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My Guppy Setup

2K views 5 replies 2 participants last post by  DragonFyre14 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey guys, I've followed this forum for a while but I've never bothered posting until now.

I have had fish tanks for years, but I still feel like I'm an amateur considering all the wealth of knowledge on the internet regarding fish. I just recently started expanding from my main angelfish tank and decided to try some breeding. This is nothing serious, I'm in it mainly for the experience and fully anticipate to lose money.

The guppies are currently in a 10 gallon tank that has been running for about 2 months. My PH and hardness are a little high, but that's just our tap water, it's similar to the LFS and is very consistent so I don't see it as an issue.

Fish - 2 female guppies, 1 male guppie (from another source to avoid inbreeding), 3 neon tetras, and 3 ghost shrimp
Temperature - 76F
PH - 7.5
Hardness - 9
Water Changes - 25% weekly.
Lighting - Sunlight through blinds, opened usually a few hours a day.

Now on to the breeding set up. I have two 5 gallon containers with separate heating and filtration. No substrate and they will have the same stats as the 10 gallon once they are fully cycled.

I'm not 100% how I am going to handle the breeding process with the equipment I have available, there are several problems that could arise. The females look to be a few weeks off on birthing, so that could mean a lot of times where we have a 1 female to 1 male ratio in the 10 gallon, which could stress the fish.

To avoid that my current plan is to have 1 tank as a fry tank, and have the 2nd as a housing tank for the 2 mothers. I will leave the mothers in the tank most of the time, except for some sexy time with the male. Once the female has the frys I will move them to the fry tank.

I've never bred fish before so I'm open to all suggestions, and please tell me any mistakes I am making or anything you would do differently
 
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#2 ·
Depending upon how long it would just be one male and one female (and the aggressiveness of the male,) I can't see it being too big of a problem. I had 2 males in with one female for about 2 weeks before I was able to get anymore and all were still swimming around happily.

breeding guppies is fairly easy :) pretty much just have a male and female together and Voila! babies! I know you haven't gotten there yet, but to take care of the babies just make sure the water temp is stable, feed them 2-3 times a day, and keep the water clean. There really isn't much else to it. Good luck and keep us posted :)
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the reply, I know it's fairly easy but I would still like to do it optimally and lose as little fry as possible. I moved the 1 female into one of the 5 gallon tanks yesterday and she is doing fine. The 10 gallon has plenty of hiding spaces and other fish to keep the male from bothering the female much, the 1-1 ratio is fine with my male.

I assume I'll have fry within the week, I plan on doing daily water changes but haven't decided what to feed the babies yet. Any opinions on fry food are welcome :D.

If this is successful I am interested in expanding either more guppies or breeding new types of fish. If I can make enough to break even it would be well worth it, because it's a very entertaining hobby.
 
#4 ·
I use Hikari First bites for the first day or two (it's fairly easy for them to eat) but it isn't the easiest to feed i've found. (It's kind of a powder.) After that, I just finely crunch up fish food. I try to go for the ones with more protein because it is supposed to help them grow faster. But I only feed them that once or twice a week. the rest is just the flakes I feed my adults.

I don't really take the time to do it, but they would love newly hatched brine shrimp.

If I were to get a bit more tank space, I'd really love to breed bristlenose pleco. They are adorable, pretty easy to breed, and you should have no problem selling the babies. Just a thought.
 
#5 ·
Breeding plecos is a very interesting idea, it's something I will consider for sure.

I went to grab some lunch today, and came back to find 8 baby fry in the tank! I drip acclimated the mother back into the 10 gallon tank,giving her an hour in the bucket to see if she had anymore fry. I was watching the 10 gallon tank and found another fry, so we are up to a total of 9. The mother was chasing the fry so I had to move her when I did I think, maybe once she gets used to having babies she will become less aggressive towards them. From what I've read this low number is normal for a first birth.

I fed the fish some grinded to powder flake food, and also some egg yolk paste. I plan on feeding them these foods 3-4 times a day in small amounts. I'm going to do 50% a day water changes and try to get up all the waste and food.
 
#6 ·
Congrats! I'm not sure if she will become less aggressive towards the fry... I don't think mine have. (Although they weren't that aggressive towards them in the first place) each of my 4 gave about somewhere between 1-3 for their first drop. So 9 is pretty good. (The female could be holding multiple batches at once with each at different stages if development.) keep the fry well fed and the tank clean and they will grow quickly :)
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