New Guppy Owner/breeder...please Help!

[bettachick49]

Hello, I just bought 50 fancy juvinile guppies from a very good breeder on aquabid and they will be here sometime next week. I'm kinda new with the whole guppy owning thing and was wondering if someone on here would give me some tips on how to keep them alive, healthy, and happy. I am wanting to breed the guppies that I just purchased but I don't know the proper way yet. I've been reading up on it on some of the websites that they have but that just isn't quite the same as actually being told from an owner themselves. I have a couple of questions about owning them, Do you need a filter? if so what kind?. How long do guppies usually live? Is there any meds, or salt or anything that I should add to there water? If so what kind of meds and salt? I would really like to keep these guppies alive since I have had a very bad time with guppies when I was younger. Please if you can tell me anything I need to know about owning, raising, or breeding guppies please reply I really need help . Also websites work too if you have one that you think would help me please let me know. Thank you so much.
Amanda

 

[Annastasia]

Yes, you do need a filter unless you want to do very frequent water changes, and even the fluctuating water stats there might kill them, as they are pretty weak from all the inbreeding. Any kind of filter is okay, as long as the current isn't too strong.

They live about 1-2 years, 3 if they are lucky. This is from the inbreeding, as I mentioned.

You don't need to add anything unless they get sick.

You mentioned you bought 50 juvies. They need to be in ratios of 2-3 females per male...so I hope they come like that, otherwise you may have some big issues on your hands. Also, they breed like no tomorrow with no needed help from you, so you will likely have fry VERY soon! You need to find somewhere to keep these fry, or someplace to give them away to. You can be overrrun in a matter of months with that many Guppies.

Have you checked out all the pinned topics, FAQs, and Profiles? Do you have any specific questions? I could go off on a ridiculously long spout about Guppies, but half of it you won't want to know. So let me know what you're looking for, and I and others can help you better. But definitely read the articles and profiles first, as there is lots of good info there.

Good luck, and welcome back to the hobby!

Edit - By the way, your signature is way too big. Check out the signature guidelines in Beginner's Questions, and edit accordingly please.

 

[bettachick49]

Yes, you do need a filter unless you want to do very frequent water changes, and even the fluctuating water stats there might kill them, as they are pretty weak from all the inbreeding. Any kind of filter is okay, as long as the current isn't too strong.

They live about 1-2 years, 3 if they are lucky. This is from the inbreeding, as I mentioned.

You don't need to add anything unless they get sick.

You mentioned you bought 50 juvies. They need to be in ratios of 2-3 females per male...so I hope they come like that, otherwise you may have some big issues on your hands. Also, they breed like no tomorrow with no needed help from you, so you will likely have fry VERY soon! You need to find somewhere to keep these fry, or someplace to give them away to. You can be overrrun in a matter of months with that many Guppies.

Have you checked out all the pinned topics, FAQs, and Profiles? Do you have any specific questions? I could go off on a ridiculously long spout about Guppies, but half of it you won't want to know. So let me know what you're looking for, and I and others can help you better. But definitely read the articles and profiles first, as there is lots of good info there.

Good luck, and welcome back to the hobby!

Edit - By the way, your signature is way too big. Check out the signature guidelines in Beginner's Questions, and edit accordingly please.

Thank you so much. Well I hope they do come 2-3 females per male. What will happen if they don't? Thanks for letting me know to read the faq's I didn't even pay attention to those lol. But I have a small box filter for the tank that I am letting filter now. I really wouldn't mind hearing your long spout about guppies i'm just really trying to learn anything I can. When they have babies, how do I raise the fry? what do I feed them? someone said you can feed them very very tiny pieces of flake food, is that okay? I would really like to breed them, raise them, and sell them but I have to know what to do first. Well thanks alot for your help.
Amanda

 

[guppymommy]

There is some good informaion about fry in the pinned topic "Your First Baby Fish" above. Good luck with your guppies!

 

[stargirly1208]

Yes, you do need a filter unless you want to do very frequent water changes, and even the fluctuating water stats there might kill them, as they are pretty weak from all the inbreeding. Any kind of filter is okay, as long as the current isn't too strong.

They live about 1-2 years, 3 if they are lucky. This is from the inbreeding, as I mentioned.

You don't need to add anything unless they get sick.

You mentioned you bought 50 juvies. They need to be in ratios of 2-3 females per male...so I hope they come like that, otherwise you may have some big issues on your hands. Also, they breed like no tomorrow with no needed help from you, so you will likely have fry VERY soon! You need to find somewhere to keep these fry, or someplace to give them away to. You can be overrrun in a matter of months with that many Guppies.

Have you checked out all the pinned topics, FAQs, and Profiles? Do you have any specific questions? I could go off on a ridiculously long spout about Guppies, but half of it you won't want to know. So let me know what you're looking for, and I and others can help you better. But definitely read the articles and profiles first, as there is lots of good info there.

Good luck, and welcome back to the hobby!

Edit - By the way, your signature is way too big. Check out the signature guidelines in Beginner's Questions, and edit accordingly please.

Thank you so much. Well I hope they do come 2-3 females per male. What will happen if they don't? Thanks for letting me know to read the faq's I didn't even pay attention to those lol. But I have a small box filter for the tank that I am letting filter now. I really wouldn't mind hearing your long spout about guppies i'm just really trying to learn anything I can. When they have babies, how do I raise the fry? what do I feed them? someone said you can feed them very very tiny pieces of flake food, is that okay? I would really like to breed them, raise them, and sell them but I have to know what to do first. Well thanks alot for your help.
Amanda

well, if u do get too many males per females, they will never leave the poor girls alone. i've had that happen to me. i have not really had much of a problem of keeping 3 males and 4-5 females, just you won't get as many fry popping up in your tank. depending on how many fry you actually want to raise would determine the size of the fry tank to keep them in. i actually own a 2 gallon myself because i don't keep most of them. and i feed them some food called First Bites made by Hikari Tropical. this seems to work the best because it is fine enough for the babies to be able to eat it. what i do to prevent over feeding is to dip a paper clip into the water and then into the food, then back into the tank, this way they get enough food, but not too much. the tiny pieces of flake food is best when they get bigger since they will be able to fit it in their mouths. a lot of people talk about using frozen food and such, but i haven't done that and mine are doing just fine. i do know that they like the tank to be a little warmer, so i would invest in a heater because my guppies do well in a tank around 78-82F. also snails in the fry tank are the best since algae can build up from uneaten food. the sponge/box filters are good for fry also since they can't get sucked into it when they are really small. as for the breeder boxes, i wouldn't recommend them since i've lost so many females to stress with them, but if u insist on using the breeding boxes, i would recommend the netting as it is bigger, and less stressful for the guppies, and also lets water flow freely through it. about salt, guppies do like a little bit of it, and also i put a little in there to fend off stress in the fish. i can't think of anything else you might want to know. i would check out the FAQ though on the forum, they answered a lot of my questions.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Guppies will benefit from a good diet, including veggies once or twice a week for roughage (peas, sprouts, spinach- whatever you're having yourself as long as it is cooked without seasoning) and maybe "live foods" like bloodworms or daphnia (which can be frozen or jellied) once or twice a week. This also IMO makes guppy keeping more fun, and they get very excited over their treats.

They are curious active fish, so a tank with enough swimming room and some places, like groups of plants, to explore will help to keep them happy. These will also provide cover for the fry.

Good water quality is essential; so weekly water change of 20-25% should be part of your routine. They fry will need extra attention paid to clean water. I also found guppies are the first in my tanks to wilt if it gets very hot, so you may want to add an airstone in the summer.

50 guppies is quite a lot of guppies and you will soon have more, so you will want a fair bit of room for them. What size is your tank?