Breeding Guppies
Guppies have an average litter of ten to 50 at a time— the largest brood on record, however, contained 126. These young fish, if properly cared for, will mature in eight (sometimes just two to four) that the time for birth is approaching. The spot is easily recognized, for the female guppy is lightly colored in that region of her body. When the guppy mother shows signs of being ready to drop, she should be very carefully removed to a tank in which there are no other fish and in which there is plenty of vegetation.
The vegetation offers a sheltering place for the young if they should need to hide from the parent who, if allowed to remain in the tank with them, invariably tries to eat them. If the beginning aquarist has gone to the expense of a breeding trap, he may use that; it will save him many young. But the guppy breeds so quickly that a few fish lost can be made up for in the next month's delivery.
When the mother fish has dropped all her young, she should immediately be removed to another tank, preferably by herself so she will not be bothered by the male fish. Prominent scientists have made thorough studies of the sex life of the guppy and have found that a male fish will try to fertilize a female fish even if she is placed in a jar separated from the rest of the fish in the tank, or even if she should be anesthetized and allowed to drop to the bottom. A freshly dead female in a similar position, however, would either be eaten or totally disregarded.
The young should be left in a tank of their own. They are pretty hardy at birth and can eat semicoarse food immediately, but it is more advisable to start them on newly hatched brine shrimp and gradually give them coarser food as they get older.
