Ratio for gupy fry?
- Thread starter concord
- Start date
I'm sure there are factors involved like temp and water params and such.. but have never been able to find any concrete science either way.
Guppies aren't too hard to breed at all. What happened in my experience is that I started with 2 males and 2 females. I noticed the females getting larger and was looking forward to having new fry but they would give birth when I had almost forgot about them and the fry would just be eaten. So what I did is got a little hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) from my cichlid tank (they don't mess with it at all) because it was growing like crazy and stuck it in the guppy tank. Now six months and 50+ guppies later I have more than I can handle. But the fact about them that I didn't realize that in order for a new batch of fry to survive you need to do 1 of 2 options:
1. separate the female in smaller hatchery type device until she gives birth and wait until the smallest fry is bigger than the largest adult guppy's mouth so that way non of them stand the chance of getting eaten.
2. take a really "leafy" plan, again hornwort worked perfect except it floats so it needs to be anchored, and cover about 1/4-1/2 of the substrate to provide sufficient hiding spots for your new fry.
I hope this helps somewhat. Let us know what you find out in your breeding experience.
brock
1. separate the female in smaller hatchery type device until she gives birth and wait until the smallest fry is bigger than the largest adult guppy's mouth so that way non of them stand the chance of getting eaten.
2. take a really "leafy" plan, again hornwort worked perfect except it floats so it needs to be anchored, and cover about 1/4-1/2 of the substrate to provide sufficient hiding spots for your new fry.
I hope this helps somewhat. Let us know what you find out in your breeding experience.
brock
I've never heard of that particular birth ratio of 2/20. You see, based on the more advanced principles of natural selection, nature repels inbreeding. therefore, a normal ratio for producing fry of 1 male to 5-10 females is conducive to the species' survival, but creating that ratio in one localized hatch is not, as the males and females alike are meant to be driven off to mate with other populations. This is one of the ways that the parents-eating-babies thing works for the species, by scaring off the babies and selecting for strong ones, while providing females with nourishment. so, a ratio of 1:1 is just about natural, unless its a special adaptation, which for guppies it isn't. of course, other parameters can affect this ratio by several points
