How Can I Selectively Breed Guppies?

[Splatter]

Hey everyone Myself and my girlfriend have decided we're going to breed fish and after much discussion we've decided on Guppies and Corys (as opposed to Bettas). And we want to selectively breed over 5-6 generations so that eventually we'll get a pure strain of guppies (Sorry if that's the wrong wording) to sell to any LFS interested

We're setting up several tanks (several 5/10 gals to keep fry in and some 2-5 galls to keep adults in). But I was wondering how we would selectively breed (/edit, and if those tank sizes would be adequate)? Because in the fry tank I almost expect a deseried female to get pregnat but that's the least of my worries, what I'm worried about is keeping 1 male guppy to a female guppy. I've heard that it'd stress out the female and cause eventually her to die/abort the pregnancy.

So is there a way around this? I suppose I could but in two females to one male...But I was looking for a more surefire way for it to work. When guppies breed is it as obvious as say, Bettas doing it? So I can safely remove the male guppy and keep the female in good condition for the pregnancy?

Thanks!

/Edit, sorry if this is in one of the stickied topics! I've read them all, so if it is I must have missed it

 

[stiffler69]

Keep your female and male adults in seperate tanks then when you want them to mate select a male for your female and do this with all your pairs only leave them in the tank for 24 hours together then pop the male back with the male's and the famale back with the females remembering wich two you have paired up. Do this once a month with all your selected pairs and you should only need 3 tanks to do so 1 male tank 1 female tank and a tank to put them in as a pair. Ok you will then need two fry tanks firstly put all the fry you get into 1 tank and at about 5-6 weeks you will be able to tell whats male and female seperate them as you do with your adults and if you keep a close eye on them and seperate them early enough you should not get any breeding happening

 

[Mikaila31]

I would only keep the adults in the 10gal tanks. If you are keeping males and females together you should have 2-3 females to every male. If you keep only one female to one male the male will harass her too much which will cause stress. This can make her get sick and/or abort her pregency. Guppies are constantly breeding, that is why you need so many females so the male doesn't focus all of his attention on one. You can separate them until breeding if you want to (best way IMO), females can hold sperm so you will get multiple pregnancies from only one mating.

 

[Alistriwen]

Selective breeding is difficult, requires many tanks and lots of patience and attention. I wish you the best of luck though.

 

[bucksgill]

Wouldnt you need more than one female so it wouldnt be inbreeding. If the females were identical would it still work? After inbreeding for a few generations it will really start to show will deformities happening more often.

 

[Bungy]

I saw some stunning male Guppies at my LFS and decided there and then to try and breed from them. I bought 5 males and 5 matching females - after 24 hours I had 1 male and 2 females left as they had died - the LFS had by then taken the whole batch off the market and recompensed me accordingly.

None the less, I had another fatality so I was left with 1 fem and 1 male but they were of different strains. Luckily I had 2 fry tanks approx 50L each - I placed the fancy Male in one and the female in the other - both tanks had approx 15 fry each growing up from previous births in my main community tank. So, a month or so down the line I transfer what I eyeballed as deffinite virgin females to the single Males tank (around 12 fry/semi adult). All are doing well and I expect the first pregnancies to start showing shortly however these will be a mixed strain at this point but with some careful selections I may be eventually able to reproduce the stunning Male I have. The female is getting larger and is deff with babies as a result of being with the same strain at the LFS so fingers crossed she will produce some thoroughbreads for me to work with. Whatever happens It will be fun trying and these species really do breed like rabbits....!

Good luck with your adventure.

 

[Splatter]

Thanks so much to everyone who replied!

All three of us be meeting up next Saturday to discuss the details of it and to strip down and insulate one of my sheds. Thanks to you all I've got a good idea of how to do it!

So thanks very much!

Bucksgill - We're intending to get two breeding pairs of different strains so that we can outbreed every 4/5 generations

And good luck Bungy with the breeding Hopfully your efforts will be rewarding

 

[helterskelter]

firstly you want to find something differnt and buying fish from a line breeder would be the best start.

I've got some intresting guppies ATM, my japanesse blue guppies are currently producing blond fish and top swords which are all stunning.
I've also got a red tailed moscow guppy which i've not seen befor.

If you in the UK their is a Guppy show in Oct and several auctions across the UK, first being in Corby in March i think.

To see some nice guppies have a look at my youtube page
http/www.youtube.com/helterskelter50

 

[Duck and Dive]

Read Selective Breeding of Guppies. Or click on my topics and selective breeding of guppies.