# Guppy Breeding Tanks



## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Now that I have finished writing my family history book, I decided to breed and raise guppies. I hope to have plenty of babies to raise outdoors over the summer.

Last week I set up two 10 gals and two 2 gals for the breeders-- a mix of fancy guppies and some store bought fish. Lots of color. I couldn't resist a bright yellow cobra male at PetCo. He didn't have the big delta tail, but he's got the lemon yellow color, cobra markings, plus he must be tough as nails to survive 2-3 weeks in the shop. 

Then, I am also hatching brine shrimp in a bunch of containers. 

Attached are pictures of my most exclusive stock-- the Blue Grass strain. (See advertisement picture of 3 adult males.) I got four juveniles of this strain last week off of eBay from a breeder in Arcadia, California. What impressed me is that they actually have the iridescent blue color that was advertised. 

The tank setups contain some potted plants (yard dirt plus a little bone meal covered with a spoonful of sand). I also added hornwort and floating frogbit for purifying water and to hide the babies. All plants can be easily pulled out to catch the babies later on. I scattered a little sand on the bottom as attachment sites for nitrifying bacteria and other little critters. Since it's summer, I don't need a heater. And with all the plants and such few fish, I decided I don't need a filter. I did put a gentle air bubbler in the two 2 gals, where I've got a breeding pair in each.

I lined up the two 10 gal side-by-side lengthwise and put a 36" LED light fixture (139 LEDs) to straddle the two tanks. I put a clamp light (with a 14 watt CFL) to straddle over the two 2 gals. The lighting seems to work very well.

Attached are pictures of 10 gal with 3 juveniles of the Blue Grass strain and a closeup of the male. These fish are only 10 weeks old.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

That last picture looks like my quarantine tank.


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## tiger15 (Apr 9, 2017)

The annual convention and guppy show is coming up in Oct 13-15 in NJ. I haven't kept guppy for a long time since my childhood, but plan to attend to re learn what's new. http://www.south-jersey-guppy-group.com/


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Thanks for the link! I'm tempted to go.


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## zolteeC (Dec 26, 2017)

I have a problem with my Endler guppies. Or at least I think they are endlers.
They reproduce in numbers, but most of the baby guppies are female. In fact, I hardly ever see a male endler baby. What can cause this?

Female endlers dont look that good and now 95% of my endlers are females. I guess the few remaining males love the situation, but what-the-heck. Is this normal, or is something wrong with my tank?


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

What's your tank temperature?


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

I wouldn't blame your tank or your fishkeeping skills until I knew the history of these Endlers. Sex ratios can be altered by pH, temperature, and inbreeding. I'd put my money on inbreeding, since it is pervasive in the aquarium hobby. Everyone just breeds siblings as if there were no consequences.

I'm still trying to find this scientific reference in my files referring to Zebrafish sex ratios: "WIK lab strain went from 80% females to 72% in males after inbreeding to F=0.375 (Brown 2012)."


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## zolteeC (Dec 26, 2017)

dwalstad said:


> I wouldn't blame your tank or your fishkeeping skills until I knew the history of these Endlers. Sex ratios can be altered by pH, temperature, and inbreeding. I'd put my money on inbreeding, since it is pervasive in the aquarium hobby. Everyone just breeds siblings as if there were no consequences.
> 
> I'm still trying to find this scientific reference in my files referring to Zebrafish sex ratios: "WIK lab strain went from 80% females to 72% in males after inbreeding to F=0.375 (Brown 2012)."


There is a lot of inbreeding in this tank, in fact, I think originally I put in only half a dozen endlers and the tank has been running for years now. I don't know what I could do, should I keep male guppies separate from females? Inbreeding just happens in a community tank.

Temperature is around 22C, pH is not acidic, its a hard water NPT.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

I would set the temperature to 75+F, 24+C.
I see a mostly females and low rate in reproduction with 70F.


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## zolteeC (Dec 26, 2017)

I am still having an issue with my Endler guppies. Basically only females are born/grown up. I cannot tell which, but the point is that now I see only 3 Endler males and tons of female guppies. I have read in a book that Gambusia Affinis populations in wild often have much, much more female than male. 

Can it be that my females are not Endlers and this is causing the issue?

I cannot tell if my females are guppies or Gambusia Affinis, but to my untrained eye they can also be Mosquitofish. I will try to photo one of them.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

I'm getting 25% male:female ratio on my endler hybrid. There was a post on a scientific article on sex ratio here but I can't find it.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

There are genes that determine sex ratios. These genes can be disrupted. Here's link to scientific article on MSD (Maternal Sex Ratio Distorters).

While we're at it, I've just got to show pictures of my females guppies. These are samples of the F1 from a Blue Grass strain that I imported from Thailand (ATFG) last summer.

No chance of confusing these beauties with Mosquito Fish!


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Wow! I have serious guppy envy.


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