Features and rules for breeding guppies

One of the most common and approachable fish for beginners to keep in aquariums at home are guppies. They are a favorite of both beginning and seasoned aquarists due to their vibrant colors, lively behavior, and ease of care. Guppies are a fantastic option for anyone looking to get started in the world of fish breeding because, in addition to their aesthetic appeal, they are also known to be fairly simple to breed.

Guppie breeding is an interesting hobby that can be instructive and rewarding. As livebearers, these fish do not lay eggs; instead, they give birth to young that swim freely. Because of this special quality, raising guppies differs slightly from raising other kinds of fish. However, anyone can successfully breed guppies at home with the right setup and a little basic knowledge.

We’ll go over the important guidelines and characteristics for guppie breeding in this article. This guide will give you all the information you need to get started, whether your goal is to add more guppies to your aquarium or you just want to know more about their mating habits.

Guppie breeding is an easy and rewarding hobby that’s great for both novice and expert aquarium keepers. Guppy reproduction can be readily induced by keeping the water clean, offering a well-balanced diet, and making sure the environment is safe and free from predators. Puppy breeding is a delightful experience because guppies bring beauty and activity to any aquarium with their vibrant colors and lively nature.

Necessary conditions for breeding guppies

In three to five months, the fish reach sexual maturity. Expect offspring if the guidelines are followed in an environment that is similar to the one in which guppies reproduce naturally.

Aspects that influence procreation:

• Maturity of fish.
• Water hardness is no higher than 15 units, and acidity is within 6-8.5 pH.
• Temperature +25…+30 °C.
• Live food is preferable – tubifex, bloodworms or insects, as they contain proteins that affect sexual activity.
• Lighting – additional lighting stimulates fish.

Guppies’ reproductive instincts are triggered in warm water, leading to increased activity in mating. Their sexual maturation is accelerated in these circumstances.

How to distinguish a female from a male?

When a small guppie is born, its gender cannot be identified. Only when they are two or three weeks old can their gender be identified by certain indicators:

Differences	Females	Males
By character	Calmer and phlegmatic.	They are distinguished by their agility and activity. Sometimes they fight with competitors for possession of the female. But for guppies, aggression is more the exception than the norm.
By body shape	The body is large, round and barrel-shaped. Length from 3 to 5 cm, occasionally reaching 7 cm.	Slender and graceful, the body is elongated from 1.5 to 4 cm.
By color	Brown-gray. The tail is greenish, yellowish or bluish.

Anal – triangular, short.

Anal: pointed and narrow. The gonopodium, which has a sharp tip, is used by the male to inseminate the female during mating. This fin has bending capability.

Keep the females and males apart and select the most attractive fish for mating in order to stop the fish from reproducing excessively. It is crucial that the female be virgin (virgin), meaning that she hasn’t lived in an aquarium with other male fish since she reached sexual maturity, if the task involves obtaining fry from a specific pair. It is a fact that spermatozoa can stay in her body for a considerable amount of time during insemination.

Once you’ve settled in, carefully inspect every fish. All of the females can be fertilized by even one male who is overlooked.

For fruitful reproduction, a minimum of 40% of males and 60% of females should be present. In order to avoid driving the partner to death or exhaustion, it is preferable to take at least two females for every male.

How guppies mate?

Guppies go through internal fertilization during reproduction; the fry are born fully formed, able to swim and feed themselves.

However, the nutrients in the egg—not the mother’s body—are the only thing that allow the embryos inside to develop. Thus, it would be more accurate to refer to the fish as ovoviviparous rather than viviparous.

Seeing when a person is ready to mate is simple:

• During the mating season, usually slow fish increase their speed, begin to move more actively.
• Males follow the partner and, pressing against her from the side or from below, insert the gonopodium into the genital opening, through which the seminal fluid enters the abdominal cavity of the female.

Spermatophores, or "containers" containing spermatozoa, are partially utilized for fertilizing eggs and partially stored for several months in the abdominal cavity "in reserve." A female guppy can have anywhere from six to eleven litters after mating.

If there is no reproduction, you can encourage it by raising the aquarium’s water temperature a little bit and adding clean water to replace one-third of its contents.

It is crucial that there are no hostile neighbors during mating in order to prevent the fish from being pinched and to prevent them from interfering with the process.

Guppy pregnancy

The eggs hatch into fry in 4-6 weeks. The environment, the fish’s age, the quantity of fry, and the water’s temperature all affect how long a fish takes to gestate.

How to determine pregnancy in a female?

A big, round belly is a telltale sign of a pregnant guppy. There are additional indications as well:

• A black spot darkens and increases in size near the anus.
• The abdomen becomes square or rectangular.
• A difference “step” appears between the head and the stomach.
• 1-2 days before giving birth, the anus swells.

Is it necessary to separate the female separately before giving birth?

A pregnant guppy goes through a lot of stress when it is moved into a different container. may stop eating, deteriorate, fall ill, or even pass away. As a result, the female should spend as little time as possible inside the breeding tank.

Conditions to be met by the spawning tank:

• Optimum volume 15-30 l. With a smaller aquarium, the water quickly deteriorates, and if the volume is larger, difficulties arise after the fry are born with feeding them.
• Cleanliness and the absence of soil are important in the breeding tank, as it complicates cleaning.
• Water temperature – 26-27 degrees.
• Hardness and acidity – as in the main aquarium (water is taken from it).
• For decoration, you can place Riccia algae, Java moss or thickets of aquatic plants.
• It is necessary to install an internal filter with a large volume of the filter chamber and set it to a quiet flow mode, since a strong water pressure is harmful to the fry.
• It is advisable to have a spawning tray that is fixed directly in the aquarium and allows you to leave the pregnant fish in its usual habitat, without unnecessary stress.

There are external indicators that indicate when it’s time to give birth:

• redness and swelling of the anus;
• enlargement of the black spot;
• rectangular belly;
• slight tremors;
• loss of appetite;
• burping food.

The female will need strength, so it is best to feed her bloodworms or dry food before giving birth.

Timely removal of the fish is crucial. The guys have started aggressively pursuing her and poking their noses into her stomach. The female hides on the bottom of the aquarium, in isolated corners, and among dense vegetation.

Behavior before giving birth and the birth itself

The guppy’s behavior changes right before she spawns, so if you haven’t already, you should move the female to the spawning ground or, if the fish were in a pair, remove the male from the aquarium.

Indications that a woman is about to go into labor:

• becomes slow;
• loses appetite;
• hangs motionless, only the tail trembles slightly;
• tries to stay near the heater, if installed.

Typically, labor lasts two to twelve hours and starts early in the morning or at night.

If the procedure is taking too long, you can speed it up:

• add freshly settled water;
• increase the water temperature;
• if the female cannot give birth, you can add a young male to her, and when labor begins, remove him.

It is crucial to follow the instructions because adding too much water can cause labor to start earlier than expected and cause the fish to spawn larvae or even eggs that are not fully developed. These fries are not sustainable.

Different behaviors are displayed by the newborn fry: some swim quickly and rise to the surface, while others are restrained and sink to the bottom where they develop strength. The mother’s attention is not necessary for the young. The female is put back in the main aquarium a few hours after giving birth in order to prevent her from eating the young.

To save the fry if it is not possible to separate the guppies:

1. Divide the aquarium into two halves with a small grid, through which an adult individual will not be able to swim.
2. Transfer the fry to another container. During birth, quickly collect the fry that have appeared with a plastic cup and transfer them to a nursery aquarium.
3. If you decide to leave the fry in the general aquarium, then provide them with places where they can hide from adult fish – various plants, shelters (snags, grottoes, etc.).

How many fry does a female guppy produce at a time?

Every two months, a guppy can give birth to one or more fry, with the number varying depending on a number of factors.

Factors influencing conceiving:

• Size and age of the female.
• Number of previous births:

• first – 10-30;
• second – 20-50;
• third and more – from 20 to 100 fry.

180 fries is the last known record. However, since the female can eat some of the fry during childbirth, it is typically challenging to maintain count.

How to properly care for fry?

Fry start feeding themselves as soon as they are born. But because the fish are still so weak and vulnerable, the first few days and weeks are crucial for feeding the young. The quantity and frequency of nutrients given to the offspring determine how quickly they grow and mature.

First weeks

It is unrealistic to anticipate that the fry will mature into stunning adult fish if they are not given adequate food. Guppies’ living circumstances in the initial days following birth have an impact on their size, color, and general health.

What to feed the fry?

Give live food that has been finely chopped from birth onward. In terms of nutritional value, you can substitute live food with the following:

• Yolk. Mix a piece of hard-boiled chicken egg yolk in a spoonful of water and pour into a container with the fry. But this quickly spoils the water, so this method is used if there is no other food.
• Sour milk. Pour boiling water over a little yogurt. Cut the clot with small cells with small cells, and rinse with water. Lower into the aquarium slightly shaking, until the cloud of edible particles forms. This food does not spoil the water, and it can be saved up to 3 days in the refrigerator.
• Omelette. Mix two raw eggs from 2 hours. l. dried nettle or hercumer flakes rubbed in a mortar. Pour 100 ml of milk brought to a boil, and beat well well. Give the cooled mixture to fry. Store such food in the refrigerator for no more than a week.
• Cheese. Choose non -stained varieties grated to small grater.

Change up the meal by progressively adding small cyclops and chopped, cleaned tubifex to the menu. Add a small amount of crushed filamentous algae to the diet.

Make sure the fry aquarium is constantly lit so that green algae can grow on the walls.

How to determine the sex of the offspring?

In the span of three to six weeks, the fry’s gender can be ascertained. This is the age of sexual maturation.

A number of factors influence how quickly fries develop:

• food supply;
• habitat conditions;
• water temperature;
• guppy breed.

Male anal fins begin to form the gonopodium when the babies are between one and two centimeters long (the anal fin becomes more pointed than in females).

In females, a dark pregnancy spot appears. The fish start to change color: the female’s body stays colorless while the male’s body takes on vivid hues.

How long do the fry grow?

Guppies require more care even though they are fully developed fish at birth. The fry can take two to twelve months to grow, depending on the environment.

The following factors mainly impact the growth rate:

• Food. Dry food does not contain enough nutrients. For the growth of good offspring, live food should be used (bloodworms, tubifex, Artemia nauplii).
• Feeding frequency. It is advisable to feed the young 4-6 times a day with small in portions so that everything is eaten and the quality of the water does not deteriorate.
• Aeration. This species can live without aeration, but for good, full-fledged development of the fry it is necessary.
• Filtration. If the filter is located inside the aquarium, you should use the smallest sponge for it, which will not be able to suck the baby in. And the weakest mode is set on the aquarium filter.
• Duration of daylight. Not less than 8 hours.
• Water temperature. The norm is in the range of 23-24 degrees. At a lower temperature, the fry may begin to lag behind in development or even get sick. Too high a temperature also negatively affects the health and growth of guppies.
• Water hardness. Recommended indicator 10-20 units.
• Water acidity. Optimum indicator 7 pH.

Puppies grow at different rates, and the larger ones have the ability to intimidate the smaller ones. As a result, there must be enough places to hide (such as plant thickets and attractive features). The fish can be captured and put in an adult aquarium as soon as it is 1.5 cm long.

Feature	Details
Water Temperature	Keep between 24-28°C (75-82°F) for optimal breeding
Tank Size	A minimum of 20 liters (5 gallons) is recommended
Feeding	Provide high-quality flake food and live or frozen food
Breeding Ratio	One male to two or three females to prevent stress
Gestation Period	Approximately 28 days
Fry Care	Separate fry from adults to avoid being eaten
Water Quality	Maintain clean water with regular changes
Lighting	Moderate lighting is sufficient

Guppie breeding may be a fulfilling hobby for novices as well as seasoned aquarium keepers. These colorful and hardy fish are renowned for being incredibly easy to care for and versatile in a variety of settings. Guppies are easy to breed and you can enjoy seeing them grow and thrive by giving them the proper environment and knowing what they need.

Maintaining clean water, providing a balanced diet, and making sure the breeding tank is set up with plenty of hiding places for the fry are important considerations. In order to maintain a healthy and expanding guppy population, it is important to regularly check the conditions of the tank and the wellbeing of the fish.

Overall, raising guppies may be very fulfilling and joyful if you have a little perseverance and attention to detail. These easy tips will help you succeed whether your goal is to grow your aquarium or just appreciate the beauty of these vibrant fish.

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