How to Breed Fancy Guppies and Save Guppy Fry

The fancy guppy (Poecilia reticulata) is a small freshwater livebearer.

To breed a thriving colony of guppies you will need to find at least one fertile male and one fertile female fancy guppy pair. Your guppies will need to be housed in a healthy, cycled guppy breeder tank.

Make sure your fish are healthy before you try to breed them.

Place the pair of guppies in a well established fish tank and feed them two times a day with various live foods in addition to a non-live diet that is also widely varied.

The guppy breeder tank should be at least a ten gallon aquarium or larger. Breeding guppies is really easy once you get the hang of it.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Colored gravel mix
• Floating plastic plants
• Aquarium safe decorations
• One pair of guppies
• Established aquarium
• Quality fish foods

1. 
   This multi-colored gravel has sea shells and marbles mixed into it.

   Add Gravel to the Guppy Breeder Tank.
   
   Gravel that is dark colored gives the fry places to hide. Fry rest on the gravel for the first few moments after they are born. Light earthy tones of gravel like tan, cream, etc. can be good for fry when hiding from older and larger fish. Brightly colored gravel that is mixed or rainbow colored is also good when helping to camouflage the newborn baby fry.

2. 
   This plastic plant has big blue flowers which makes it great for hiding guppy fry.

   Add Aquatic Plants to the Guppy Breeder Tank.
   
   Floating plastic plants at and near the top of the guppy tank will provide cover for the fry once they attempt to swim up to the surface for air.
   
   You can use live plants for your breeder tank but the plants will need light to grow. Lights on your guppy breeder tank will make it easier for your fry to get spotted by a large fish and become a bite-sized fish snack.
   
   Java Moss is a great low light plant that grows fast. If possible add some Java Moss into your guppy breeder tank.

3. 
   This is a large decoration that was bought at a fish store.

   Add Aquarium Decorations into the Guppy Breeder Tank.
   
   Any kind of fish safe decoration is better than no decorations. After the female guppy has dropped her fry, she and any other larger fish will attempt to eat every single newborn fry in sight. Fry will seek refuge in nearby decorations. Use saltwater sea shells, rocks and pebbles of all different shapes and sizes. Marbles, driftwood and even a piece of filter floss will help the fry escape from being eaten by any larger fish.

4. Feed your guppies twice a day and keep the fish tank water clean. Check out the articles in the resources section about live fishfood or raising livebearer fry for more information on this subject.
   
   Fry grow faster when fed live foods as well as non-live foods. Guppy fry will eat smaller pieces of anything that adult breeder guppies will eat.

5. Add an aquarium air pump (air-bubbler) to the guppy breeder tank. This will create additional aeration which your guppy fish will appreciate. Two to ten guppies will live happily in a ten gallon aquarium with no air-pumps of any kind if the water quality is monitored closely.
   
   If you live in a warmer climate, you might not have to add an aquarium heater to the tank during the cold winter months.
   
   Keep a thermometer in the guppy breeder tank and monitor the temperature daily.

6. Check your breeder guppy tanks daily for baby guppy fry, especially after observing a gravid female.
   
   Immediately remove newborn guppy fry from the breeder tank and move them into a tank set up specifically for guppy fry.

Tips & Warnings

• Try to stock your guppy tanks with one male for every three females.
• If you want to add an extra source of filtration to any of your guppy tanks, add a sponge filter. Sponge filters are safe for fry and very beneficial to any aquatic environment.
• Adult guppies will eat newborn guppy fry no matter what. Remove fry from the breeder tank with a net as soon as you see them.
• Guppy breeder tanks should never have any power filters or water pumps that might suck up and kill newborn fancy guppy fry.

Resources

• How to Increase The Amount Of Guppy Fry You Find
• How to Get a Healthy Colony of Fancy Guppies
• How to Breed Vinegar Eels And Use For Livefood
• How to Make Your Own Frozen Fish Foods

[Elizabethknows]

on 2/7/2009 Awesome my dad always told me you can make money doing this, breeding guppies. Thanks 5*

[hoolihan0519]

on 2/2/2009 Very interesting article. I never had these fish or bred them. RCR.