# Multiplying guppies



## RedLoach (Apr 6, 2011)

Hey everyone, I had a question about guppies and what to do about how fast they reproduce. I had a female guppy give birth in my 20 gallon, and it seems about 20 fry are swimming around. I had some trouble in my tank that killed off the adults 1 or 2 at a time but didn't seem to affect the fry. I had 8 females and 4 males, if they had been healthy and had fry themselves, they would multiply tenfold in a matter of weeks.
What do you guys do with all the offspring? I'm not going to buy new tanks every month to house all the new guys, and I don't want to euthanize a bunch of newborns, not really what I got into the hobby for. I bought them because they were attractive fish, not because I plan on becoming a professional breeder. Everyone recommends getting 2-3 females for every male. Is this only if you plan on breeding? Can you have males without females without problems?


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## bolram (May 17, 2011)

Yeah you can have males together you dont tend to get aggression as you would in other species of fish. In one of my tanks i have 2males without females and they get on great rarely leaving each other. Most tend to like females mixed with males though thats when the 3:1 ratio becomes important


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## RedLoach (Apr 6, 2011)

I thought there was a health reason for the male to be kept with females. I like the look of the females as well, I was upset when they got sick. Have no clue what happened, water was pristine, killed my bushy nose pleco too, I loved that thing. Cory Cats were fine though, strange that none of the fry were affected. So do all you breeders have a market for your offspring? I've heard that some stores will buy them, but I'm not adsactly a reputable breeder. I'd give them away to a good home, but I don't want them used as feeders.


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## bolram (May 17, 2011)

Have you used liquid water tests to check the parameters of your water? Thats the only thing i can think of. Im no breeder but seeing as i have females and males and now about 20+ fry about 2 weeks old i guess i will have to either sell them locally (although no shop near me will buy them) or give them away to at some point. Some shops will take the fish in exchange for store credit you just need to ask around


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## RedLoach (Apr 6, 2011)

The water parameters were great, trace amount of ammonia, zero nitrite and 20ppm nitrate. The strange thing was only one or two would get sick at a time. Symptoms would vary, first two were fine one minute, next thing you know, two females are lying on the substrate, occasionaly swimming very erraticaly, with no sense of direction. A few days later a couple of females looked like they had cloudy eyes, within a day they were gone. Day later one has 3 ich cysts, ich never spread and dissapeared, but 2 females still died. Then One or two at a time would look like a bite had been taken out of tail, and die soon after. Some would look like their tail was melting. After the females died, the males dropped off one at a time. Some would show no symptoms of anything, but I'd find them stuck to the filter, they would die within the day. Did 50% water changes a day. The tank seems fine now and the fry seem healthy. I'd love to replace my bushy nose pleco but I'm afraid. Really glad my Cory Cats are okay,they are great fish.


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## bolram (May 17, 2011)

Sounds to me me like you've got a bacterial fungus problem. Such as fin rot and other related bacteria. It might be worth treating your tank with an anti fungus and fin rot solution. I know ive had that problem and some showed little symptoms a day later they died, also some laying then random erratic swimming. But once i treated things have been fine


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## RedLoach (Apr 6, 2011)

I've got some shrimps in there so I'm hesitant to add meds, if trouble returns I might try salt, I've got to be careful with the cory cats but I've heard small amounts should be fine. Its been a couple weeks and I've been doing a lot of water changes and vacuuming the gravel every few days. I hope everything is fine now. does fin rot not affect fry? Why would only one or two fish take ill at a time?


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## bolram (May 17, 2011)

It wouldnt necessarily pass on to the fry. The bacteria can spread in any way, by fish touching each other, rubbing against stuff in the tank and then the next touching the same spot, or water contamination. When i had the outbreak only one or two would get it at a time. But every case is different so it can be hard to track down the source.


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## danilykins (Dec 22, 2010)

How big is your tank? Smaller tanks have more issues with water parameters. Lots of things can cause death to fish, parasites, nitrates or nitrites or ammonia bring too high, even stress. The reason they say two females per male is that the males like to mate, a lot lol. The males will stress out the females and the female can die. About population control... You have some options, find a pet store that will take the extras (I go to petco), you can buy a fish that will eat the babies (guppies will do this too, but I have a gold gourami), I have a fish eat fish tank.. Or you can upgrade to a very large tank.


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