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Guppy Breeding - - For Experts! The guppy is a longstanding favorite among aquarium hobbyists. Beginning hobbyists tend to choose them for their vibrant color and showy fins, while the more experienced hobbyists choose them for their great breeding potential. The guppy gives the hobbyist a chance to make a lasting mark on the tropical fish hobby like few other fish can. Through selective breeding, a hobbyist can quite literally develop his or her own strain of guppy complete with his own chosen colors, patterns, and fin shapes. Bright reds, yellows, blues, and greens are just the beginning. Guppies also have an iridescent sparkle that few fish can compete with. Guppies have evolved this elaborate coloration to attract females. In the wild this also makes them a prime target for predators, decreasing the probability of finding in the wild any of the beautiful strains we're used to seeing in our pet stores. When the guppy is brought to the home aquarium where it is sheltered from predators, the guppy's natural beauty can be enhanced through selective breeding. The guppy is truly an artist's palette of possibilities. The Guppy Advantage Unlike many of the cichlids that grow slowly and take many months to reach sexual maturity, the guppy has a very short life-span. Because they reach sexual maturity so quickly, it takes a relatively short amount of time to see the results of your labors. It may only take a couple of years to create your own strain. Though this may seem long, it is a remarkably short amount of time in which to create a distinctive strain of fish. If your selections for color and shape are well thought out, in just two years you could create something that will still be in pet stores long after you're gone.  
The Drs. Foster and Smith GIFT CERTIFICATE Where to start Perhaps one of the best things about this undertaking is the ease of getting started. The requirements for keeping and breeding guppies are few. Unlike many commonly bred fish, such as cichlids, spacious tanks are not needed for guppy breeding. The fish themselves are perhaps the least expensive part of the project. For the truly ambitious, feeder guppies are often available at pet shops for mere pennies. These feeder guppies look much like their wild counterparts, and provide the hobbyist with a tremendous challenge. Still, for someone with a good eye and a little determination, creating a new fancy strain from feeder guppies is a very rewarding project. Whether you choose to start with feeders or with one of the fancier strains at the pet shop, breeding guppies to create a new strain is a challenge that will require time and effort, but which promises great rewards. What to look for To begin, you need to know what you want. Picking a guppy with only a little bit of red on it might eventually lead to a red strain, but it could take years. Knowing what you ultimately want in your guppy before you purchase the first fish will make the process much simpler. Tank Set-up A serious breeding project will require more than one tank. My ideal set-up would include three 20-gallon tanks and one 55-gallon tank. You can use smaller tanks and dividers if you wish, but you will need four separated areas. I suggest the following:  
Perfect desktop starter tank with panoramic viewing (1) Breeding tank. A 10-gallon is suitable, but I suggest a 20-gallon 'long' divided in half. (2) Female Grow-Out Tank. A 10 is okay, I suggest a 20 long. (3) Male Grow-Out Tank. A 10 is good, a 20 long is better. (4) Fry Tank. I suggest at least a 20-gallon, preferably a 55-gallon. The larger your raising tank, the faster the fry will reach maturity. (More frequent water changes and smaller, more frequent feedings will also help.)  
Coralife Pure-Flo II RO Units Week One: Buy some guppies! If you're running a large set-up, I would recommend getting a few nice looking males and choosing four or five females for each. Spend some time at various pet stores looking at guppies. From what you see there, decide what you want in your own guppy, and then begin to create it. Choose which traits you want to breed for, such as color, pattern, size, and/or dorsal and tail fin shape. Body Size Wild and feeder guppies tend to be small. If you want to end up with a smaller fish, I would stick with these. Commercial breeders have greatly improved on the guppy's size so if you want a fish with a larger body, but still want the challenge of working from a feeder strain, I would begin with the largest male feeder guppy that you can find and match him up with larger females from the fancy tanks. Taking advantage of the work that has already been done will quickly increase the size of your strain and allow you to focus your efforts on the more eye-catching traits of coloration and tail shape.  
Perfecto Aquarium 80 Gallon Euro Prestige Super System Color Once you've found some sizable specimens, look at the color. This is truly the most exciting part of the breeding process. You get to design your own fish. Guppies have been bred to display nearly fluorescent shades of yellow and red, but the blues, greens, and purples are still underdeveloped. These colors could easily be exploited to develop brilliant new guppy strains. Tail Shape Once you've figured out the color you want, consider tail shape and size. I prefer the flag tail but the veil tail is still the most popular and by far the easiest of the tail shapes to find. There are many possibilities, so decide what you want and go for it. If you happen to find a male with the tail shape you're looking for or something that is similar, buy it. Don't feel guilty for taking a couple of short cuts; you still have a lot of work ahead of you to develop a strain that breeds true. Week Two On: Once you have selected your breeders and situated them in the breeding tank, you will want to watch for females who are ready to deliver. After they deliver, record the date. Since gestation is generally about 4 weeks, you should keep track of your females so that you can accurately determine who will deliver next and when. Doing this will increase the number of fry that survive. (Keeping a notebook is always beneficial in the aquarium hobby ) As an additional note, be aware that female guppies can store the male spermatozoa. It will probably take three deliveries after buying the guppies before the young delivered are related to the male you have chosen.  
Hikari Frozen Krill Wait a couple of weeks after the birth of the fry before moving them to the raising tank (You can move them before this, but the survival rate will be higher, if you wait.) Feeding the fry is serious business. The better food you feed them, the quicker they'll grow, and the better colors they'll show (which will help you decide who to keep for breeders, and who to feed to your Oscar!). I suggest a high protein diet including as much live food as possible. Micro worms, water fleas or brine shrimp naupuli will work well for this, and are not too difficult to culture. Micro worms are especially handy and easy (not to mention cheap) as a food source. 
Premium Guppy Fish Flake As the fry develop, look for males on a daily basis and quickly move them to the male holding tank. This serves a dual purpose. First it gives you control over the breeding population. Second, it speeds up growth because females tend to grow faster if there aren't any males around. As the males age you may note some characteristic you hadn't seen before. Don't be afraid to change your vision of your final product if you see something special. I suggest waiting until the males are at 3/4" long before you start breeding. Take the time to wait for males to grow. You don't want to miss the best breeder because you couldn't wait to get started! Once you find suitable males, use them to replace your old breeding stock. Replace the females at the same time. It would also be wise to bring in outside females every few generations to increase genetic diversity. You should see some exciting developments within a few generations, and within a couple of short years, you'll have a beautiful new strain of your very own. 
CERATOPHYLLYM DEMERSUM Hardiness: Very Easy
Light Needs: Low
Plant Structure: Floating
Family: Ceratophyllaceae
Genus: Ceratophyllum
Region: Cosmopolitan
Location: Cosmopolitan
Size: Individual stem width: 3-5cm (1-2in)
Growth Rate: Very Fast
Can Be Grown Emersed: No
Ceratophyllum demersum is a cosmopolitan, ubiquitous, obligate aquatic plant. In its natural habitat, it is typically found floating in stagnant and slow moving water. It is commonly referred to either as Coontail because its tight whirls resemble a racoon's tail, or as Hornwort. The Latin and common names of hornwort come from the Greek keras meaning horn, phyllon meaning leaf, and wort (the Anglo-Saxon word for plant). This species has been in the aquarium trade for many years and is commonly available. It is also widely available as a plant for ponds.
C. demersum is an easy plant to grow in an aquarium. It is a true rootless aquatic that floats just under the surface of the water. It will develop rhizoids if anchored in the substrate. It grows quickly in medium-hard to hard water with temperatures of up to 86F. It is undemanding as far as light levels. It does not require CO2 supplementation although it will increase its already rapid growth. Being a fast grower, C. demersum can take up nutrients quickly. This makes it a good competitor with algae. Additionally, this plant has been known to use allelochemicals to combat algae.
 
This plant grows quickly and will require constant prunning to keep it in check. Simply cut off excess growth with a pair of scissors.
C. demersum can be used as part of the aquarium background. Several stems together will create a nice grouping. However, it must be anchored regularly to prevent it from floating up to the surface. In practice, hornwort is better used as a nutrient sponge rather than as a potential plant for creating a serious aquascape.
Guppy Tank Mates Ancistrus cf. cirrhosus 
Scientific Name Ancistrus cf. cirrhosus
Common Name(s) Albino Bristlenose Catfish, Albino veiltail, Bristlenose Catfish, Bushynose Catfish, Common Bristlenose Catfish, Piebald Bristlenose, Veiltail Bristlenose
Pronunciation an SISS truss
Etymology The name Ancistrus is derived from the Greek word agkistron, meaning hook, in reference to the interopercular odontodes that are hooked. Mature males and sometimes females have soft tentacles (bushy fleshy growths) on the snout - this is unique within the genus Ancistrus. The common Bristlenose is commonly captive bred appears impossible to identify to species primarily due to a lack of original locality information but also because tens of undescribed congeners exist. It is not assigned to species here for that reason. It is sometimes thought to be a hybrid, however it is not easy to determine if it is so or not. Several man made variants exist: piebald, albino and long-fin (veiltail) varieties have been bred in a captivity.
Sexing Males have head tentacles, females do not.
General Remarks This species was known as Ancistrus sp(3) in the Cat-eLog from February 1997 until August 2008, it will likely still commonly be referred to under this name for some time and even its current designation is a little tentative.
Distribution South America
pH 5.8 - 7.2
Temperature 21.5-26.5°C or 70.7-79.7°F
Other Parameters Relatively undemanding.
Feeding It is thought that elements in bogwood, particularly lignin, may form an essential part of Bristlenose diet. Certainly they have the immensely long guts common to vegetarians, and although they fall avidly on the occasional meal of live food or prawns, the bulk of their diet must be composed of vegetable matter. If a high protein diet is fed constantly, then they will become prone to stomach disorders. Vegetable roughage keeps the gut in working order, and bogwood is a valuable addition to this.
Fry will feed from free-swimming on the same diet as parents. It may help to blanch vegetables when feeding young fry, as it helps them rasp off the food stuff.
Furniture In the aquarium they prefer a strong water current with lots of oxygen, and require plenty of hiding places. Bogwood is ideal for this, as it is not only attractive to look at and provides plenty of shelter. Although they are vegetarian, they do not feed on water plants either naturally or in the aquarium, and your treasured collection of cryptocorynes will not only remain uneaten, but the Bristlenose will carefully and gently graze each leaf, removing any covering of algae that may form.
Compatibility They are gentle and unassuming fish, and can be kept in community tanks with the most timid of inhabitants. Even tiny fry will be left unharmed once free-swimming.
Suggested Tankmates All community fish, small to medium sized cichlids.
And last but certainly not least, some entertaining video for your enjoyment.
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