guppies

[castanedam21]

I want to buy some new guppies? how many should i buy since its going to be the first time i get those little tropical fish?

[Abbeys_Mom]

That depend on a few things...
1. How big is the tank?
2. Do you want them to breed?
3. How much you have.... ;)
4. What else is in the tank?

[castanedam21]

first of all, thanks for the comment. umm... i would liike to put my guppies into a 20 or 30 gallon fish tank.. if that's ok. if not which one would u recommend to get.. i do want them to breed though since my friend also wants some and i have heard they are pretty good breeders.. haha. how many should i buy now? and is there a specific number of female guppies to a male guppy that i should place in there?

[Abbeys_Mom]

I used to keep my males in a 33g community tank, my females in 2 10g (sorted by age) and my fry in 2 10g. I bred them on a fairly larger scale. To breed them I would either let a male loose in the females tank; or move 2 selected fish into an empty (usually the quarantine) tank. Having them all in the same tank helps to minimize stress on the smallest males, but limits your ability to control mating. Female guppies can hold sperm for 8 months, so if you want to have total control of breeding, you need females that have been away from males of 1 year (which often doesn't work, because they are too old) or you need to get female fry that are separated from the males before the age they breed.

Anyway you do it, for the greatest survival rate, you will need more then one tank. I would set up a 10g for your females to have their fry in. Fry tend to drop down, so lots of tightly knit fake plants make good cover. (see attached)
Some fry always get eaten, but they are usually the ones that don't make it even if they aren't eaten.

Hope this helps :)

[AquaQueen]

Hey Abbeys_Mom are those plants for the floor of the tank?

[jeffs99dime]

Hey Abbeys_Mom are those plants for the floor of the tank?

yes. but you can use them for other purposes too. i use that stuff to wrap the filter tubes in my tank so you can't see them and they blend in better.

[AquaQueen]

yes. but you can use them for other purposes too. i use that stuff to wrap the filter tubes in my tank so you can't see them and they blend in better.

Good Idea! I hate seeing them in my pictures...think it looks ugly...lol

[Abbeys_Mom]

Anything that has spaces for fry and is smaller then the female is ok. You can buy grates that fit into your tank (kind of like the plate on an under gravel filter) they work in a way that the fry swim down can't get back up. I never bothered with them. I had a breeding "box" that hung on the side of the tank, but the babies tended to stay in the box with the mother (fry are not smart). I found rocks, plants and things work best and the female having the fry is less stressed.