breeding Guppys

[Ethan]

Hello everybody, Im new to this site and have been getting a lot help with my new Oscar, but now I have some questions on Guppys. I have had a male with two other femals and they dont seem to mate, I dont understand why this is. I do have them with a few other community fish I thought mabey having other fish with them they arent able to. I have heard of people putting thme in there tank and with in a couple weeks they have a massive amount of Guppys, What could I be doing wrong??????

[OinKY]

Guppies are Guppies...and they mate whether your watching or not no matter who's in the tank. I think its feeder Guppies "Last Great Act of Defiance" on the way down.

If not mating,it could either be a "defective" male,a "Fancy" line-bred breed that has problems,or a pseudo-male.
I assume the male has a gonopodium and that it is properly formed ?

[Ethan]

Ok that was a lot of names I have no idea about lol.

[OinKY]

Without getting graphic,or vulgar,the gonopodium is the male sex organ (of sorts). The anal fin (immediately behind the anus) is shaped like a "male member"...and used for that purpose.

Guppy "mating" is really nothing more than him swimming up,pointing the gonopodium and trying to make contact with her vent...blink and miss it. Males are pretty persistent so it's an activity that you see briefly at least everytime you look at the tank.
Not too many species of "community" fish can interfere with this activity...but the desire to breed long-finned varieties of Guppies has made some males just too slow to make contact. Did I mention that females seldom sit still for this ?
Some "racey-type" fish,like Danios for example,can interfere just by their constant motion and curiosity to things going on.

Got a pic of the male ?

[Ethan]

lol thanks for the sex ed class. Yea I knew about his member so ta speak, but yea ill have to get you a pic of him. How long till she gives birth from conception??? A lot of times when you go to a pet store even the one I work at the tags for them just say male guppys and female guppys, Unless its a more specific breed.

[OinKY]

Average carrying time is around 28 days.
Fry can number 1 up to 200...typically,younger the female the smaller the brood.

Once upon a time (a long time ago),I fooled around with breeding Guppies. Just lost interest.

[Ethan]

Now when they are carrying, a black spot will apear on the side or its under belly right?????? And is it true that at some point you can even see little eyes throught the Guppies skin????

[Ethan]

I'm doing this cuz I have so many tanks and filters I figured I could breed some of my own feeders for my Oscar. That way I dont have to worry about wut they might be carrying coming from the pet store, other than the mom and dad. I figured I can feed the well fatin them up and feed them to my O.

[OinKY]

Guppies are prolific once they get going.
Not particularly "pro-feeder" myself...safe or not...as the aggression it can cause towards tank mates (present and future) really isn't worth it. My Os (past and present) are aggressive enough without it.

The spot you are wondering about is called the gravid spot.Located on the "flank" of the female sort of quartered to the anus.It will darken when pregnant and get larger.It's usually not a problem telling when a female is carrying.

When carrying pay attention to the shape of the abdomen as it will start to look "squared" right before delivering.If moving to a breeding net or separate tank that's the time to do it. Netting and moving a gravid female can sometimes cause miscarriage and if fry aren't developed enough they won't survive...a "squared" female's fry are usually developed enough if that happens.