One of the most popular tropical, freshwater fish is the guppy. As well as being easy to keep and tolerant of a wide range of water conditions, guppies are one of the easiest aquarium fish to breed. They are livebearers and bear small, live fry. Unlike many other fish species it is easy to see if you have male or female guppies as the males are highly colored with fancy tails. the females are much duller. In this article we will explain how to breed guppies successfully.
As one male can fertilise many females, who can produce more than one batch of offspring from each insemination, it is not necessary to have
even numbers of each sex. Females will produce the fry after thirty days and may have as many as sixty babies, the number depending on the size of the female. Older, larger females will have more than younger females.
To prepare a female guppy to have healthy fry she should be fed live food in addition to the normal tropical flakes. Daphnia, blood worms and brine shrimp are all good choices as they are rich in protein. When the female is about to give birth she can be moved to a separate tank or a breeding compartment in the main tank which will separate the fry when they are born. If you don’t want to separate the female provide plenty of plants, especially floating plants, for the fry to hide in away from other fish which will eat them if given the chance.
If you are serious about breeding guppies then a tank dedicated to breeding should be used although many people successfully breed them in a community aquarium. Feed the fry on brine shrimp or finely powdered tropical flakes. Make sure you do partial water changes at least weekly. Fry will grow rapidly to adulthood in about two months.
Guppy fry image by statico
Guppy image by judhi

