Gender of my guppies?

Question

okay, so i went to walmart the other day, and in the female guppy tank were these 3 cute little swimmers that were about 2 milimeters long... i had to have them, they were soooo cute!

so i bought the guppies and now they're home and they're safe and alive and so on and so forth... however here comes the issue... i don't know if they're female guppies... just because they were in the female guppy tank doesn't necessarilly mean they're females... especially since they were clearly newborn fish... little tiny things... it's possible that 1, 2, or even all 3 could be males, right? how do i know? how do i find out? will they breed? how big will they get before they breed? there's one that is smaller than the other two but it has a bigger tail... that means it's a male, right?

I'm mostly concerned about breeding... when will they breed if they do, and then what do i do with the new fry? how will i know if my guppies are pregnant?

thanx in advance!

sincerely,
-the guppy noob

Answer 1

From what I remember about Guppies the colorful ones were the males and the plain jane ones that resembled minnows were females. The females generally grew larger than the males. The female in lots of species are the plain ones. Because they are the bearers(meaning they produce the offspring), this helps camouflage them from predators. The males flaunt their beautiful colors to entice females.

Answer 2

You have already been given a good start with answers. The male guppies are the ones with the colorful tails, the females are plain. The females typically mature in about 3 months, however the males mature in around 6 or seven weeks. You should consult with a reputable breeder (ie., pet shop) rather than getting your advise (and sometimes your fish) from the local department stores. Once you have determined that a female has been fertilized, she should be iscolated from the rest of the fish in your tank. You can get a small floating breeder tank to keep her separated but yet in familiar water, or you can separate her in a smaller aquarium alltogether, You will need to have lots of floating plantlife if you leave her in the aquarium with other fish, this acts as a shield to give the small fry a place to hide from the adults, which will eat them. The water temperature for fry should be a little warmer than what is typical for the adults, around 77 or 78 degrees I think. However, keep in mind, the warmer you have the water, the shorter the lifespan of the adult guppy will be. There is a lot more to raising and breeding quality guppies than most people realize. Good luck

Answer 3

you will not be able tell what sex the guppies are for about a month if their newborns. females will stay dull in color, where as the males will have very colorful markings on the dorsal fin on top of his back and on his tail. you are right be concerned about them breeding with each other if they are from the same litter, which is very possible since the shock of moving tropical fish will sometimes put them into labor.If your guppies turn out to be male and female i would advise getting rid of the female or move her to another tank. If you want breed guppies go get adifferent female to breed with, get an attendent to help you. Their should be a picture of what you want on the tank. Inner breeding causes serious deformaties in the backbone of the fish. This is hard to see from the side but very clear looking down from the top of the water.

Answer 4

They are too young to be sexed, the males are normally smaller but more colorful, the guppies you bought could not have been more than a couple of days old, you can only sex them when they are about 1 1/2cm in length, they grow to maturity at about 3 months, but if females that will not stop chasing the females even before they reach maturity. the length of the mature guppy, is anything from 1inch to 1 1/2 inches, a female guppy shows signs of being pregnant, the under belly will start going dark and eventually black and carries the fry for 28 days, have a lot of spawning grass in the tank and you can leave your female in the tank to give birth or remove a couple of days before she drops and move her away form the other tanks or it will upset het and she could die, or give birth to dead fry, Once the fry have been born start feeding them fry foods, to get them to grow quick, once they are big enough for the bigger guppies not to be able to eat them they can join the rest of them

Answer 5

It relies upon from guppy to guppy. sure those little issues are very confusing to substain. Male guppies are frequently extra colourful than lady guppies and also you may likely tell at the same time as they're about one inch. As for fins, it truly varies, guppies are diverse from save to save. maximum guppies must have shade round a million.5 inches. If no longer, then it really is prob albino. :) i had an aquarium of guppies, or perhaps my dad, a fish maniac, couldn't save them alive. *sniff*

Answer 6

Baby guppies are cute. make sure you feed the fish flakes that are crushed until it looks like dust. You feed the several times a day so then they get their well fed. After about a couple months or so they will get bigger over time and the males get color first before the rest. The males have more color to begin with and the females look kind of bland. They get a little color or they might get a lot but it's only on their tail fins. Females also have a spot by their anal that is black and they only have 2 anal fins. Males have 3 anal fins. One of the fins should be sraight. The guppies will start mating about a week or two after the males get their color. They will do this several times a day. Then when you see the female guppie to look bloated or fat or even swollen on her sides she is pregnant. She will take about 3 months for the babies to develop. Around the time when she is about to have babies you want to put her in a baby nursery that will catch the babies and keep them away from the mother. She will want to eat them because they are so small they can fit in her mouth and they look like food to her. You can buy the baby nursery at any place that sells fish suplies.She can have up to 60 babies in one day. After she has the babies make sure to wait a couple days until putting her back in the main part of the tank. If you don't wait the males are going to go after her again and kill her. They will go after her and try to have sex or as I would say...try to fu*k her. She used a lot of energy giving birth so she is tired. When the males try to go after her she is going to try to swim away as fast as she can and try to get away, but she can't do this if she is tired. So thats why you keep her by herself for 3 days before returning her to the main part of the tank. Females will try to hide from the males by hiding behind plants or a decoration. So it is always good to have a little cave for her to hide in.

I know so much about guppies because I have breeded them for years. I haven't bought any fish for my tank for 4 years now. I had about 68 guppies in my tank and now i am down to about 3. I have a female right now who is pregnant and due any time soon to have them. I can't wait. i love raising them. If you want to make money try selling your guppies at about $2 for a pair, one male and one female. If you breed too much then some of the babies will look deformed for the fact that they are doing their brothers or sisters. I hope I helped. If you have anymore questions contact me at [e-mail] and put "Fish Talk!!" in the subject line.

Answer 7

The male will have the big tail,yes.They will start breeding at about 3 months old,you won`t have a problem telling when the female is pregnant.If you don`t want the babies,put a gourami or other pieceful fish in there with them,it will eat them.

Answer 8

Dunno but if they breed you can give away/sell/rasie the fry. I guess they came out when you came in you know what I mean ;)

Answer 9

Yep, they are def. males.