How to Breed Guppies

Choose the fish you want to breed. Take note of the number of fish you want to breed, and the color and shape of the tail of each fish. If you choose two fish of the same color to breed, the fry will have the same color pattern as the parents. The same principle applies to fish fin shapes.

• Number of fish: Generally, you will need to choose one male and two or three females for breeding. If there is only one male and one female, the male will often become aggressive chasing the female around the tank. If the ratio of male to female is 1:3, the attention of the male will be shared among the three females, thereby reducing the pressure on the female.
• Color Patterns: Guppies come in several basic color patterns, including Wild (gray or olive), Albino (light or white, red eyes), Blonde (light with black dots) and Blue (blue). iridescent sun).
• Tail Shape: The tail shape of guppies can take many forms, from rounded caudal fins to sword fins. Guppies come in many shapes and sizes, but the most common are Delta (wide triangle), Fantail (fan shape) and Round tail (small circle).

Choose a breeding tank. You should choose a tank with a capacity of 40-80 liters including a heater and a light filter. You need to use a light filter; otherwise, baby guppies (also called fry) may get sucked into the filter and die. If your water purifier is too powerful, you can use a leather sock to cover the filter. Thus the water is filtered through the sock but still protects the fry.

Prepare the tank. Sadly, guppies can turn to eat each other, so you need to provide shelter for the fry after they’re born. Guppies usually stay on the bottom of the tank, so you should use plants that are low in the tank to cover them. You also need some taller plants so that the healthy fry can hide while swimming up. ^[1]

• Do not lay gravel on the tank floor. Gravel is a stone or imitation stone used to line the bottom of the aquarium. Non-gravel aquariums are good for fry because they can be cleaned easily and you can also see how many fry are alive or how much food they have.
• Java moss, also known as spawning moss, is a good shelter for guppies.

Adjust the aquarium to the needs of the fish. Maintain water temperature between 25-26 degrees Celsius when stocking male and female fish in the tank. Before placing the fish in the breeding tank, you need to buy high nutritional value fish food to support them to reproduce.

Release guppies into the breeding tank. At this point, all you can do is wait for the fish to spawn. Return the male to the regular tank when you see that the female is pregnant. You can tell if a female is pregnant by looking at the dark markings on her belly. These dark spots are also called pregnancy spots. All female guppies have this phenomenon during pregnancy, but the pregnancy spots become more visible once the eggs are fertilized. ^[2]

Know when the fish is about to spawn. In general, the gestation period of guppies is about 26-31 days. When the fish is about to spawn, the fish’s belly will be very large and the fetal spots will turn dark black (or dark brown if it is albino and blond guppies). The fish belly will also be square like a cardboard box instead of round. Guppies will give birth instead of laying eggs. You need to monitor the pregnant female closely so that you can separate the mother from another tank immediately after spawning (because the mother can eat the fry).

• Some of the signs that fish are about to give birth are: lethargy and aloof, shivering (contractions), hanging around a heater, refusing to eat or letting go of food.