Guppies make lively and fun pets. But sometimes, it becomes difficult to manage a guppy aquarium. One of the main reasons is that guppies breed a lot. If you don’t take the necessary measures to prevent guppies from overbreeding, you’ll soon find yourself dealing with an overpopulated aquarium. This can cause some problems, including stress, hostile behavior between your fish, and rapid increases in ammonia and other waste by-products.
In such cases, you’ll want to find a way to get rid of some of the extra guppies. If you have a lot of mutts, you won’t have much luck selling them. While mutt guppies might be perfectly healthy, they often lack some specific traits that most buyers are looking for. However, there are plenty of other ways to get rid of your mutt guppies, besides selling. Today, we’ll take a look at some of these methods. But first, you might be wondering…
How Much Can I Sell My Guppies For?
If you want to go down this route, you’ll have to get a good idea about the common prices of guppy fish. The thing is that guppy prices can vary quite a lot depending on their physical traits, colors, and patterns. Species that have been selectively bred across generations are going to cost more because it takes more effort to produce them.
This is the case for fancy guppies and competition guppies. Fish with sought-after traits such as larger body size, vivid and unique colors can cost as much as $100. The average price for a pair of fancy guppies or competition guppies is roughly $50-60.
If you have mutt guppies, know that they sell for less. They’re the least expensive type of guppy, usually costing no more than a couple of dollars each. You might be able to sell them for around $9 or less a pair. Even while mutt guppies can look very beautiful, they come from unstable lines, so most people would avoid buying them for breeding.
How To Get Rid of Extra Guppies?
If you can’t find any interested buyers, you can always try some of the following methods to reduce your guppy numbers. With a bit of asking around, you should be able to find a new home for some of your extra guppies. But besides giving them away, there are some other ways to control your guppy population.
We’ll go over all the ways you can get rid of guppies in the following section of the article. You could rely on any single one or a combination of these methods. Whichever you choose, there are also some backup plans. But, without further ado, let’s see what we can do about an overpopulated guppy aquarium.
– Give Them to Friends
If you have friends who are into keeping fish, a few pairs of guppies might make a nice gift. Just ask them if they’re interested in some young guppies. They would make a nice addition to a community aquarium as pets.
Although a grim prospect, guppy fish would also make a good potential feed for carnivorous species such as discus or angelfish. If you’re okay with that, offering some free guppies to friends with carnivorous aquarium fish could also work.
Whatever the reason your friends choose to adopt guppies, make sure that the fish you select are healthy and free of fungi or parasites. You wouldn’t want to accidentally introduce bad bacteria or worms into your friends’ aquariums!
– Give Them Away on FB Groups
There are plenty of guppy fish owner communities on FB and other social media sites. These groups make it very easy to find fellow fish keepers who’d like to take some guppies off your hands. If your friends can’t help you with your guppies, this is the next best option.
Even better, posting online gives you a wider reach. You could find multiple interested adopters in your local area. Of course, the same advice applies here— when putting up some guppies for adoption, make sure that none of them carry parasites or are in bad health.
You can also include pictures and recordings in your posts. People are more likely to respond if they already know what the fish look like beforehand. If you have very beautiful guppies, they’ll garner a lot of attention quickly.
– Give To Local Fish Store
While you may not be able to sell them for profit, you can give your guppies away for free to small local fish stores. Pet stores must procure their stock from a licensed dealer. But they also accept fish as donations. In that case, your guppies might go to the free adoption tank, if the store has one.
You must ask beforehand though. In some instances, guppies will end up becoming feeder fish for larger or carnivorous fish in the store. Conversely, you can also just give your guppies away as feeder fish from the start. If they don’t have an adoption tank, there’s still a high probability that pet stores will accept your donation.
– Feed Them to Larger Fish
This is perhaps the easiest solution. Not everyone is okay with it though. But if you’re considering it, there are plenty of ways you can do this. If you already keep larger fish, you can move your guppies into the aquarium with them.
That should take care of things. If you don’t have larger or carnivorous fish to help you with that, you can also ask around. Maybe some friends you know would appreciate some free live food for their fish.
You’ll also have an easier time finding people online. Live food always comes in handy for fish keepers. And as I’ve mentioned in the previous point, most pet stores also accept guppy donations as live food. Sadly, if you have a lot of mutts, this is the more likely scenario.
Does Petco or Petsmart Take Guppies?
It depends. Large chains such as Petco and Petsmart can only purchase fish from large-scale breeders. No store will buy guppies from hobbyists. However, adoptions are possible. It depends on the specific store’s policy.
Most Petco stores will accept guppy donations, and these fish will go to the adoption tank. Most people have found success donating unwanted fish to local Petcos. Most Petsmart stores, however, won’t accept guppy or other fish donations due to their policy.
Still, it’s no guarantee that every Petco will accept your donation. And some Petsmart stores could also take you up on your offer. The best idea is to try to contact the stores in your area beforehand. Asking directly is the only way to know for sure.
Stop Breeding Your Guppies!
Finally, I’d say prevention is the best way to keep your tank from becoming overcrowded. If you don’t want to deal with too many guppies, the best thing you can do is to prevent them from breeding. And the solution is quite simple!
All you have to do is separate the male and female guppies. By keeping them in two different tanks, the chances of overpopulation drop to 0. And the sooner you do this, the better. As soon as a male and female guppy have bred once, it might be too late.
The female guppy can keep the male sperm for 10 months or more, impregnating herself repeatedly. Even if you separate your guppies after breeding, there’s no telling how many more fry the female guppy will produce on her own.
Conclusion
Guppies are some of the best fish you can keep. They’re easy to take care of, even for beginner aquarists. They’re affordable, beautiful, and they are always energetic and good-natured. But they also breed a lot. Managing the guppy population in your tank can prove challenging. Luckily, there are multiple ways you can keep the numbers down.
Preventing your guppies from breeding is the most important step. But if you already have too many guppies, you can try any of the tips in this article. There are plenty of interested adopters looking for guppies. Many people would also accept guppies as live food if you’re planning to choose this option.
Some red tail small guppy for sale