Advice on breeding

[starshine]

Now that I have my 3 foot tank I want to start trying to breed my females with specific males. Im not 100% sure how to go about this my first attempts will be with Vanilla, she has a black line around the base of her tail which turns dark grey as it goes up her body the top 2/3rds of her tail are a bright orangy/red and the lower 3rd is pale yellow she also has large individual dots of black on her tail that run from the top to the bottom. From recearch she looks like a sunset tuxedo Leopard??? and Indigo, She has a grey body a dark Indigo colour through the base of her tail then a line of pearly white then the rest of her tail is bright orangy/red I have no Idea what she is???
Im putting them in with Tiger, hes a multi of Green pink purple and blue with a beautiful delta tail that is bright orangy/red with the leopard spots.

This is how I planned to do it; both Vanilla and Indigo have just had fry so I've given them a few hrs rest and then put them in a seperate bowl with Tiger Im planning on Leaving them for bout a day hopefully to do their business then put them in the big 3 foot tank and hope for the best does this sound ok?

[Cyberguppy]

It may be a little more difficult than that although the fact that you put them straight in with the male is good this is because of a very odd thing about these fish:

Once a female has been impregnated by a male she can store the sperm and have around 6-8 batches of fry with NO MORE CONTACT with any male. This makes it very hard when buying a fish from a store or breeder because you never know where theyve been

there are a few tips for mating a pre-hit female though, these are:

wait untill she 'dries up:. you may be lucky and she only has 2-4 batches of fry (more usual than 6-8) and you can breed her with the desired male after this time.

females are most fertile on the day they drop fry, you will usually see males madly chasing a female ready to drop for this very reason. also new sperm will be 'first in line' to fertilize eggs and is more likley to father the next batch of fry. But as you can tell, it is not a sure thing so very serious breeder will not attempt it. A good method for the home fish breeder though. Most serious breeders will separate fry at 3-4 weeks of age and only use selected virgin females for breeding purpose, these will be kept separate from the males untill 3 months old, or at full body size.

[starshine]

I had been told bout females being able to have more than 1 batch of fry I figured that if I put them in with the same Male after every drop then chances are I will eventually get lucky.

[Bumblebee]

It does work although sometimes involves a little waiting. I usually get offspring from the desired male after around 2-4 drops. occasionally right away or after 1 drop.

[tidus97]

admin said:

wait untill she 'dries up

What does a female look like when she has no more sperm left and is no longer able to give birth

+

Will she still give birth to eggs every month?

[Bumblebee]

no, she will simply stop having young, she will develop eggs inside so may still look a little plump but will simply not give birth ahe will be 'gravid' untill she breeds again. they will sometimes drop eggs, but not very often. occasionally if a male is in the tank and they mate within a few days of her last giving birth, he will father the next batch of fry.

[tidus97]

ohh ok. i have a female that hasnt given birth for about 1 and a 1/2 to 2 months but is looking , well, big. i put her in to the tank i use for females to give birth. she hasnt given birth yet and its been 3 days. how long more do you think i should wait to make sure shes completely 'empty' and wont give birth.
PS: this guppy used to give birth every month. when she was with the males. but now i sepperated her for a long time. she gave birth a few times and now as i said she hasnt given birth for bout 2 months

[Bumblebee]

then she possibly has 'dried up' and is just carrying infertile eggs. if she is put in with males she should have young again in approx 4 weeks (the eggs need to develop into young again)