baby fish everywhere.

But since Fancy Tail Aquatics has a YouTube video and 15 years fish keeping experience, I will just crawl back under my rock because I don't know anything.

For the OP, if you want to deworm your fish, it is perfectly safe. The medications are safe to use on animals we eat as well as birds and fish. I have even taken Levamisole and Praziquantel and suffered no adverse side effects. I do like to chase cats and bark at people when they come to the front door, but who doesn't.

 

[emeraldking]

Besides what Colin mentioned, it does happen that guppies just won't won't breed in a short period of time without any clear reason. I myself wouldn't be worried too much at this point. It's also like this that the female herself decides wether she allows a male to mate with her or not despite of the chasing the whole day. If she's not fancied by the male, nothing will happen.
But even if a female carries stored sperm packets, she will decide wether she will open up one or more folds of the fallopian tube to release one or more sperm packets to fertilize her eggs. As long as she doesn't do that, no pregancy is going on.
What Colin mentioned, can be the case but doesn't have to. But please don't attack eachother in difference of view. But I do get the point of Fancy Tail Aquatics as well. But still no reason to be harsh to eachother. Let's keep it pleasant overhere. And difference of opinion or view is allowed but keep it civil. And let's be honest, differences in view or opinion makes it all more interesting. But it can be discussed in a calm and adult way.
Not all people do agree with how I see and do things. Everybody is entitled on their own vision of things.

 

[Fancy Tail Aquatics]

All common livebearers (mollies, guppies, platies & swordtails) that come out of Asian fish farms, are full of intestinal worms. They usually have Camallanus (round/ thread worms) and many also have tapeworms. This is due to where the fish are raised and what they are fed on, namely sewerage ponds filled with Daphnia, copepods and snails. All of which can be hosts to parasitic intestinal worms.

If the OP (original poster) bought the fish from a shop, the fish are probably sexually mature, unless they specifically bought baby fish, which is unlikely because they bought them to breed them.

Most shops keep mixed sex tanks with males and females together. This means the females should be carrying sperm packets. Even if the fish were kept in single sex tanks at the shop, the OP has a male and 2 females, so the females should be carrying sperm packets.

The fish have been in the OP's tank for about 2 months, which suggests the conditions in the tank are reasonable, otherwise the fish would have died or the OP would be here complaining of a disease instead of just no babies from a guppy.

Common livebearers like guppies carry the developing embryos for about 1 month, so if they were gravid (pregnant) they should have produced something by now.

And the OP says the fish appear to be healthy.

This would suggest there is some other issue that is preventing the fish from reproducing. It could be cold water or lack of food, but even then, guppies will still usually breed.

I have seen this problem in livebearers thousands of times. The fish live and eat and swim about for months but don't produce any babies. They get dewormed and 2 months later there are baby fish everywhere.

But since Fancy Tail Aquatics has a YouTube video and 15 years fish keeping experience, I will just crawl back under my rock because I don't know anything.

For the OP, if you want to deworm your fish, it is perfectly safe. The medications are safe to use on animals we eat as well as birds and fish. I have even taken Levamisole and Praziquantel and suffered no adverse side effects. I do like to chase cats and bark at people when they come to the front door, but who doesn't.

You made the video posted tonight, congrats! I sell only fish that have been bred in the USA. Most good quality pet stores quarantine. Most of the big box stores get fish from Florida, not overseas as too expensive. Alone in the Tampa Bay area, over 70 breeders. Do research as you are wrong! Also, if the breeding water is bad, as you should know, they absorb the fry. again, we do not know any of this, do we?

 

[Fancy Tail Aquatics]

Besides what Colin mentioned, it does happen that guppies just won't won't breed in a short period of time without any clear reason. I myself wouldn't be worried too much at this point. It's also like this that the female herself decides wether she allows a male to mate with her or not despite of the chasing the whole day. If she's not fancied by the male, nothing will happen.
But even if a female carries stored sperm packets, she will decide wether she will open up one or more folds of the fallopian tube to release one or more sperm packets to fertilize her eggs. As long as she doesn't do that, no pregancy is going on.
What Colin mentioned, can be the case but doesn't have to. But please don't attack eachother in difference of view. But I do get the point of Fancy Tail Aquatics as well. But still no reason to be harsh to eachother. Let's keep it pleasant overhere. And difference of opinion or view is allowed but keep it civil. And let's be honest, differences in view or opinion makes it all more interesting. But it can be discussed in a calm and adult way.
Not all people do agree with how I see and do things. Everybody is entitled on their own vision of things.

He made a stupid guess on unknowns. That has been my channel for years and years. You cannot base non-facts on non-truths. It is that simple! To suggest meds based on unknowns is stupid, risky, and expensive, simple as that!

 

[Colin_T]

You made the video posted tonight, congrats!

cool, I made it onto someone's youtube channel, yay for me

 

[emeraldking]

He made a stupid guess on unknowns. That has been my channel for years and years. You cannot base non-facts on non-truths. It is that simple! To suggest meds based on unknowns is stupid, risky, and expensive, simple as that!

What's your youtube channel, btw? Like to take a peek... ?

 

[Fancy Tail Aquatics]

What's your youtube channel, btw? Like to take a peek... ?

My name.

 

[Atmosphere123]

He made a stupid guess on unknowns. That has been my channel for years and years. You cannot base non-facts on non-truths. It is that simple! To suggest meds based on unknowns is stupid, risky, and expensive, simple as that!

Not entirely sure about other people but what Colin has suggested here has actually been the remedy for almost all guppy’s and other fish I have bought that didn’t breed after conditioning. I buy most of my fish from a reputable local fish shop in the UK and still get the occasional issue. If I don’t instantly quarantine and deworm my guppy’s they either don’t breed properly or they seem to get seriously ill and die when trying.

 

[emeraldking]

My name.

Just took a peek at your channel. And left a comment at the top 10 guppies you'd like to have video.