How to Raise Guppies

Guppies are livebearers who will give birth to tiny miniatures of themselves. New owners can be surprised to see these new babies, called fry, swimming freely in their aquarium. Here is what you need to know and have on hand in order to successfully raise robust, healthy guppies.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A trio of guppies - a male and two females.
• A ten gallon aquarium or larger to house the adult fish.
• A five gallon or larger aquarium to be used as a breeding tank.
• A breeder box/nursery attachment (optional)
• Aquarium hoods and lights for each tank.
• Floating plants, plastic or live, for the breeding tank.
• An aquarium heater
• An aquarium filter
• An aquarium thermometer
• Plastic or live aquarium plants
• Aquarium gravel
• Water conditioner
• Tank cycling liquid
• A high quality Tropical flake fish food for adults
• Baby brine shrimp, tubifex worms, or flake fish food especially made for baby tropical fish.

1. You will need to set up your guppy's new home about a week before you actually buy them. This gives the tank a chance to cycle and establish a good bacteria colony. Now is the time to use water conditioners and tank cycling liquid.

2. Visit your local pet shop to choose a trio of guppies for breeding. Some stores will have the males and females housed separately, and some will have the two sexes swimming together in the same tank. You can tell the males from the females quite easily. The male is brightly colored and has larger fins, whereas the female is a little smaller and more plain. The male also has a modified fin called a gonopodium which hangs directly behind his bottom fin. You may have to look very closely to see this fin, but it is a foolproof way of sexing livebearers. Choose fish that look and act healthy, swimming about freely. Avoid guppies who are sitting at the bottom of the tank.

3. Once you have your new fish at home in their tank, examine the females carefully. You can tell if a female guppy is close to giving birth by looking at her abdomen. It will be enlarged and there should be a dark spot which is called the gravid spot. This spot will get darker as she nears the time to release her fry.

4. When your female guppy shows signs of imminent birth, it is time to move her into the smaller breeding aquarium that you have set up and cycled as you did the larger tank in preparation for your new baby fish. It is up to you whether or not you want to use a breeder box. Made of plastic or net, it is a container that hangs on the inside of the breeding aquarium. It allows the fry to drop through tiny slits to swim around the bottom while the female remains on top. This is necessary because some females will eat their young.

5. If you choose not to use a breeder box, make sure your breeding aquarium is heavily planted with floating plants. This gives the fry a place to hide after they are born. Once you see that the female has finished giving birth, it is safe to place her back into the larger aquarium.

6. The baby fish will need to be fed several times a day with a good commercial tropical fish food specially made for fry. You can also use adult flake food and crumble it up into a fine dust. Do not feed to much, or you will cloud the water. It's important to keep the water clean in the breeding aquarium. This can be accomplished with frequent water changes. Using water from your main aquarium for these changes can help the fry get used to the water they will live in when they grow a bit bigger. In about 6 weeks, the fry should be large enough to transfer into the larger aquarium.

Tips & Warnings

• The best temperature to keep the breeding tank is around 80 degrees. The fry will eat better and grow even faster when they are kept warm.
• A hard cooked egg yolk is an excellent food for fry, but only in very small amounts. Too much egg will foul the water, and the tank will need a complete water change. Take the cooked yolk and add a few drops of water. Mash to make a paste. Feed a tiny pinch about the size of the end of a pencil lead. You will see a cloud form in the water from the yolk, but the tiny fish will consume every bit of it.
• Do not use any sort of household chemicals to clean your tanks or equipment. Vinegar is a safe cleanser that disinfects and will not harm your fish if you are sure to rinse throughly and carefully after using it.

[jyle]

on 2/27/2009 I went through about ten guppies before I got this right. I should have come here earlier.