How To Breed Guppies?

If you ask most people of how to breed guppies, their reply will usually be adding some guppies into a tank and wait for them to reproduce. True enough, that was a summary of how you going to breed guppies. I am going to list down some step by step method, if you do not agree with what I said, feel free to email me. The steps is serve as a general guide of producing guppies, thus it might not work well if you are breeding show fish.

Step 1: Get a 10 gallons tank. (5gallons will be minimum size, anything bigger is better)

Step 2: Cycle the tank using fish less cycle to avoid any ammonia or nitrite spikes in future. This process will take sometimes. Around 6 weeks.

Step 3: Add one tablespoon of aquarium salt before cycling begin. And continue to add salt every time you do water changes or topping up water. (1 tea spoon per 10 gallons if you have a bigger tank)

Step 4: Add some floating plants to the tank this will serve as hiding place for the fry. Java moss can be added as well. It served as a good hiding place.

Step 5: Before adding your guppies into the tank, make sure that the water is at the right conditions. Water temperature should be between 19.0 - 29.0°C (69 - 86 °F) and the pH reading should be PH 7.0-8.5.

Step 6: Add 1 male to 3 females of guppies into the tank. A 10 gallons tank can hold 2 males to 6 females.

Step 7: If you notice most of the females are pregnant, move the males back to their tank. There will be a dark mark near the anus area of the female if it's pregnant.

Step 8: After 1week, move those that are certainly not pregnant back into their own tank.

Step 9: Wait for about 2-3 weeks more. So 1 week + 2-3weeks will be around 3-4weeks before the fry will be born.

Step 10: At this point of time, the female stomach will be very large and you will be able to see the eyes of the babies around the gravid spot.

Step 11: Check after few hours to see if the fry is born. Ensure enough hiding place was provided (Floating plants and java moss), else they will be eaten by the mother. Move those females that had already given birth back into their own tank. Some of the fry might be eaten as not all female guppies gave birth at the same times. But enough hiding place will lessen the lost.

Step 12: Feed the fry with powdered flakes. Use a sponge filter with low output rate. Else the fry might get sucked into the filter. Can even try to cover with tights as further precauison.

Step 13 : 30-40 percent of water changes is needed per week to keep the water clean. If its need, more water changes per week is encouraged.

Step 14: Once the fry reaches a reasonable size, around 1/3 of the adult, you have successfully reproduced guppies and can sell them away. Make sure plans of getting rid of your fry are laid before you even begin step 1.

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