All the Things I Need to Know About Breeding Guppies

Guppies are one of the easiest fish to breed. Once she becomes pregnant the female guppy can have from 2 to 100 babies, called fry, per month for up to 6 months. The difficult part can be getting the fry to a mature age. The parents will eat the young if they get the chance, as will other fish in a community tank.

  1. Tank

    • Nearly any tank will work to start with. It can be as small as 10 gallons. However, a small tank could fill up quickly and it may be desirable to have multiple tanks to separate different groups of guppies and to separate older fish from younger ones. It is important to keep the tank clean as well. Dead fish should be removed from the tank quickly to avoid disease, and the water should be filtered to keep contaminants to a minimum.

    Feeding

    • Young guppies are voracious eaters and spend most of their time looking for food. At this age the guppies can be fed from 5 to 10 times per day, but remember they are small and only feed them a little bit at a time. Guppy fry can eat high-protein powdered or flake fish food, although low protein is best for the adults. Guppies are also particularly fond of blood worms and brine shrimp. Brine shrimp can be purchased from most aquarium shops and are highly recommended, as the nutrients in brine shrimp help the guppies to develop stronger coloration.

    Protection

    • Chances are, not all of the guppy fry will survive to adulthood. You can take precautions, though, that will improve their chances. Adult guppies will eat guppy fry, so if there are going to be adult fish in the tank, it's best to give the young guppies plants that they can use for shelter and protection. Remember that once a female guppy is pregnant, she will have more babies every three to four weeks for up to 6 months. It may be advisable to remove older fish from the tank to prevent them from eating their younger siblings. It is also a good idea to insure that the filter pipe is covered to prevent the fry from being sucked into it.

    Breeding

    • Breeding fish should be selected in trios with one male and two females. Having two females present seems to speed up the process of the females becoming pregnant while making the males less aggressive. Female guppies can become pregnant at between three and six months of age, so it's important to separate males and females to control breeding. The two initial female guppies can produce up to 1,200 fry over a six-month period. If all of the fish are kept in the same tank, some of the fry will have grown up, become pregnant and will be having babies of their own before the six months is up. Unless care is taken, overpopulation can become a serious problem.