Guppies- I have tons of questions!

guppygirl01

Navthrfez Platy

Good questions, I would like to read some of the responses you get. Good Luck


-WYRD n latre

guppygirl01

Thank you for the good luck. I'll need it!

Amethyst123

I can't answer your questions about what to charge, or if there are breeders from WV on here, since I'm in the Seattle, WA area, but I can tell you some other things. Around here, the pet stores usually charge 1.50 to 2.00 for female guppies, 2.00 to 3.00 for males, depending on their tail types, coloration, etc. However, everything is more expensive here than it was in Ohio, so that's probably too much for WV, especially for a flea market.

Selling in bags would be cheaper, but you would need to make sure there is enough oxygen in the bag with them. The pet stores use a machine to fill the top of the bag. A cup with air holes would probably cost more, but you wouldn't have to worry about adding extra air somehow.

Most guppies around here are about 1.25 to 1.5" when sold. I have some fry that are 5 weeks old, and they are about 2/3 - 3/4" long, and they are starting to color up. Their color continues to fill in until at least 2 or 3 months of age. It may continue to intensify after that, but the colors and patterns will be pretty well established by about 8 - 10 weeks, and by 3.5 to 4 months it's probably close to what it will be in full adulthood.

The females begin to show their gravid spots earlier than the anal fin differentiates, so you can begin to identify females by about 3 or 4 weeks. However, it's harder to tell if the ones who don't show gravid spots at that age are females who are developing more slowly, or males who haven't had their anal fins elongated yet. The anal fin starts to differentiate at about 8 weeks, and by 10 - 12 weeks the differences should be pretty obvious. The females will be growing more than the males during this same time, so they are significantly bigger than the males by 4 months.

They reach sexual maturity around 4 months, and the bodies of the males are at least an inch or more by that age, so with their tails they can be anywhere from 1.25 to 1.75 long, depending on tail type. Females will be a bit bigger. Both will still have some growth and filling out before they reach their full adult size, but at 4 months you could probably sell them successfully. Maybe even a bit earlier.

By the way, all of these numbers are from memory, because my aquarium logs are at work with my aquariums, so I'll check tomorrow, and if I'm off by more than a few days one way or the other, I'll correct this tomorrow evening.

Edit: I don't leave the fry in a breeder net for more than a few hours, though I know of others who will leave them there for a few days. Since guppies have an average of 50 - 60 fry, and can have up to 100, that's a lot of fish inches in a very small space. If I have a fish giving birth in a breeder net, I take her out as soon as it appears she has stopped giving birth, and move the babies to my 3g QT tank, or to one side of a divided 10g. Usually they are actually born in the 3g or in a divided 10g, so I only have to remove the mom. I don't leave them in the 3 or 5 gal for more than a week or two before moving them to a grow out tank. At the moment, by growout tank is a 20g long. There are about 120 fry in there, from 2 platy drops and 2 guppy drops, ranging in age from 25 to 37 days. I have another 14 of the 37-day-old guppies in a 10g with two adult female guppies and an adult, but small, male platy. I'm planning to get a rubbermaid-type bin, probably 55 - 56 quarts, to transfer all of the guppies or all of the platys into before they get much bigger. That should give them sufficient room to grow until they're big enough to take to the pet store.

Good luck with your babies and with your sales!

guppygirl01

Thanks for the advice! And thank you for answering my questions. And by the way. your prices are about the same as here but our males at a pet store ar usually a little over 3$ and the female prices change all the time. Right now my local pet smart has males on sale for 1.99 so I'm thinking around 1$ for each guppy depending to the colors, tail size, and sex of the fish.

redchigh

1. Probably not. I sell them in the classified section though, and ship them.
2. $1, maybe even fifty cents.
3. I would use bags, and purchase a product called "bag buddies" online. It helps.
4. I would say a month. Younger fish are a bit more sensitive and can get stuck in the bag. Their color won't be fully developed though.
5. I don't use breeder nets... I just use plants and let the fry hide themselves. Maybe someone else can answer htis one.
6. Depends on what you feed them and the strain. I would guess around 6-12 weeks.

Inga

I was thinking more about this prospect of selling fish at a flee market and I am not in favor of it. That would make people (especially with children) who have not even thought about getting a fish buy one. They will not have thought about the care at all and will likely not have a tank set up already. This would mean at the absolute best scenerio they rush to the petstore to purchase an aquarium and dump the fish into an uncycled tank. The worst case is they lose interest before getting a tank and just flush, dump or kill the fish in another manner. Maybe leave them in the bag and toss. :(

To me this seems cruel. Not against you selling them but maybe re-think the "how you go about it"



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guppygirl01

Maybe you are right... I didnt think about it that way.