Post by MADMIKE on Jun 18, 2007 16:17:06 GMT -5
Breeding the Not-so-Common Guppy
by Rich Serva
First published in "Tank Topics", Greater Akron Aquarium Society, January 2001
Aquarticles
I know you are thinking what does he know about guppies. He is an "oddball" livebearer keeper. Actually this is an old, old article of mine that I picked up and dusted off and shined up a little. Believe it or not I was a dyed in the wool guppy fanatic. I started keeping guppies back when I was a pre-teen. I used to show on the International Fancy Guppy Association circuit before the "wild" livebearer bug bit me. Anyway Bill Allen (editor of the American Livebearer Association's magazine) was looking for someone to write a few beginner articles on guppies for the magazine and no volunteers came forward so...he asked that "older than dirt" (I mean wise elder from Detroit) tech editor for suggestions of someone to approach. Anyway we will see if this is any help to beginners.
When people talk about common livebearers, the guppy is usually the first fish mentioned. Granted the pet store guppy is normally quite common, but guppies that win consistently at fish shows are not.
The "wild" male guppy was 3/4 inch long with a few color spots. After many generations of selective breeding, the "old time" guppy breeders developed what we now call the "fancy guppy".
Although guppies are easy to breed, improving a strain of guppies takes hard work. If you adhere to the following principles (like they say - "do as I say, not as I do"), you can maintain and even improve a prize winning strain of guppies.
1) Here's where I get in trouble with some pet stores. Start with a good stock of fish from a breeder. Many pairs of pet store fish are not really matched pairs; the males and females come from totally unrelated strains of fish. You can start with a poor strain of fish and go from there but why on earth do you want to reinvent the wheel? There are plenty of good strains of guppies at local auction or available mail order that you can start with as your basic stock.
2) Purchase a young pair of fish. Old males have trouble breeding. Big tails are not easy to drag around. There is a greater incidence of deformities that comes from breeding older, past their prime fish.
3) Breed your fish and collect a batch or two of young then move on to the next generation. Your improvements to your strain of guppies will not come in quantum leaps but small improvements. Also have a plan and keep with it (for example, if your guppies are too small and lack color, plan to breed x generations to improve size then work on color afterward). Many a strain was lost by indecisive breeding programs that bounced around instead of staying focused.
4) Don't crowd your fish. For most people crowding fish stunts growth. Eight to twelve guppies in a ten gallon tank are plenty. The best way to get down to a workable number of fish is to cull. Why raise 20 mediocre fish when you can raise 10 good fish. If you give the fish the space, they can reach their full potential. Decide ahead of time what you are working on and follow your program. If you are working on shape, use the fish with the best shape - do not suddenly change to using a fish that has better color. If you have to, then set up a second tank and start working on color with a separate line of fish.
5) Don't harem breed. (Harem breeding is allowing a tank of males to breed with a tank of females randomly. It is breeding pot-luck style.) Select only your best males and females for breeding.
6) Don't use the first male that matures. That first male rarely reaches the size that the slower maturing males reach.
7) Select your best females for breeding. Here I am talking about the best female for growing the best males, not the best looking female. Selecting the best male is easy; selecting the best female requires becoming familiar with your strain. It is really not hard to find out which type of females drop the best males. Breed each of your different types of females to a single good male. Raise the different batches of babies and compare the males when they mature. Use your female type that produces the best males.
8) Keep a related strain. Two related strains (preferably the same color) can be occasionally crossed. Otherwise, you could lose your strain from too much inbreeding. The first signs of too much inbreeding are low fertility or a high percentage of deformities such as bent spines or hernias.
9) Feed young fish often. If you want your guppies to grow as large as possible, feed them often during the period of rapid growth in their first few months of life. Feed 3 or 4 times a day. Feed the babies newly hatched brine shrimp or microworms if possible. Feed the juveniles frozen brine shrimp and live foods as often as possible.
10) Do small daily water changes. If not, then at least do weekly water changes. Decaying food and fish wastes will quickly foul the water.
II) Keep the fish warm. Although guppies can be kept from 65 to 85 degrees F, the optimum temperature for raising guppies is 74 to 78 degrees F. If you keep your tanks in racks like I do, then place the babies in the top rows where the temperature will be naturally warmer (that is if you heat the room rather than each tank individually). Your bottom rows will be cooler and this is where you can keep the mature fish. The guppies' metabolism will be slower due to the cooler water and they will stay around a little longer for you to enjoy.
12) Be patient. Only 5-10 percent of each drop has the potential of being better than their parents; however, that is more than enough fish to improve the strain.
by Rich Serva
First published in "Tank Topics", Greater Akron Aquarium Society, January 2001
Aquarticles
I know you are thinking what does he know about guppies. He is an "oddball" livebearer keeper. Actually this is an old, old article of mine that I picked up and dusted off and shined up a little. Believe it or not I was a dyed in the wool guppy fanatic. I started keeping guppies back when I was a pre-teen. I used to show on the International Fancy Guppy Association circuit before the "wild" livebearer bug bit me. Anyway Bill Allen (editor of the American Livebearer Association's magazine) was looking for someone to write a few beginner articles on guppies for the magazine and no volunteers came forward so...he asked that "older than dirt" (I mean wise elder from Detroit) tech editor for suggestions of someone to approach. Anyway we will see if this is any help to beginners.
When people talk about common livebearers, the guppy is usually the first fish mentioned. Granted the pet store guppy is normally quite common, but guppies that win consistently at fish shows are not.
The "wild" male guppy was 3/4 inch long with a few color spots. After many generations of selective breeding, the "old time" guppy breeders developed what we now call the "fancy guppy".
Although guppies are easy to breed, improving a strain of guppies takes hard work. If you adhere to the following principles (like they say - "do as I say, not as I do"), you can maintain and even improve a prize winning strain of guppies.
1) Here's where I get in trouble with some pet stores. Start with a good stock of fish from a breeder. Many pairs of pet store fish are not really matched pairs; the males and females come from totally unrelated strains of fish. You can start with a poor strain of fish and go from there but why on earth do you want to reinvent the wheel? There are plenty of good strains of guppies at local auction or available mail order that you can start with as your basic stock.
2) Purchase a young pair of fish. Old males have trouble breeding. Big tails are not easy to drag around. There is a greater incidence of deformities that comes from breeding older, past their prime fish.
3) Breed your fish and collect a batch or two of young then move on to the next generation. Your improvements to your strain of guppies will not come in quantum leaps but small improvements. Also have a plan and keep with it (for example, if your guppies are too small and lack color, plan to breed x generations to improve size then work on color afterward). Many a strain was lost by indecisive breeding programs that bounced around instead of staying focused.
4) Don't crowd your fish. For most people crowding fish stunts growth. Eight to twelve guppies in a ten gallon tank are plenty. The best way to get down to a workable number of fish is to cull. Why raise 20 mediocre fish when you can raise 10 good fish. If you give the fish the space, they can reach their full potential. Decide ahead of time what you are working on and follow your program. If you are working on shape, use the fish with the best shape - do not suddenly change to using a fish that has better color. If you have to, then set up a second tank and start working on color with a separate line of fish.
5) Don't harem breed. (Harem breeding is allowing a tank of males to breed with a tank of females randomly. It is breeding pot-luck style.) Select only your best males and females for breeding.
6) Don't use the first male that matures. That first male rarely reaches the size that the slower maturing males reach.
7) Select your best females for breeding. Here I am talking about the best female for growing the best males, not the best looking female. Selecting the best male is easy; selecting the best female requires becoming familiar with your strain. It is really not hard to find out which type of females drop the best males. Breed each of your different types of females to a single good male. Raise the different batches of babies and compare the males when they mature. Use your female type that produces the best males.
8) Keep a related strain. Two related strains (preferably the same color) can be occasionally crossed. Otherwise, you could lose your strain from too much inbreeding. The first signs of too much inbreeding are low fertility or a high percentage of deformities such as bent spines or hernias.
9) Feed young fish often. If you want your guppies to grow as large as possible, feed them often during the period of rapid growth in their first few months of life. Feed 3 or 4 times a day. Feed the babies newly hatched brine shrimp or microworms if possible. Feed the juveniles frozen brine shrimp and live foods as often as possible.
10) Do small daily water changes. If not, then at least do weekly water changes. Decaying food and fish wastes will quickly foul the water.
II) Keep the fish warm. Although guppies can be kept from 65 to 85 degrees F, the optimum temperature for raising guppies is 74 to 78 degrees F. If you keep your tanks in racks like I do, then place the babies in the top rows where the temperature will be naturally warmer (that is if you heat the room rather than each tank individually). Your bottom rows will be cooler and this is where you can keep the mature fish. The guppies' metabolism will be slower due to the cooler water and they will stay around a little longer for you to enjoy.
12) Be patient. Only 5-10 percent of each drop has the potential of being better than their parents; however, that is more than enough fish to improve the strain.