# guppy breeding question



## praise_be_poseidon (Jul 14, 2011)

to make a long story short my oscar got too big so i gave him away and starting afresh i thought it would be cool to get crayfish and guppies. well my crayfish ate like half my plants so they had to go but i liked the guppies and now with ramshorn snails, cherry shrimp, a bristle nose pleco, 2 african fan shrimp, and a rebounding population of plants (that dont get uprooted by oscars or devastated by crays) im pretty happy with my tank. the thing is i had gotten the guppys just to have something else in with my crayfish and not really as a main focus of my tank so starting out i was stupid, not really reading a whole lot before i got the little buggers.

first to see if i like guppies, i spent like 3 bucks on a bunch of feeders and made babies like crazy. i decided i like guppies, so i culled as much as i could to make way for pretty guppies (food for my friends tank) but found it nigh impossible to get them all out. after catching as many as i could, knocking out all of my plants each time i went for it, there were still a good amount left. i added a bunch of different strains of fancy guppys and they crossed with whats in there and i got some cool results, though the feeders are still breeding amongst themselves. there aren't too many adult feeders left, but they're there.

i recently came across the term outcrossing in my reading on guppies, and i read that crossing fancy strains often produces feeder type guppys after a few generations. now with that plus the fact that their is already a strong feeder presence in my tank, even with occasional attempts at culling i fear my tank will eventually go grey with wild type feeders, and id like some color in my tank.

heres my big question: if i bought a whole bunch of endlers and threw them in my tank and let them mate with the guppies, this would reduce the chance of feeder guppys being born through the generations, right?

if there are a few i could deal, but having a good chunk of my population being mostly feeders isnt something that pleases me. honestly id rather have pure endlers, and i assure you any progeny from my tank will not be sold to anyone. i'd just like to have color in my tank.

thanks everyone, this is my first post so hi all 

p.s. i have four cats in an apartment with limited space so an alternate breeding tank or bowl is an impossibility


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Welcome to the site.

What you would end up with is a bunch of hybrids that will be colored one way or another. Some will look like wild guppies with maybe a little more color.

I keep guppies and endlers both, but are in different tanks in different rooms. If you want to crossbreed them, you will end up having to add new blood to the endlers to keep the colors going. Otherwise they will all end up looking like the feeders.


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## praise_be_poseidon (Jul 14, 2011)

thanks for the quick reply do you think temperature would play a difference? if i kept my tank in the low 80's would those that have more endler in them fare better and have an advantage over the others? lol if not i need a fish that will eat guppys and not rcs and start over (is there such a thing? i dont think so) i could catch one or two feeders off their guards a day without spending too much time or effort, but i fear that will ending up stressing everyone out... suggestions anyone else?

also when you mean feeders with a little color, you mean like a slight yellowish tint on the tail like some of them seem to have or something a little less subtle?


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## Kehy (Apr 19, 2011)

I wouldn't call wild or mixed guppies dull or boring too much. Thanks to somehow ending up with a single feeder/wild type guppy, I've been able to notice that they actually do have pretty nice colors and are quite pretty. You just don't see their real colors much in retail tanks or when they're younger. I'd say give the feeder types a chance to get some nice colors and then decide.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

A lot of wild feeder guppies will have colors just like an endler but not as brightly colored. If you can find those, may take a few trips to fish stores to find a few you would probably find some that you like. just make sure to get males and not females. They will breed with your females and also the feeders giving you more color than what you thought possible.


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## praise_be_poseidon (Jul 14, 2011)

but with my current population (i already have 3 endler males, waiting for females to go with them plus my tank needs more females) would such colors eventually come out given clean, stable water and a healthy diet?


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Are you sure that they are pure endlers? Can you post a pic of them. Most lfs don't sell pure endlers, either hybrids or they are wild guppies. They need good water and food as with all fish. But if they aren't pure endlers the colors won't pop.

These are pure endlers, are the colors on yours like this.


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## praise_be_poseidon (Jul 14, 2011)

lame i dont think they are, their body has more color than the run of the mill fancy guppy, but not like that... i think ill just get a bunch of female fancy gupyps, and if i end up with pretty feeders, after having googled wild guppy, i could live with that. thanks everyone!


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