breeding guppies

hey guys so im going to hopefully be supplying a pet store near me with some of my guppies. i want to start a selective breeding programme to improve the stock il be selling, what points should i consider? i'll be getting two 2foots next week so ill be able to use one as a grow out tank. is anyone experienced in line breeding of guppies? and how do i prevent the spinal deformities that iv been getting at the moment?

should i look at getting some cubes for the females to spawn in? iv never purposly breed before so im really in the dark now. iv told the owner that il charge 40c a fish as mine are not anything special they real mutts. i mean i got some with half normal and half scissor tails. my favourites are the ones with long dorsals some of them are so long they longer then the tails. so any advice would be appreciated :bigsmile:

 

Hi Windfire

Hopefully irma will drop by and help you out. I think for selective breeding you would need a whole lot of tanks so it would be easier to start with a pure strain.

 

There is no use going through the whole selective breeding process if you will get so little for the fish!
Selective or line breeding is time consuming and you will need more than 2 tanks as you will have to seperate male and female fry
Early so that they don't cross breed.not to
Mention how long it will take to perfect a strain when the parents
Are "muts"

I'm not sure why you are getting deformities though.

If I was to breed the guppies I'd first get some good
Parents that's most important.
And I would always keep the best offspring for future parents.
I'd use 1 2ft for males and the other for females.
Then I'd breed the fish in another 2ft

If you can't do that then just divide one of the 2ft in half to
House male and female fry.

Khalidmanack has a great post on how to grow big guppies you should check it out

Chrz

 

If i were you i would rather go buy a pair of pure strains and start with them.

 

Hi Windfire,

I agree with what all the others have told you.
If you want to do it properly:
You will need a tank for your breeding stock, another tank for growing fry, third tank for seperated males. I then have a 'drop' tank (10L) for when the females are ready to drop. I don't like to use the breeding traps. Most guppies hate them and it stresses them out. So, when they are almost due then I put them in the drop tank until the fry are born and then remove the female back to the breeding tank after that. The drop tank is fill of plants for the fry to hide in. All of that is for just one strain of guppy.

Besides that - you need to start with excellent stock. Ask Dolphin or any other sponsor for imported guppies.

I do weekly water changes of at least a third of the water. Sometimes I do it twice in the week. The fry tank gets water changes every 3 days. I do not use salt in my tanks. I also have plants and gravel in all the tanks. That is personal preference. I just do not like the look of a bare tank.
I also cull the fry as soon as I see a deformed one.

The price - if you are going to do all of this for such a small amount of money then you will need to reconsider. The LFS that I sell to offers me R5 a guppy but that's because they know that my guppies do not die and they are excellent quality.

Hope this helps. You are welcome to pop around and see my setup and strains and to chat. I stay in Midrand. Just send me a PM.

 

Saw a guppy on aquabid last night for $100