How to Breed Guppies Fast: Tips and Tricks

Guppies are small, peaceful, and require only a small tank. They are very active, don’t mind being handled, and aren’t as messy as some other fish. In short, they make excellent beginners fish. If you are planning to breed them, you might have already asked yourself if it is possible to breed.

In this article, we are going to answer that question as well as provide you with helpful tips during their breeding period.

How to Breed Guppies Fast

There is no assurance in breeding guppies faster than they normally do, but there are different guidelines that you can do to ensure that the breeding process will be successful. Here are a few things to do to bring your guppies to breeding and have a positive outcome:

Breeding Tank

A breeding tank should have a lot of room and clear, unobstructed spaces so that the male can easily mate with other females without going into their nests. To facilitate this process, make sure to provide plenty of hiding places for your guppies.

Tank Size

Your breeding tank should be at least 10 gallons in size, but preferably 20 – 30 gallons. Even if your guppies aren’t planning to breed, you need a tank that is fast. A large aquarium of up to about 30 gallons (150 liters) will be enough for half a dozen adults and eventually, baby guppies.

Water Quality

It is important to have good water quality and sufficient oxygen levels for both the male and female guppies. Make sure you also perform regular water changes. The guppies need stable water quality that is enough to prevent excessive ammonia or nitrite levels in their tanks.

Temperature

The temperature should be around 72 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit (22 to 25 degrees Celsius).

Hiding Places

Provide your guppies with plenty of hiding places as well as some plants or floating objects for them to hide under. A few hours after you have provided your guppies with newly planted or floating plants for spawning purposes, then it is possible that some will start trying to breed in a short amount of time.

Floating Plants

You will also need to provide enough floating plants or foam balls so that they can practice spawning on your tank floor in order to build up their reproductive part and become familiar with it before breeding, as well as having areas of the tank where guppies can spawn close by for them to find each other during mating season. Other good hiding places include algae wafers (added prior) as well as the drainage area of your tank.

How Do Guppies Breed?

In order to breed guppies, you will first need to purchase a male and female. Once you have the two fish correctly identified, it is time to get started. After all of the suggestions above are done, release the males from the original tank and put them in a separate breeding tank filled with prepared guppy water until you see signs that your female is pregnant, which usually takes around 21 to 30 days.

You can do this by simply transferring females into another male’s pre-existing homemade spawning area or starting a new one yourself. Once the place looks comfortable for the fish, you will want to make sure that no one accidentally disrupts your pairing process during the breeding period.

What Is a Guppy Fish Breeding Age?

The average age for a female guppy before it can breed is between 10 to 20 weeks while the male guppy can already breed at 7 weeks of age. If you are trying to breed guppies for the first time, it is best to wait until your female is sexually mature before you start to initiate changing their environment for breeding as they take more time to develop than male guppies.

When Do Guppies Breed?

As mentioned earlier, Guppies can spawn at any time of year as long as the water temperature is within the proper range. With the proper setup and preparations, guppies can breed successfully once every month. However, if you notice any signs of stress or aggression from either fish during the breeding period, it may be best to separate them for now and try again later on when they are more relaxed.

Why Are My Guppies Not Breeding?

No matter the reason, it is a great idea to get this problem fixed once and for all. When trying to figure out how something is not breeding correctly, there are things you will want to check. First, the temperature in your tank should be between 72 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit (22 to 25 degrees Celsius) as already mentioned earlier. A properly maintained aquarium has just enough algae growing on the surface as well. Too little or too much algae presence can also be a possible cause as to why your guppies might not find their environment favorable for them to have fry.

The population also needs to be balanced between males, females, and juveniles (newly spawned guppies). The younger your fish are when starting breeding, the more important it is for you to purchase small or juvenile females. In most cases where a male does not perform well in trying to fertilize a female guppy; one that is either too old or of incorrect species can make things worse.

Do Guppies Stop Breeding?

While there is no definitive answer to this, you can always control the breeding process of your guppies. Again, breeding mostly depends on how healthy your aquarium looks as well. But you do not want to make your aquarium an unhealthy environment so if you want to stop your guppies from breeding, you might as well just separate the male from the female ones. That is the best way to manage the breeding of your guppies.