As you may already know, guppies are one of the best fish species that you can have if you want to breed them.
Guppies are livebearers, which means that they will carry their spawn within their bodies. Sometimes, it is quite hard to believe just how fast they can breed and how effective breeders guppies are.
Do you want to know more about guppies and their breeding behaviors?
Then you have definitely come to the right place. In this article, we will take a closer look at how guppies breed, how to care for guppy babies, how to care for a pregnant female, and more practical things and information that can help you breed guppies easier.
It is important to know these things if you want to breed them effectively. For beginners it can be quite difficult for the first time they are breeding, as they might not know what to do and how to care for the fry.
Guppies can reproduce at crazy rates – a female guppy can have babies once every month (once every 30 days) if the conditions are right and if there are male and female guppies in the tank.
Pregnant Female Guppy Care
When a guppy gets pregnant, you might notice the increase in its size initially. Another good way to tell if they are pregnant is also by looking at the black spot under their tails, which can increase in size once the babies grow.
Other things you will notice is that the fish might lose its coloring, and you will notice a change in behaviors, such as becoming more territorial, swimming around the heater and not eating as much as before.
The gestation period of a guppy is not more than a month. During this time, you will need to take proper care of the pregnant female guppy. As we said, the diet of the fish during pregnancy will change, and they will not eat as much.
Feed them just a pinch of pellets or flakes once or twice a day, but give them smaller portions. They won’t be able to take much food in because they simply won’t have enough space.
Another way you can care for the pregnant fish is to move it to a separate tank before it spawns new fish. That gives the fish more space, but also it will allow the fry to grow easier and it will prevent them from getting eaten.
During this period, you might also want to increase the temperature within your tank. As the fry grow, you will have to eventually remove the mother from the tank, as she will possibly eat the fry.
Guppy Fry Care
Once the fry spawns, it is very important that you take proper care of it to ensure that it grows quickly.
The most important things will certainly be the quality of the water and a good filtration, as well as slightly increased temperature. Improving the tank conditions is essential for enabling the fry to grow quicker and healthier.
The guppy fry will be very greedy at the start, and you will have to feed them quite often. The fry will start eating a day or two after they are spawned, and the amounts of food will only increase as they grow.
Initially, you will want to feed them more often and in smaller portions, which you will have to increase over time. As to what foods to feed them – pulverized flakes or pellets, baby shrimp and other similar foods will do. Just make sure it is high in quality and that it is small so that the fry will be able to eat it.
Another thing you must keep in mind is that you might want to keep the fry in a separate breeding tank until they grow up, as they might get eaten by other fish. That is important, especially if you want to keep the fry.
Guppies will become active breeders after around six to eight weeks into their lives, so you need to keep that in mind also. You can end up with an uncontrolled population if you are not careful.
How Many Fry Can a Female Guppy Have?
The number can vary significantly, and it can go from 2 baby guppies all the way to up to 200 guppies in one spawning. That number can change, depending on the time that the guppy spawns the fry.
Sometimes, it can take a couple of hours for the female to release the fry – 4 to 6 hours is the most common number, but it can take all the way up to 12 hours if the number of fry is higher.
Again, the number can vary, but it can be pretty high. It is important to control the population if you don’t want to have that many guppies.
Usually, the fry will spawn curled up in balls, and will eventually grow and start swimming. The healthy ones will swim towards the surface, while the sick will eventually sink towards the bottom.
How Many Times Does a Female Guppy Give Birth?
Once the guppies reach maturity, they can reproduce at crazy rates. Often, the guppies will start reproducing at an age of two months, and the process will not stop.
The number of times that a female can give birth is undefined, but it cannot be pinpointed exactly; mostly, they will keep on giving birth for the rest of their lives.
How Long Does it Take for Guppies to Have Babies?
As we already discussed, guppies will start breeding at an age of two months. Once the guppies breed, the gestation period will start, when the fry starts developing.
During this time, you will see an increase in size of the female, and it can last from 21 to 30 days. The most usual amount of time is 22-26 days.
Then, after a few days of rest, the female guppy is ready to reproduce again.
Conclusion
Breeding guppies can be very satisfying. But it is very important to know the details, which will allow you to produce healthy guppies.