Content

• Steps
• How to make food for fry
• Advice
• Warning
• What you need

Guppies have beautiful colors, a lovely face and are easy to take care of. What more could you expect from a fish? If you want an aquarium full of these beautiful little fish, you should learn how to breed fish and take care of their beautiful fry.

Steps

Part 1 of 2: Breeding guppies

1. 

   Choose the fish you want to breed. Note the number of individuals you want to breed, 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 broodfish. This same rule applies to the shape of the fish's fin as well.
   • Quantity of fish: Generally, you will need to choose one male and two or three female fish 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 male's attention will be shared among the three females, so that the female is also reduced in pressure.
   • Color Styles: Guppies come in several basic color styles, including Wild (dark or olive), Albino (light or white, red eye), Blonde (light black) and Blue (blue iridescent yang).
   • Tail shape: The tail shape of a guppies can come in a variety of shapes, from a rounded caudal fin to a sword-shaped fin. Guppies come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but the most common are the Delta (wide triangle), Fantail (fan) and Round tail (small circle) forms.

2. 

   
   
   Select the breeding tank. You should choose a 40-80 liter tank with heater and light filter. You need a light filter; otherwise, the juveniles (also called fry) may be sucked into the filter and die. If your water filter is too strong, cover the filter with leather socks. This way the water is filtered through the leather socks but still protects the fry.

3. 

   
   
   Prepare the tank. Sadly, guppies can turn to eat each other, so you need to provide shelter for the fry after they are born. Guppies are usually on the bottom of the tank, so use the low plants in the tank to shield them. You also need some taller plants so that the healthy fry can hide from the swim up.
   • Do not gravel the tank floor. Ground gravel is the fake rock or rock used to line the bottom of the aquarium. An unpaved tank is good for fry because it can be cleaned easily and you can also know how many fry are alive or how much they are fed.
   • Java moss, also known as spawning moss, is a good refuge for the fry.

4. 

   
   
   Adjust the tank according to your fish's needs. Maintain the water temperature between 25-26 degrees Celsius when stocking male and female fish in the tank. Before you put your fish into the breeding tank, you need to buy fish food of high nutritional value to help them breed.

5. 

   Put the guppies in the breeding tank. At this point all you can do is just wait for the fish to breed. Return the male to a regular tank when you see the female is pregnant. You can tell if a female fish is pregnant or not by looking for dark markings on her belly. These dark spots are also known as pregnancy spots. All female guppies do this during pregnancy, but pregnancy spots are more pronounced when the eggs are fertilized.

6. 

   Know when the fish is about to give birth. In general, the gestation period of guppies is about 26-31 days. When the fish is about to spawn, the belly of the fish will be very large and the pregnancy spots will turn dark black (or dark brown if the albino and blond guppies). The belly will also be square like a cardboard box instead of round. Guppies will lay offspring instead of eggs. You need to keep a close eye on the pregnant female so that you can separate the mother to another tank immediately after spawning (because the mother can eat the fry).
   • Some signs that the fish are about to give birth are: lethargy and seclusion, shivering (mounds), hanging around by the heater, refusing to eat or spitting food out.
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Part 2 of 2: Caring for fry

1. 

   Remove the mother fish from the breeding tank when the fry are born. This may sound cruel, but in fact the fry has been prepared to survive on its own. Furthermore, as mentioned above, the mother guppies may occasionally eat the offspring.
   • If you cannot be present at spawning, make sure to provide the fry with plenty of aquatic plants to hide from.

2. 

   Keep the aquarium clean and maintain a proper temperature. The suitable water temperature for fry is 25.5 degrees Celsius. You will need to maintain this temperature until the fry are fully mature. The aquarium also needs to be cleaned regularly. Suck the tank carefully every time it gets too dirty and change the water every 40% every few days to keep the tank clean.

3. 

   Give the fry the correct food. The juvenile guppies eat saltwater shrimp, earthworms or pureed flakes. They need to eat 2 meals a day.Guppies love to eat both meat and vegetables. You should feed your guppies with regular flake and flakes. Remember that the fry are very small, so if you overfeed the fish, the leftovers in the water can make the fry sick and even kill the fish.
   • Newly spawning fry need to be fed brine shrimp for best growth. If you want a treat for your guppies, put a little boiled spinach in the aquarium.

4. 

   Take steps to help ensure the health of your guppies. This includes the removal of dead fry. The dead fry will float to the surface and can be picked up easily. Keep track of how many fry die. If you notice a high death rate of fish, you will need to find the cause. Change water and change food. The accumulated waste is not good for the health of the colorant.

5. 

   Transfer the fry to a regular tank when they are big enough. Once the fry have reached the proper size or are between a month and a half to two months of age to become defenseless, you can put them in a regular tank with non-aggressive fish, sold to aquarium stores. or give a friend. advertisement

How to make food for fry

• Place the fish pellets / flakes in a plastic zippered bag.
• Crush until the fish food turns into a fine powder.
• Feed the fish a small amount.
• Mix together different foods high in protein.
• If the food is too large, the fry will not eat it. In that case, you should buy food exclusively for fry.
• Dip a toothpick in water, then dip it into food powder and then re-dip it in water.

Advice

• If the male refuses to fertilize the female, try placing another male in a jar and placing it next to the breeding tank. This will stimulate the male to mate when it sees a competitor. If that doesn't work either, you may have to choose another male to breed.
• Try pairing males and females of the particular color and fin shape you like to make sure the fry look what you want.
• Do not stock many different species of fish with guppies, they will stress the breeding pair and eat all the fry they see.
• Donate or sell the fry if you have too many fry in your tank; otherwise, they won't grow and will eat each other's tails.
• Try not to get the tank too crowded, as the fish will become stressed, aggressive and may attack other fish.
• Use 2 separate tanks, one for the adult fish and the other for the fry (wait until the fry reach about 1.2cm to put in the other tank).
• If the female spawns, you need to transfer the mother fish to another tank; if not, maybe the mother will eat the fry.
• Have a tank of the right size for your fry before spawning.
• Do not check the fish too often to avoid stressing the fish and they will not spawn.
• Place a plastic bottle to keep the fry safe in the aquarium. Put the food in the bottle to let them swim in and eat.
• Try adding aqua grass or putting a safety tube in the aquarium.
• Try to use two aquariums if you use this method. One tank for fry, one for spawning female.

Warning

• If the male is too aggressive with the female, you might want to try providing more hiding places for the female, such as fake plants and small shelters. If the male is still aggressive and won't mate, get rid of the fish, as this is a bad breeding trait (aggressive behavior is not common in guppies) and can be harmful to the female.

What you need

• Four aquariums: One 30-liter tank for adult males, one 30-liter tank for adult females, one 60-liter tank for breeding and one 45-60-liter tank for fry
• Heaters, thermometers and light water filters for each tank
• Frozen or raw saltwater shrimp, worm worms, fish flakes puree, fodder, or fish fry food
• Plants (aquatic plants and / or plants)
• Small racket
• Fish tank cleaning tools
• A seashell can provide a good shelter for fry if you don't want to spend money on it