How to Create Your Own Strain Of Guppies How to Create Your Own Strain Of Guppies he Guppy is one of the most popular livebearers and it is often found in beginne r aquariums. Many aquarists loose interest in the Guppy as they move on to more delicate fish species, but quite a few are instead mesmerized by this charming f ellow and decide to keep and breed high-quality guppies. Some aquarists even sta rt to produce show guppies for Guppy competitions. These Guppies are very far fr om the sturdy, no-nonsense Guppy sold to beginner aquarists under the name Common Guppymost fish shops. Through many generations of selective breeding, the wild Guppies developed into what we now refer to as fancy guppy. Guppies happily reproduce in captivity, but i f your want to create a strain of high-quality guppies you have to devote plenty of time and effort to the project. Preparations To begin with, make sure that you have high quality fish to start with. If you walk down to your local fish shop and purchase a few of the fairly inexpensive g uppies that they offer beginner aquarists you will most likely end up with not-s o-good guppies. These guppies can serve as excellent pets for novice fish keeper s, but they are not a good foundation for a strain of high-quality guppies. It s hould also be noted that many fish shops sell Guppy coupleswhere the fishes come from completely different strains. The best way of getting high quality Guppy su itable for breeding purposes is to contact a reputable breeder and purchase high quality specimens from him or her. This will save you a lot of time and effort since you will have prime specimens right from the start. If you fail to locate a good local auction there are several reputable guppy breeders to be found onli ne that will deliver fish by mail order. Once you have found a reputable breeder, purchase a young couple. The risk of de formities will increase if you let old Guppies breed. Old male Guppies are also known to have trouble breeding. Planning Before you engage in selective breeding, it is important to develop a plan. A l ot of breeding programs have gone astray in the hands of indecisive aquarists. S et goals to begin with, such as increasing the size and adding color. Then decid e to breed a certain number of generations focusing on size, before shifting ove r to focusing on color. If you have decided to focus on size, do not suddenly pi ck a small fish as parent fish simply because it shows nice colors. If you absol utely cant stand the idea of not breeding the colorful fish, it is advisable to s et up a separate breeding aquarium where you can focus on perfecting that color without interfering with your first breeding program. Housing Crowding can lead to stunted growth. Never keep more than 8-12 guppies in a 10 gallon (roughly 40 L) aquarium. Unless you have a lot of friends to unload guppi es on, you will be forced to cull each batch to keep the number of fish down. Water quality Ideally carry out a small water change once a day, rather than a big weekly one . Keeping the water quality up and simultaneously avoiding rapid changes is desi rable. Temperature The standard recommendation for Guppies is 65-68 degrees F (18-20 degrees C), b
