# Breeding Guppies



## lindsschou (Mar 7, 2012)

Hi all, this is my first post here:fish:

I'm looking to start breeding guppies as a hobby. I have ordered some IFGA and RREA trios from http://www.canadianqualityguppies.com/. I wanted to start with healthy, quality guppies, not sickly pet store guppies I have experienced in the past.

I have a large african cichlid tank well established.

I want to maintain the colours that these guppies have. I have learned that its not proper to breed brothers and sisters, but mothers and sons and fathers and daughters can be bred. (Sorry, I don't know how else to explain it). I don't understand the generation crossing etc. Can someone try to sum it up for me? I don't want to "taint" these beautiful fish! Thanks!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

First, keep them in the same water as the cichlids. There is some decent info on the IFGA site. I think the key is that you will need multiple tanks as you will want to maintain 2 separate lines of each strain you work with and you segregate the fry by sex as soon as you can tell them apart, so something like 5 tanks already and more in subsequent generations. The alternative is to stay in touch with the breeder and get new stock every 3 generations or so. Inbreeding of close relatives is done to capture a mutation that you want to get throughout a line, but also concentrates harmful genetic traits, so you need to limit it. So you record every breeding and you end up with fish that you know their entire family tree like you would a racehorse or AKC dog. You can breed brothers to sisters, but not for multiple generations. Mothers and sons have 50% genes in common. Siblings can have very little in common or be nearly identical. The beginners corner of the IFGA site suggests keeping fry from each mother separate, so in the next generation it can be only half-siblings that mate. 

Its time to go find a decent guppy breeding book.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Wait wait wait- same water... NOT same tank. I don't want that to be confused. Your cichlids will eat them way fast. I am hopeful that you would know that, but just in case thought I would make it really clear!


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Google "How to line breed guppies" for tons of detailed info.


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## lindsschou (Mar 7, 2012)

Thanks for your help! I know not to keep them in the same tank 

I will just pull some of the water from my cichlid tank for the guppies. I clearly have alot of reading to do to properly understand how to breed these fish. Thanks again:fish:


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## lindsschou (Mar 7, 2012)

So I did some reading online, and now I'm more confused than I was before 

The fish that I bought have the colours and the appearance that I want, I just want to increase their numbers (for now, eventually I'd like to cross some purple and green deltas to see what happens).

One site said that inbreeding mother and son or sister and brother is a fine way of accomplishing my initial goal.

Another site said that it was not, that they would eventually lose their traits.

Any advice

Thank you again:fish:


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## Sorafish (Sep 15, 2011)

lindsschou said:


> So I did some reading online, and now I'm more confused than I was before
> 
> The fish that I bought have the colours and the appearance that I want, I just want to increase their numbers (for now, eventually I'd like to cross some purple and green deltas to see what happens).
> 
> ...


See, its funny that you say that, because I've heard that back crossing is what is bad for the fish. You can breed brothers and sisters, in fact, this is what breeders will sell you most of the time, and what people start with. The trick is to keep two separate lines to give them 'new' blood every now and then. 
So long as you choose good breeders, and know what to look for, you won't lose the traits. The thing is, everyone has different things that they look for in a guppy. Some will go for tail shape, some for dorsal, or body shape, or color. THIS is where the fish start to look different from the original trios. Personally, its my favorite part of breeding them.
The bad thing about breeding within the lines TOO MUCH, is you can get deformities. But if you keep the water in good condition, with the proper vitamins and lighting, you will not get too many deformed fish. When you start noticing a batch that has 25% deformed, that's when you take a male from line B and introduce it to the females from line A. Because they have been separated all the time, and only bred to those from each line, they have a bit of genetic diversity that freshens the pool. If you look at my signature, the site has a diagram of the way to keep lines separated, with the least amount of tanks.


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