Guppies

Latin name- Poecilia Reticulata

Guppies are a live tropical fish.

I have been breeding guppies for a few years now and they are fantastic little fish to keep.

They are live bearing fish, which means that they give birth yo live young, usually every 4-6 weeks.

If you want to breed guppies, you should have a tropical aquarium that includes a heater, filter, gravel and heavily planted with live/plastic plants.

the aquarium should be kept at around 25C.

Selecting breedng stock- You obviously only need a male and a female to breed with, but it's good to have 4 females and 2 males as this gives the males more choice and the females more rest and less stress.

Sexing: Males are generally the more colourful ones, they have a gonopodium. Females are usually the less colourful ones and have a gravid spot which is a dark area near the anus.

Do a google search and you will see what I am talking about. Introduce your selected guppies into the tank and let them get on with it. You will soon notice that your female guppies will start to become very plump.

After around 4 weeks, the female will give birth. This can sometime be upto 100 fry (babies) at a time, but is generally around 30 or 40 at the most. Guppies do eat their own babies, so it is best to catch the fry and put them into their own tank or breeding net/trap.

The babies can be fed on microworms, which is a live fish food, baby brinehshrimp and crushed flake.

When the babies are born, they are just under 1cm in size, sometimes they can be alot smaller, but do often grow fast.

When the babies are born, you should think about what you are going to do with them.... are you going to keep them? If you keep them you may become over run with them as they breed fast. You could give some away to family and friends or trade them in at the local aquatics.

This is just a simple guide and tells you basically everything you need to know, if their is anything else you aren't sure about then you can search on google.

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Thank You