Responsible Guppy Ownership.

[iMax]

First post here! I am an amateur guppy breeder in the sense that I bought a breeding pair of black Moscows 6 months ago and left them in a community tank with about 8.0 ph water! Had no idea at the time but they spawned more than could be eaten by the community and I have about 12 females and 7 males that have been separated. I just ordered 5 fry of Red dragon guppies from an unknown seller. I'm raising them up to live with the female population to hopefully broaden all of their genes and sell some to my lfs. Any tips/ideas on what they'll look like? 

[lefty o]

guppy's are like a box of chocolates, ya never quite know what youre going to get .

[Tlindsey]

On 4/21/2024 at 1:07 PM, iMax said:

First post here! I am an amateur guppy breeder in the sense that I bought a breeding pair of black Moscows 6 months ago and left them in a community tank with about 8.0 ph water! Had no idea at the time but they spawned more than could be eaten by the community and I have about 12 females and 7 males that have been separated. I just ordered 5 fry of Red dragon guppies from an unknown seller. I'm raising them up to live with the female population to hopefully broaden all of their genes and sell some to my lfs. Any tips/ideas on what they'll look like? 

Welcome aboard @iMax

[Lennie]

They will end up being mutt guppies and will sell for very cheap compared to other specific colors. These colors are the end result of selectively breeding, so even tho any babies look like dragons or moscows, it wouldn't be fair to sell them this way because genetically now they are not selectively bred anymore.

That being said, if you don't aim for money and can find places that would take your mutts to sell for money/rehome/store credit etc., you may end up having very cool looking ones. And probably healthier ones too. Usually breeding one specific genetic over and over again is not good for health issues anyway. Mixing two different fish would probably lead to healthier babies compared to one that has been overbred for ages to have this specific look.

That being said, I would be cautious mixing guppies and in a community tank with many other fish for potential pathogens. In my experience, guppies are very bad at dealing with pathogens and adapting to a new tank environment. The advantage of buying adults is, the babies they have end up having in your water usually does great, even if parents don't. However, in your scenario, you are getting juveniles, and it is gonna be more like, they will either adapt and live or they won't make it. There won't be any babies from the adults adapting, which may lead you lose them. I have 7 guppy species only tanks right now, and I even saw them not handing the pathogens come with cycled filters I moved in from another tank.

 

Tldr: If you want to breed and sell for money, it is probably the best idea to stick with one and add healthy and different genetics gradually and not breed the same fish and genetics over and over again.

 

[TOtrees]

Best to keep the strains separate, if you want to preserve their appearance. 

[gardenman]

There are enough people breeding Black Moscow guppies these days that if you buy them from two different vendors, you're apt to get fairly different gene lines anyway, so crossing out for genetic diversity may not be as important as it could have been in the past. Many guppies these days come from Thailand guppy farms where they raise guppies by the millions. (There are lots of YouTube videos showing those farms if you're interested.) Two Black Moscow guppies from one farm could have vastly different genetics even though they have a similar appearance. If you're buying guppies from a private breeder who's used the same stock for years, genetic diversity becomes more of an issue but the majority of guppies you buy are now farm-raised and even a pair from the same vendor might have vastly different genetic makeup despite nearly identical appearance.