Advice for guppy breeding setup

[Bubba2000]

I have a 20 long that I have to breed guppies in. Looking for advice on how to set it up. Substrate, filter, plants. 

[lefty o]

substrate and filters are totally subjective, but for plants, java moss or any plant that gives fry places to hide in.

[Bubba2000]

@lefty o thanks for the reply. Is there any benefit to sand over gravel or vice versa?

[lefty o]

for me personally, gravel is easier, and day old guppies like to get down and hide in the nooks and crannies in gravel.

[Henry the fish keeper]

I bred a TON of guppies before so hopefully I can help you. For substrate, I would say gravel because it just easier to clean. For plants, I would suggest floating plants because the baby fry sometimes go up to the surface making easier for the adults to eat them. And get a sponge filter, that way baby guppies can´t get sucked up.

[smoore]

Water sprite floating on the surface is wonderful for guppy breeding.  Not only can the fry hide in the roots and the foliage, but the female likes to be alone while giving birth and she will often swim up into the plants while giving birth.  I have planted aquariums and use CaribSea Echo Complete.  The fry will sometimes hide in the substrate when they are a couple of days old. I use Sponge filters from Aquarium Co-Op for filteration and have a light on a timer.

[PineSong]

Just to chime in about the plants, my best grower and fry hider in every tank is najas, AKA guppy grass. I bought a handful either on Etsy or from a local fish club swap meet, I cannot remember. It grows faster than anything else I have and I grow so much I have to remove fistfuls regularly from all the following setups:

with sunlight in my window tanks

from a regular incandescent bedroom lamp in my swordtail tank

with my Finnex LED lights and my Hygger LED lights

and last but not least with my old-school aquarium fluorescent lights from the 90's (and I think the original bulb is still in this light. Got it from a friend who found it in her garage 10 years after divorcing her fishkeeping husband 🙂

Pics of my betta tank with the 90's fluorescent and my 5g guppy trio QT tank with Finnex clip on light. I removed most najas from the betta tank last weekend due to his not having any open swimming space, but there it is growing back!

[SJ fishing]

I like using guppy grass as well.  Floating pogomon Stella octopus also works well.  I use sponge filters, a thin layer of sand and a rock pile in a corner for shrimp and fry

[BF McUmber]

It seems like keeping the parents from eating the fry is the biggest challenge.  If I put the parents in a pond plant box will the fry just fall through to the floor? Or would the fry just swim back up into the box and get eaten? 

[sumplkrum]

On 4/21/2022 at 5:54 PM, BF McUmber said:

It seems like keeping the parents from eating the fry is the biggest challenge.  If I put the parents in a pond plant box will the fry just fall through to the floor? Or would the fry just swim back up into the box and get eaten?

As long as the fry has somewhere to run to, you'll be fine.

Generally, the parents are too fat and lazy to really chase them down and the babies are darty enough to get out of the way. You might lose a few babies that are too dumb to move, but that's good natural selection.

Also, the mother guppy is usually fine with the fry. It's the other fish that will chase them. The male might bump into her hoping to grab some as they pop out.

[Cinnebuns]

I would say the top thing for guppies is floating plants. This gives extra advantage to guppy breeding than most fish. All fish benefit from the hiding place for fry, but guppies also benefit from it when birthing. Females tend to try to hide near the top of the tank when giving birth and are more comfortable with some cover. I highly suggest a floating plant like water lettuce or frogbit that has both root and top coverage over other floating plants. 

When it comes to the filter you mainly need to be aware of the babies getting sucked up. A sponge filter is safe. You can use a HOB filter but only if you also use a pre-filter sponge to cover the intake.