Guppies & Parents

[darkrider366]

Hello Everyone, On Monday GMT+0 i might buy some guppies, maybe 2 male, 2 female, but i wanted a expert to tell me how many of each i should keep at a time, i do not want like 2 males fighting over 1 female when there is 2 females, i just want them to breed, and, When the guppies breed, do i have to remove the parents from the tank, or keep them in, and remove the babies.
And what range of fish do guppies usually breed at once.

In my tank i also have 2 mollys, 1 gourami, 2 zebra, 1 orange stripe fish. Will the babies and parents be safe with these?
and, when do i move the parents back into the tank.

[alyssatheurer]

best to have 2 females per male
you can get a breeder net (not sure of the name) to put the babies in...they will stil be in the same tank but protected.
Are you doing this to sell them or just for fun?

[kdrun76]

As a general rule guppy parents don't eat their own fry, all the other fish in the tank will though. If you want to breed guppies, you need to give them their own tank.

[darkrider366]

Well, i am not going to sell them unless i have 50 of the dudes all over the place (haha) or i might buy a guppie fish tank =P well, guppie only fish tank.
And, i can prob buy a seperate tank (small tho) for the guppie fry, but when can i mix the new born guppies with other fish?
Thx for replies.

[kdrun76]

When they are about 2 months old. The hard part will be catching them before the Gourami does. You are almost better off putting the females with the males.... wait a week, then put the females in the tank the fry are to be raised in. Wait until they give birth, then put them back with the males again for a week and back in the fry tank.

I seriously doubt you would ever see fry in a tank with a gourami in it.

[alyssatheurer]

haha yeah no kidding gourami's are ruthless.
When I had guppies I would leave the female in until she was visibly full of babies...ususally there is a dark grey or black spot by the anal fin that shows up close to when she will give birth, then I would chuck her into one of those plastic breeder boxes.
Then when the fry looked big enough to live in the tank i'd let em go in...I didn't care really if they got eaten though...it was just a cool process to see.

[darkrider366]

Alright, so, i put the males and females in a seperate tank to the other fish, let them sha**, then put the male in the main tank, let the female give birth, then put the female back in the main tank, then when the fry are looking healthy enough and big enough i can release some into my main tank right?

[darkrider366]

oh, and how long does it take the female to breed the fry?

[kdrun76]

Gestation is 28 days.

Putting pregnant females into breeder boxes as alyssatheurer (http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/member.php?u=24825) suggested causes the female a LOT of stress and sometimes causes her to abort her fry. I am glad it worked for her, but I wouldn't recommend the method. Putting the female into the tank she will deliver in when she is only 1 week or so pregnant means she will be comfortable and not stressed for most of her pregnancy.

[darkrider366]

ok, then like on the 25'th day, should i move the female? and should i use a ordinary net, or will that put pressure on the womb.

[kdrun76]

Mover her after a week, you don't want to stress her near the end of her pregnancy. A regular net is fine.

[darkrider366]

oh shizzle, my zebra fish jumped out of the bowl i had it in and died on my floor, only just noticed, i think today i will get more fish now.and i will cover the top of the bowl. :( lol

Sorry didnt quite catch what you mean. Move her after a week? week after the babies? or week before. Cheers.

[kdrun76]

Mover her a week after she has been exposed to the male.

If gestation is 28 days , she will be at most 1/4 of the way through with her pregnancy at that point.

Sorry about your zebra.

[alyssatheurer]

I had never heard that about stressing the female...mine were always fine.
Not just one time thing either, I bred her loads...baby guppies to friends all around haha

[darkrider366]

oh ok, will do, i hope to get more fish tomorrow then, i spent 35 quid of my own cash buying a airpump and 2 air stones and splitter and non return valve and pipe, anyway
i hope to move my fish back in tomorrow, i dont want to waste time with them sitting beside me on my desk commiting suicide. so i will get them back in when the water is at 26 or 27 degrees

[darkrider366]

Yay, i just got my guppies, i only got 5 male tho. I wasn't to sure on getting the female right now, maybe i will get them later one.