NEED HELp {GUPPIES}?

Question

Heres how it is i have a 10-15g tank and i want some nice guppies!i like the ones with bright colors and big fins i also want to breed them...so can anyone tell me what i need to know?and what do i have to buy,what king of guppy and all that, the temperater an everything all you know is what i need to know!!thanks for your help!!

Answer 1

Most pets stores will tell you guppies prefer lightly salted water. I've heard that it's not necessary, but I do put just a small amount of salt in mine, about 2 teaspoons per 10 gallons (though most people recommend a higher dosage, I've had no problems at this level). Guppies will multiply FAST, so they'll quickly outgrow your small tank if you keep them all. Don't assume the excess babies will get eaten, because they won't, especially if you have a lot of vegetation, either real or fake. I have a heavilt planted aquarium, and at least 5 fry out of every "litter" makes it to adult size. This doesn't sound like a whole lot, but in 10 gallon it is. Generally, the rule of thumb is 1 inch of fish (length) per gallon of water. Also, guppies should be kept with one male to every 2-3 females (or more females if you can) forbest breeding results. The females aren't s pretty, but if you shop around you can find some fairly beautiful femaes. I like the ones with leopard spotted tails:) Th mlaes are the beautiful ones, s it so often is in the animal world. I ouldn't keep more than maybe one male and 2-3 females in a 10 gallon tank, and with the way the reproduc that's pushing it (*know from experience*). In my experience guppies qre quit resilient, as mine have tolerated some miserable water conditions, from really, really high ammonia to realy high nitrates and nitrites. Start slow - add only 1 fish at first, then slowly add 1 or 2 at a time to allow the tank to cycle properly. My 10 gallon took 5 months to fully cycle. If your first fish dies, leave it in the tank for a day or 2 - this will let the bacteria really get a good foothold in the environment. HOWEVER, if the fish died from contagious disease, you'll probably want to start all over. But most likely, it will be the poor water quality. I actuall got my cycle started with a male beta (who now lives in a different tank). Betas are excelent at getting a cycle started because they, too, can tolerate very poor water conditions. You can also add a bacteria supplement, such as Cycle or StressZyme, to get the cycle going. Test the water and only use adjustment chemicals if it's absolutely necessary. Of course, you have to use something to get the water properly conditioned first. I cannot for the life of me remember what I use, but I imagine almost any water condition/chlorine remover specifically for freshwater fish will do the trick. The temperature shoud be around 75-80 degrees, though they can tolerate temperatures on either side of that. Feed a food that foats, so you can scoop out the excess when they're finished eating. feed a color-enhancing flake food with some freeze-dried baby shrimp and bloodworms thrown in for variety. I also keep an antibiotic medicated food on hand, but ony use it if you hve to! If you do have to treat for an illness, it's best to do so in a different tank. You can use zeolite to keep the ammonia levels down while the tank cycles, but remember there needs to be some ammonia and nitrates and nitrites in he beginning or it will never cycle. Also, once zeolite has absorbed as much ammonia as it ca, it starts to release it back into the water, so you MUST keep up on changing it. As far as what kind of guppies, it's up to you. all the types can crossbreed, but you might have a hard time getting rid of them s pet stores may not accept them when you need to get rid of babies. I just have regular old Fancy guppies, just because there is such variety of them - the "mutts" of the guppy world, I suppose. Also, if you get a female from a pet shop, odds are she'll be pregnant. They seem like they're always pregnnt, as they can store sperm for many, many batches of fry with one mating.

Oh yes, one more thing, guppies are tough. They're sold as tropical community fish, but watch out! I got another beta to eat the extra babies in hopes of preventing them fromm overcrowding yet another tank, and a week later I found the beta dead nd disemboweled. Aparenty the eveil school of guppies had killed him and eater his eyeballes, fins, tail, gills, and are a hole through his side through whih they proceeded to eat his internal organs. So even though they seem fairly placid, WATCH OUT! lol:)

Good luck!

Added - a note on breeding tanks, nets, bskets, etc:
If you want to save every single fry possible, a breeder net is a good way to do so. I don't recommend the plastic breeder box thing because there's not much water flow, and it may actually kill your fish better than it saves them. But anyhow, you really won't need a net or anything to kep the babies in if you have enough plants. I have mostly plastic plants because I can kill any live plant in 2 days flat, lol. You will have more babies than you know what to do with, trust me;) You'll be begging friends and family to take them off your hands. I gave half my fish to my brother and I still have way too many. Keep in mind, in this particular tank, I started only about 6 months ago. They are also called "millions fish," and in a couple months you'll know why!

Answer 2

The ones with the big, brightly colored tails are usually the males - if you look at the fin on the bottom closest to the tail, it will be long and pointed - this is the best way to separate the genders. The female is somewhat larger, less brightly colored, and the fin is triangular. Photo male: http://www.cob.montevallo.edu/DavisVM/guppy.jpg Photo female: http://www.aquariumhobbyist.com/guppies/Femaled.jpg note that in the photo, the gravid spot (dark area on abdomen) is shown - you'll see this on pregnant females - guppies give live birth.

When you get the fish, try to get two females for each male. Otherwise a male constantly harrasses a single female. You should also proved some plants as a place for the females to hide out from the males once in a while - these don't have to be living - silk or plastic do fine.

As to what type of guppies - whatever you like. The closer they are in appearance to each other, the more likely they'll produce more of the same. If you get several different colors, who know what you might end up with - some combo can look fairly attractive, others so-so. Here's a link to the guppy page on aquabid - a fish/aquarium auction site - where you can see some of the varieties and their names: http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwguppies

Guppies are pretty adaptable. Temperatures can be from around 70o to 80o, so depending on your room temperature, you might not need a heater. A filter of some sort should be used, even if it's an undergravel filter. More people would recommend a hang-on type power filter, but with guppies and the size of your tank, either type would do. I do like to use some salt in their water - about 1 tablespoon for every 5 gallons of water.

Some breeders will use a breeder net to separate the pregnant mother from the rest of the fish. With enough plants for hiding and adequately fed adults, I've never had problems with older fish eating the fry.

Pretty much the rest is up to the fish. Females will give birth on average every 28 days. The more room the fry have, the faster they'll grow, so if you get a few adults to start, you'll be looking for a new tank in which to raise the fry before too long. The fry should be fed several times a day in small feedings. Flake food crumbled very fine is okay for them, and 20-30% water changes should be done each week with a gravel vacuum.

Answer 3

Well, I can tell you what I do...I have been breeding guppies for my own collection for about a year and a half now. I started with a ten gallon tank with four guppies, two males, two females. Then when I saw the ladies getting really fat, I transferred them into a 2.5 gallon tank. When i finally saw the babies, I fished the moms back out and put them back with the males into the ten gallon tank. If you dont have these resources available, get yourself some breeding nets to keep the babies in so they dont get eaten. Now I have a fifty five gallon tank and have TONS of guppies. I keep the temp around 75 to 78 degrees. I keep my breeding net up and there are always new babies I find on a weekly basis. I have the breeding grass in the tank also. These are for the babies to hide it to be safe. i have some on the bottom of the tank and some hanging from the top of the tank. Good luck. These fish are real easy to breed. Make sure you have a filter and air bubbles too. And before you put your fish in the water, make sure you use something along the lines of "start right". It is in either a liquid form or tablets. This will condition the water and make it more livable for the fish. And just in case you dont know, the male guppies are the ones with the pretty tails and the females have smaller, less colorful tails.

Answer 4

The males are the ones with the big colorful tail. When you buy female guppies from a pet store they are usually prego already. Get your tank going with the cheep ones from a pet store. In about 6 months that will give you an ideal what you are doing. After you feel good about the fish you can start to get the fancy ones online.
Their is alot of info online like about guppies.
You can even goto my web site and see a video of a female giving birth.
Horse love answered good.

Answer 5

Yay guppies! OMG that's one of those very magnificent word to assert! GUPPIES GUPPIES GUPPIES GUPPIES GUPPIES! large, now i'm putting forward it a lot it would not even recommend something anymore. geez.

Answer 6

GUPPIES ARE THE EASIEST THINGS TO BREED ON THE ENTIRE PLANET!!!! But its helpful to make sure you have at least 2 girls to every boy (boys are VERY colorful, girls... AREN"T!!!) You could get about 8 to 10 guppies for your tank. Make sure there there are plenty of plants because the parents won't hesitate to EAT their young. But seriously, as long as you have boy and girl guppies with a well managed tank, they WILL breed within 2 to 3 weeks.