Very Casual Selective Breeding

[wbzorker]

I read with interest Phisher's post and replies, and have studied ways to breed guppies while maintaining the integrity of the lines. However, I'm just starting out in guppies (have kept community tanks for about 12 years). and decided that I would play the "what if" game for awhile. My plan of attack is this:

Starting with quality stock from Aquabid, I've created a male display tank and harem tanks. One tank for the females waiting to be bred and another for the females waiting to give birth. A third tank for actually giving birth and then the female goes back to the start tank. The fry are all put in a grow out tank. When they are big enough to sex, the males are placed in the male display tank. The females I have are quite young so I'm culling the female fry. After a couple of months I'll start replacing the older moms with females bred by me. When the male display tank is full I will set-up a male grow out tank.

Here's the kicker, I've started out with 8 different guppy varieties, all sharing tanks with complete disregard for genetic purity. I'm planning some pairings but also will have a group of females that will be placed with random males. With this method I expect to have absolutely no idea as to how a given male fry was created. I also expect to have a wide range of colors and patterns in my male display tank. My goal is simply to have an ever changing display tank of male guppies.

I've already had a male fry showing a beautiful "baby girl" pink for the length of his body. His tail is a yellow/orange with a few black spots. I'm toying with the idea of keeping his offspring separate.

Has anyone else ever tried this and if so, were you happy with the results?

[talldutchie]

I've tried this once. Lot of fish handling and guppy genetics can easily throw you a curve ball. In other words, a lot of work with inconsistent results for me not worth it. I do know that quite a few serious breeders start in the way you describe.

One thing I did notice that I got quicker fry growth if I kept some floating strands of cambomba in their tank. Seems they enjoy it and actually grow slightly faster.