How to grow bigger guppies

:amazed: Gambusia - now that is a well endowed fish!

Anyway back to the topic - I am in the process of clearing most of the guppies. However I do have 2 very nice virgin females. They share a 3ft tank with 5 ABN. As you can imagine they have grown to a nice size.

 

Hi Guys,

I have been breeding a lot of guppies of late, many of which come from Tyrone Genade. He has been in Italy and visited many prominent guppy breeders there. In their opinion the important thing on how to grow out a really large good show guppy is dependent on what you feed the fry in the first week after birth. You have to feed really high quality foods then, such as freshly hatched brine shrimps and high quality granulates which is exactly what I have been doing and I can really say this works. You then get male fishes that have a really thick tail, I am referring to the back part of the body and not the fin, and they really have a much more chunky and sturdy look. I now have some real machos of different colours and breeds and I ascribe this to this good food in the first week. Others of the same breed that have been in a large group where they have not received such good food just simply do not grow out so large.

Khalid, have you also been using my high quality granulates for your big fishes? If this is the case this would explain their large size.

I also want to add that giving them more space does get them to grow larger, but some of my big fellows fed as indicated above have been raised in small tanks and therefore I think the nutrition in the first week is even more important.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

I know this isn't my thread but I have a question, prof does the same apply to endlers??

 

Yes, Hein,

The same applies to Endlers and although they do not grow as large as normal guppies do, they definitely do grow larger if fed better in the first couple of days after birth.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Hi Prof Bellstedt
Do you seperate your babies from their parents? I read somewhere years ago that livebearers give of something in their urine which inhibits the growth of younger fish. I keep my babies with their parents and have also noticed that the babies grow much faster if I do regular water changes and of course not keep them crowded!

Best regards

Frank

 

Hi Frank,

I do not always separate the babies from the parents and then if I feed bs the parents of course also score. However, I do not get the feeling that they grow more slowly if they stay with their parents.

As a biochemist, I have my doubts about these substances that fishes are supposed to release which inhibit the growth of their young. I do not really see what the point of this should be and for this reason I doubt whether this is correct. If the evidence is conclusive, I will accept it but the older information was often derived from something that someone had thought about and not on facts.

Regular water changes remove nitrate which is known to reduce growth rates so this would be good, and crowding just means more competition and stress, so I fully agree.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Hi Prof Dirk.

I agree with your take on the growth saga. I would rather believe the contrary. In nature that would give the fry a even worst chance of survival, which makes absolutely no sense.

 

My fish have a wide variety diet Sera, Tetra, Hikari, Ocean Nutrition and of course the Prof's food.