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Guppies sure don't belong to Planned Parenthood!

Breeding
By ShannyG
from the ShannyG department, Section News
Posted on Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 12:31:38 PM PST
Tags: (all tags)
Hello all, I am brand new to Guppylog as well as brand new to guppies!  I bought a male and female 'for fun' on Friday morning and twenty minutes after putting them in my tank the female dropped five fry!  I have been doing a lot of research on the internet and it looks like the babies will have a 100% survival rate.



I am watching them carefully for signs of gender but so far they really all look the same to me.  How long will it take for a total newb like me to tell?
I am looking forward already to having more fry and buying more tanks this weekend.  Who knew being a foster parent was this easy!
Any nuggets of advice are very welcome.
Cheers
Shanny
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Guppies sure don't belong to Planned Parenthood! | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Guppies sure don't belong to Planned Parenthoo (none / 0) (#8)
by jacher on Tue Nov 07, 2006 at 09:40:22 AM PST

You sure are lucky! Imagine buying a couple of guppies and then you get 5 more like an added giveaway. You better be sure to keep those fry alive. From what I know, you can only tell the gender of your guppies when it has grown its tail. That is where you&#8217;ll see if your guppy is a male or female. The bright and variant colored tails are usually the MALE and the dull colored tails are the FEMALE. Again, Congratulations to you!



Re: Planned Parenthood! (none / 0) (#1)
by miskairal on Tue Mar 21, 2006 at 01:54:59 PM PST

Hi Shanny and wlcome to guppylog.

Glad to hear you are up for buying more tanks already and that your female had no problems with being caught and moved only hours before giving birth. They often give birth prematurely when moved.

If you can afford, or have the room for, two tanks then you will be able to get the breeding under some sort of control. The fry can be sexed as early as 3-4 weeks but often it is longer. It depends a lot on the growth rate which can be determined by water quality and temperature, types of food provided and frequency of feeding and also tank size.

The male fry may not develop their gonopodium for months so that is not a safe way to sex them. It is far better to look for the gravid spot on female fry and remove them to one of your new tanks (see all the info on cycling a new tank in the Immediate Help section). The males can be left in the first tank until they develop the gonpodium (which can occur overnight) and then moved to the 3rd new tank. This way you will have a tank of males, a tank of females and a tank for fry which can later be used for selective/controlled breeding. If you don't do this you will find yourself with hundreds of guppies within 6 months providing their water quality is good.

Guppies can store sperm for up to 6 months. They can produce fry from that stored sperm every 28 days. That means that even if you separate your male and female today, she could still keep having fry every 28 days for the next 6 months and some of those batches may well contain 30 fry. When you consider the rule of thumb, 1" of fish per US gallon of water........are you starting to chew your fingernails yet :)

I can't stress enough the importance of cycling a new tank. You don't mention what size your tank is. If it is a 45 litres or more then you may have no problems having added just 2 fish to start with but if it is much smaller you may. If you are not familiar with tank cycling, read up and then return and ask away.

Good luck with your new family.
Cheerio
miskairal
--
Repeat after me,
I will read the Immediate Help



Re: Planned Parenthood! (none / 0) (#2)
by ShannyG on Wed Mar 22, 2006 at 08:30:06 AM PST

Thanks so much for the info.  I had no idea about 'cycling' a tank before I read about it here.  As I buy more and bigger tanks I will be sure to do just that.
I thought maybe I would take some of the old water from my current tanks at water change time and put it in the new tank along with fresh water?  Would that help to create similar conditions in all my tanks?

[ Parent ]


Re: Planned Parenthood! (none / 0) (#3)
by miskairal on Wed Mar 22, 2006 at 01:12:26 PM PST

It might a little but I am told that more of the good bacteria live in and on things rather than in the water column.

What sort of filter setup do you have (You may have already told us but I can't remember)? If you can drop a piece of floss or sponge into it for a week or two and then when you setup a new tank move that piece of sponge to the new filter that will help.
--
Repeat after me,
I will read the Immediate Help
[ Parent ]



Re: Planned Parenthood! (none / 0) (#4)
by ShannyG on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 11:28:18 AM PST

I am sure to get dinged for this but I have no filtration set up at this time.  I work at home and am able to do 25% water changes twice daily.  I siphon the bottom of the tank to get the water closest to the gravel and the debris out.  I am on a well system and my water is absolutely stable and perfect for fish;  hard, with lots of minerals.  I have had a betta live 3+ years with this system and outdoor goldfish do very well also.  The reason I don't filter is because my betta used to get stressed by anything in the tank that made noise, so I ditched the bubbler and the filter system.  I find the frequent introduction of fresh water and suctioning of debris works very well.

I am sure to get lots of opinions about this but please be gentle with me!

[ Parent ]



Re: Planned Parenthood! (none / 0) (#5)
by miskairal on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 02:09:30 PM PST

I would have a problem with it if you didn't do water changes but with your system I doubt the fish will complain. I don't see too many filter setups in creeks and streams but they do get water changes there, just as you are doing.
--
Repeat after me,
I will read the Immediate Help
[ Parent ]


Re: Planned Parenthood! (none / 0) (#6)
by miskairal on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 02:13:31 PM PST

Just a thought. You could come unstuck if you were ever unable to do the water changes for some reason such as illness. Not trying to put you off by any means but it's something to consider.
--
Repeat after me,
I will read the Immediate Help
[ Parent ]


It is not that guppies don't belong to (none / 0) (#7)
by unclescott on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 02:36:36 PM PST

Planned Parenthood (though that is a very clever subject!). It is just that nature also has planned predatorhood.

Because the rules are so different in the relatively benign world of aquariums, we have to plan accordingly as aquarists. If we don't, that other solution of nature to over-population - planned epidemic-hood - may take place. There is also planned lemming-hood, where fish in over crowded tanks, start jumping. (In the wild, they would be dispersing to other waters.)

All the best!
uncle scott

[ Parent ]



Guppies sure don't belong to Planned Parenthood! | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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