Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I just bought 24 feeder guppies 2 days ago and have been doing all the reading on the web that I can. I still am having trouble though. I cannot tell the females from the males at all. And I know someone had babies cuz there are little ones now. I can't seem to see a gravid spot on anybody though. Can anyone help me? Maybe someone has some pictures of feeder males/females/pregnant?

Thanks!!

Sorry, I have no answers for your questions, just some more questions.

What do you breed the feeder guppies for?

I have two red eared slider turtle babies and am hoping to use them to supplement their diet.

Usually, when a female is pregnant its relatively easy to tell..they get really fat.... I used to breed them for a painted turtle hatchling I had....Never really paid too much attention to who had the babies just as long as they were there.. however.. you'd do better starting off with more than 24 guppies.. you're liable to lose ALOT of them before they even get to breed...

okay i have a slight facination with guppies so .. he he .. i can help ... if you can go to the pet store .. and find the fancy tailed guppies .. and look at them for a while this sill give you some on hand practice in what to look for between males and females ... also i have a hint here ..

Okay while you are looking into the tank .. all the males at those that have pretty long tails and look more delicate and stream lined .. the females are larger and are rather dull .. while looking look at the males there is a "fin" penis .. the picture shows an arrow pointing to that spot .. once you find them on fancy tails .. you can look at feeders and tell ... its harder with feeders because they arent so different ..

If you are wanting to have baby guppies .. you might want to put some hide spots ( plants or something ) for the little guppies to live in

pregnant females will look fat .. pretty much in the tummy .. almost like they really over ate .. but back a little farther .. and you will be able to see the darker patch towards her anus .. those are the babies .. now a BIG hint .. the Bigger the female guppy the more babies she will have at one time !!... this comes in handy .. so as you are culling your guppies make sure to take out the smallest females or ones that have back problems .. bent backs ( i had a few do that over the years and it got so bad that they couldnt swim right .. why i dont know ) .. once you have females give birth its best to feed several times a day smaller portions .. beause babies cant get that much in their little tummies .. this will make them grow faster and stronger .. so not as many will get eaten .. you could even if you really were despirate .. take all the pregnant females and put them in a seperate tank where they are at the top or in a box or something with some large mesh that they cant get though but the babies can get through.. guppies give live birth but the babies some times dont coem out kicking but sink to the bottom before they swim off .. its really neat to watch .. guppies have a tendancy to eat their young .. some do some dont ..

As your " colony " of feeders grows you will most likely see more and more fish that have fancy tails .. its a pretty neat thing to watch and they grow into adults so fast that you can really mess with their genes quickly .. he he .. as i said i have a facination ..

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