About the tropical guppy. How to breed a tropical guppy. We no longer sell live tropical fish. We do however, provide information on fish diseases and fish tank diseases and care.

 

 

The Guppy is named after Reverend Thomas Guppy who found them on the island of Trinidad in the Caribbean’s. Since then, they have been bred intensely and are far different than their ancestor’s. Generic selective breeding of guppies began in the 1940’s. Today there are several thousand varieties in a wide range of sizes, colors, body and fin types. Guppies are hardy and undemanding. They are one of the easiest of tropical fish to raise and breed. They are one of the most colorful and prolific fish one can buy as pets. They are so prolific and due to their fast reproductive cycles, are referred to as the “Million Fish”.

The guppy is a peaceful, active fish and it’s relaxing to watch this pet fish. It is very impressive to see a group of guppies displayed in a multitude of colors. Colors are mostly displayed in impressive ways by males. Coloration, as with most other species in nature, is more prevalent in males as their display is used to attract females. The males are typically smaller than females. The females are drab in color, with some coloration on the tail fin. Guppies are essentially non-aggressive, even with other non-aggressive fish. They must have an environment separate from fin nipper fish and can be kept in a single species aquarium. Different strains of guppies should not be mixed in the same aquarium. Males and females of different strains and characteristics will interbreed. The resulting offspring will be a genetic hodge-podge. Different strains should be kept in separate tanks if someone is trying to maintain a pure bred genetic true line of guppies.

Guppy origins are from South America. They can be found north of the Amazon to the Caribbean. Their natural habitat is at slow moving streams and ponds. Guppies are a live bearing and long toothed carp. Water temperature should be kept at 67 to 77 degrees F. They like hard water (100-150 mg per liter). The water should be alkaline and kept at a pH of 7.5. Plants should be planted and not only for the guppies to nibble on but, to provide cover for the escape of the young. Guppies are live bearers and are cannibalistic in that, they will eat their young. Adult guppies should be kept separate from the young. It is advised that the pregnant female be placed in a holding tank and be closely observed so that removing her from that tank as soon as the young ones are born, can be easily accomplished. Different kinds of breeding traps are available at pet stores for the protection of the young guppies. Plants should be planted only around the edges because guppies love to swim. A loose cover of floating plants is good. Water-sprite and Spirulina are recommended. The substrate (gravel) should be dark in color.

The gestation period of a guppy is about 30 days after mating. First broods are small, of about 10 offspring. Broods increase in number with each successive brood to number up to 100 per brood as the female grows larger. The larger the female the larger the number of young ones that she will have born. Size of the female when adult, is up to 2 inches while the male being somewhat smaller. The males reproduction organ is called the gonopodium. The gonopodium is a modified anal fin. The females anal fin is rounded where the males gonopodium is long and tubular. The gonopodium allows internal fertilization of the eggs inside the female guppy. The gonopodium is an organ of copulation and when mating, this is inserted into the female where some of the sperm fertilizes the eggs and the rest is deposited and stored in the folds of the female fish ovarian tubes. Females kept alone after being bred once, will continue to have successive broods of offspring. Utilizing the sperm stored in her ovarian tubes, she may give birth six to nine times in her life. Each successive brood will be even larger than the previous one until all are born. The young grow as eggs inside the female and then they break out of the eggs and are born alive, and are freely swimming. This protects the young from egg eating predators. The pregnant female guppy, can be readily detected of sexual gender because she will have a dark mark in the front of her anal fin. This is called the gravid spot and becomes quite noticeable as she approaches giving birth.

Genetic breeding is difficult because after the first breeding, the female retains that sperm for the rest of her life. If a desired male is selected by her who bred previously from a different male, the new female offspring that result will be mixed with the genetic characteristics of all previous mating with other males. The majority of the offspring may carry the genes of the most recent breeding. The only way to assure a true line of genetic offspring is to breed a desired male to a virgin desired female. Females, for this purpose should be separated from males at the earliest time in their life before mating occurs. Young males can be recognized by their distinctive gonopodium which appears at about three or four weeks of age. Males and females should be transferred to separate tanks. Females will be larger than males after about three or four months of age. Guppies become sexually active from about three months of age on. Strains of guppies may not be stable even if care is given and with great effort to reproduce them. Cobra patterning is one of the most stable and dominant strains. Recessive characteristics such as tuxedo patterns may disappear for several generations and then, reappear.

The guppies diet should be varied and should consist of dried prepared foods plus, small live foods such as brine shrimp. They will readily eat bloodworms or tubifex.

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