# New Guppy Breeder Here... One question?



## Hibiscus (Apr 21, 2010)

*New Guppy Breeder Here... One question? *Udpate with Pictures!**

Hi all! This is my first post on this forum. Seems like a great forum and I'm learning a great deal!

My question is how do you know if a pair of guppies mated? I know the signs to look for in a pregnant female, of course, but is there anyway to know if my pair mated say last night or an hour ago? Will I just have to wait it out?


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## Guest (Apr 24, 2010)

hey dude! welcome aboard!

unfortunately there is no sure shot sign to let u know if a pair has mated.


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

You pretty much just have to wait until the female starts showing to know 
But generally he'll be trying ALL the time so you'll most likely catch them at it


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Just answer this suvey to find out if they mated:

1.Do you have a mature male and a female in the same tank?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above, your guppies have mated.


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## llogan (Apr 5, 2010)

Lol, yea that survey sums it up, if you have a male in there then theyr bound to have mated, he'll be chasing the females around, all day and night. They're pretty horny little guys lol.


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## Hibiscus (Apr 21, 2010)

Haha, love the survery!

I was just curious, because the male isn't showing the female any attention at all. He'll be on one side of the tank while she is on the other. Is that normal? Perhaps, they aren't mature yet? They look it, but they are both new to me and I am unsure of their actual age. I bought them from someone who got them from a local breeder and they didn't know the age. The male looks to have a fully developed gonopodium so he's most likely mature, correct?


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

If you want babies then don't worry they will come. It would be nearly impossible to tell if the fish mated or concieved until the female gets fat. If you haven't had them more than a few days then your fish might be taking a while to get used to the new surroundings. Maybe the water conditions are different than the original home. Don't worry guppies are very prolific. Unless you dont want that, in which case worry lol


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## Hibiscus (Apr 21, 2010)

Okay, so today I was doing some more research on female guppies, and I finally figured out what a gravid spot was. Pathetic, I know. For some reason, I though it was on the underside of the guppy were the gonopodium would be it the female were a male. Turns out my female has a large, black gravid spot. Does that mean she's already pregnant? I've got some pictures, but I'm afraid they are horrible. I never realized how *difficult* it is to capture fish on camera. The spot doesn't seem to want to show up on film, but it looks like I'm looking though a "window" of clear skin into a black area? The pictures do show her gorgeous colors, though!

















Another question, do guppies get their coloration from their mother, their father, or both? If I bred this female to a HB male, what would I get? Sorry for the crazy questions, its how we all learn, right? =]


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

It's hard to tell from the pictures but the fish does look a bit round. 

As for what you will get it is unknown. Fish get their genes from both parents, including their coloration. This is the same with any animal or even people (if a black and a white person have a baby the baby is not as dark as the black person, but not white either). There are also genes that will carry over from the grandparents that were not visible in the parents. So really unless you know the entire linage of both parents, you wont know what you will end up with.

As an example I bred two swordtails. The parents were an orange female with a black tail and a solid black male. I know have babies that are black with orange noses, pure orange, pure orange with a black sword and ones that look exactly like the parents.


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