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New Project

npbarca

Members
Hey guys, haven't been on the forum in a while as school as picked up again. So basically, I'm starting a little project from home about line breeding and artificial selection of traits. Now I need some suggestions of fish that can live in small tanks, reproduce and grow quickly, and have distinguishable traits. Now my first thought were any guppies, but I'm not really a guppy guy, so I have a few questions.

How does it take guppies to go from pregnancy to birth to sexual maturity? Also, are there any other fish, even other livebearers, besides guppies that can live in small tanks, reproduce quickly, and grow to sexual maturity quickly?
 

zackcrack00

Members
A female guppy is usually pregnant for 3.5-5 weeks, usually 4. Once the fry are born, it can take anywhere from 1.5-3 months (depending on nutrition and water parameters) for them to reach sexual maturity. AND, the males won't get to their full potential to where you can tell which one you'd like to breed for another 1-3 months, making the process of selective breeding very lengthy. To maintain a line/strain of guppies, you will need a breeding tank, fry-raising tank, and two more tanks, one for males and one for females. As soon as you can tell the males from females, separate them so the females stay virgin. Do this because guppies will store sperm from one mating for up to 12 months and re-inseminate themselves. Females get a dark spot at the bottom of the lateral line at the base of the tail called a gravid spot, males get a pointed anal fin called a gonopodium. When selecting a pair or trio (trio works best) a 2.5-5 gallon tank is most suitable for 1-2 weeks. Then after that time period is finished, the male should be moved back to his tank and the females to the fry-dropping tank. Once the fry are dropped, put the females back to the sorority and the fry into a fry tank (or do what I do and use the fry-dropping tank as the nursery/fry-rearing tank). This method works with mothers that aren't cannibals. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 

npbarca

Members
Thanks for the info zack! I didn't know the cycle from pregnancy to maturity took so long!
Now if only I could find the Wisconsin fast plants of fish!!
 

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
I have both rocket killies (E annulatus) and orange australe ( A australe orange) which are both killies that originated in West Africa. Basically they are spawned in mops. You collect the eggs and put them in water with added a fungicide. It takes about 10 days to two weeks to hatch. The fry grow rapidly on baby brine shrimp and microworms and can be converted to dried foods when they are larger. They are not reproductively active probably until they are at least four months old.
 

npbarca

Members
Has anyone seen any Nothobranchius kadleci for sale? They have the shortest generation times, with eggs hatching in as short as 15 days and the fry growing to sexual maturity in only 17-20 days.
 

golsama

Corresponding Secretary
I loved my E annulatus. They were active and entertaining.

Great info on guppies, Zack. Thanks for sharing.
 
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