Making A Strain Of My Own

[tank212]

Is it possible to strengthen the fry from petstore guppys? If so is it possible to make my own color from the ones I have if I breed siblings?
I have 5 10gal tanks that can be used and millions of 10-20 gal rubbermaid tubs that I could put sponge filters in. I also have brineshrimp hatcheries and a huge microworm culture.
If it would be better I might buy a trio of two different colors on aquabid. I am dying to get some half black pastels and maybe I could get some half black reds or something and in turn auction the fry on aquabid to get money for more supplies and tanks.
If anyone can answer my questions or offer advice I would appreciate it.

 

[Annastasia]

The best way to strengthen the petstore Guppies is to breed them with Feeder Guppies. The fry will be duller, but pretty in their own way and hardier.

It's possible to make your own color, I suppose. Most likely there are other Guppies out there like that though. It's hard to say what you'll get when you breed them, because they've all been so inbred, there's lots of recessive traits that may come up.

You could get those Fancy colors on Aquabid, but be aware...the fancier the color, the more inbred and weak they'll be. Breeding those two together won't stregthen the fry at all, but you may get some interesting Guppies.

 

[tank212]

Well if I did get some off aquabid I wasn't planning on crossing them. I have a tuxedo male guppy and a green grass male I just have no way of telling what the females are. I think I will try the feeder guppy thing tho. I will buy just male feeders and the offspring I get from the guppys I have I will breed with the feeders.

 

[Annastasia]

Oh, sorry, I misunderstood, since you were talking about making your own strain. Sorry.

Your feeder idea sounds good. What you can do to help in the selective breeding, is just put the dullest females from the batches in with the males. It doesn't sound like they'll come out very well, but they actually do. Not very fancy, all be it, but pretty in a simple kind of way. Toxis and I have both done this, and I know we've gotten some pretty fish out of it.

 

[guppymonkey]

Its a lot of hard work to make your own strain from most pet store guppies. To get a real true breeding strain you are probably talking about years of work. But if you do the work you could possibly end up with award winning fish that could be worth a lot for a pair. If you are willing to do the work it can be fulfilling but it is complicated. There is a lot of genetics involved.

 

[tank212]

Toxis and I have both done this, and I know we've gotten some pretty fish out of it.

Would it be any trouble for either of you to post pics of the fry you have gotten from it?

I'm also wondering if platys are as weak as guppies? (The ones from the petstore)

 

[Annastasia]

I'll look around for some pictures. I'm not doing it currently, I stopped to do Variatus Platies...but I'll see what I have from back then.

Platies tend to be a bit stronger, as they haven't been inbred as much to get longer fins and fancy colors. So yes, I'd say they are hardier.

 

[tank212]

Ok cool. I have about 8-10 platy fry I was able to save a few weeks back that I'm interested to see what they turn out to be as I have no idea who the mother or father is.
I would be interested in breeding platies but they're not as desirable as I geuss guppies are so it would be harder to rehome them if I needed to which I really don't have to if I don't want to because I have plenty of tanks and stuff.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

This is a useful link on pedigree guppy breeding if you like ;

http/www.guppy-world.com/fancy-guppy.htm

As previously mentioned, breeding a new strain of guppy takes many years...Many breeders inbred their guppys to speed the process up, but then you have to deal with the inbreeding issue.
You have to decide right now what exactly you want from your guppys, there's no point in breeding them for a year, and then deciding you want to breed another color or type. What breeders look for in a pedigree guppy apart from good form, is pure colors. For example, you may think what you have is a blue tailed guppy, but then you shine a strong light on it from behind and then find out that traces of other colors are showing up in that nice blue.
When you come up with a new strain, you should be able to breed the guppys over and over again and end up with fry that look exactly like their parents and have no fry that look a bit different- this also goes for hidden colors. This is why the process can take so long, because you can get dormant genes that show up every 10 or so generations, and breeders don't want this in new strains.
Guppys already have pretty much color available, and new tail types are springing up all the time- if you want to breed a truely unique guppy you will have to do alot of research on whats already available out there. There are quite a few sites dedicated to breeding championship guppys if you wanna check them out .

On just breeding strong and healthy guppys but not purebreds, thats reletavely easy. I have some pics of mine somwhere but can't find them, so i got these off google for you. Basically avoid delta/long tailed guppys if you can, the "dullest" looking guppys are often the hardiest. Shape of the male guppys is also important, with male guppys you want the largest and most masculine looking ones, not some puny little curvy male, and with the females you want the most active and attentive, curvy(but not heavily pregant) large ones- females naturally don't have much color, so its normal and good if your females are quite bland looking.
Here is some examples of guppys that most likely have very poor genes;

And here are some examples of guppys that most likely have much better genes;

You see ?

 

[tank212]

Ah I see I have two male guppys one is a fry that I raised and he is like the ones you mentioned could be weak because his siblings were all diferent colors reds,greens and blues among others. Im also wondering about the females I have because I have one that I've had for almost two years and shes as big as a adult molly shes a brute I tell ya! I recently had a yellow tailed one that grew big too and lived awhile but it died and I think I have some of either of those two females offspring that are adults now.

maybe I can get some decent pics of the matured fry I raised.

 

[CroNiC]

Good thing i stumbled across this thread. My cousin has made a strain of several new guppies. I actually got $50 cash free from him. He must have about a 1000 guppies in that pond, and he has had that pond for probally over 10 years now. His fish are obviously very hardy fish. When he needs money to buy something new he picks out the most elegant looking one and breeds it with another guppy with the oppiste color. You get a trhill of the fries that come out. Then he sells the fries when they get older for $10-20 a pair. Next time i go over his house ill make sure i take pics.
But you must realize that the guppies you get from a pet store are weak. It will take a couple of years to finally get a generartion of sturdy fish. I forgot to mention this but the pond is divided into 4 sections. 2 sections of different guppies. If you are serious about this then set up several tanks (maybe 6) and start breeding. Then the fry's you get from each tank, divide them into 3 tanks. Then the fry's you get from them divide them into 1 or 2 tanks. Then start the process again. Keep doing this very soon you will get strudy fish, make sure you feed them varities of food. The more breeding tanks you have the faster the procces will be. If you have 15 tanks at once all with guppies that are breeding you can have sturdy fish within a year. Once you have sturdy fish choose the most colorufl ones and start breeding them. Howerver the key is not to sell the fry of those beutiful fish. Thje key is to keep breeding them and get more elgant/colrful lookign fish.
I hope this helps

 

[sylvia]

Color is not directly linked to how hardy the guppy is. In fact, fish that don't breed true are more likely to be healthier because that's an indication that they have not been in-bred too much. You see, when a breeder is trying to create a true-breeding strain, he/she is forced to in-breed and line-breed the guppies and that has the side-effect of causing weakness. If you want a good way of knowing whether a fish is in-bred, look at the size. In-breeding also has the side effect of causing a diminished size so look for the bigger fish and you should be getting the healthier ones. In fact, note how reds, half-black reds and some of the more 'common' variegated and snakeskin varieties are larger than the fancy pastels, glass or grass guppies. This is because the more common colors were also some of the first mutations to show up and, therefor, have been bred with fresh stock more often in the past and have, as such, not been inbred as much. If you consider that a lot of these colors also happen to be dominant traits, you, again, see another reason why they need not have been in-bred. If you stick with choosing the largest fish at your LFS, you should be getting the hardiest.
As for creating your own strain, that's simple enough. Just breed the fish. Pick out fry with similar colors/markings that you like. Breed them together. Keep that up for a few generations, perhaps crossing to parents/grandparents occasionaly and you should end up with a true-breeding strain. The in-breeding you need to do to get this result can't realy be helped if you want something fancy and new.