Setting up new breeding tanks

[Warhawk]

As I posted in the intro section I think it is time to setup some new tanks for breeding guppies. But hoping to get some advice.

My goal is to setup 2 tanks where I can breed and be able to sale to the local store. I know I won't get rich but $50-75 per month is good for me.

My question is over the years having breed guppies in my other tanks after a while the line starts to degrade. To prevent that from happening here is my idea let me know what you think.

Ebay has little higher quality guppies so pick up a trio for $50. Then keep them together for about a month and then move one female to a new tank. Once spawned that will give me two of the same line. Then every 3-4 generation swap 5 or 6 males from each tank. My thought is 3-4 generations should be about every 12 months maybe a little more but to be safe. That should keep the lines pretty stable for years.

What do you all think? Will this work or better to buy low quality and just drop 4 or 5 new males from the store in a year to each tank?

I also know just guppy even higher end ones won't do $70 per month. So going to add Java moss or guppy grass and shrimp to the tanks. Between those two with the guppies I'm pretty sure I can get that out of each tank. 

Not sold on the idea of guppy grass, I know it grows faster but could be a little too much if the stores don't buy enough of it. 

My starting tank will be a 30g long 12" W, 12"H, 48"L (I think that is 30g) and I'm thinking of picking up a 20g long for my second. Put a fresh filter in my large tank last night to start seeding it and by the time I get fish (maybe 2 weeks) it will be ready to go in the starting tank. Then will start another filter for the other tank.

 

Any suggestions are welcome

Thanks
 

[lefty o]

you are on the right track with guppy lines.  many takes on exactly how to do it, but start with a pair, breed them, then breed the father to the females, then split into 2 lines, and then when they degrade over time, you can cross back from one line to the other.

[Warhawk]

From what I'm reading about every 4th gen you need to bring them back together. So my every 12 months is a rough guess to be on the safe side. 

I have read some places you need more than 2 tanks to pull this off but wanted to be sure 2 is enough. I could buy more fish every year from the same breeder to add a little more mix but not sure it is needed. 

 

Thanks

[lefty o]

yes, to do it right you will need a bunch of tanks. to do guppies cheap and easy, try mutt guppy's. they dont bring as much money, but they sell a ton of 'em.

[Warhawk]

I know I won't be getting a lot of money from the local stores for the quality guppies and doing mutts will be cheaper up front I might still go with quality ones because the would be nicer to look at. Looking at my time line (listed below) I could cut it down by 3 months or so if I bought 20 mutts at the local store for the same price I would by the quality online. 

 

Follow up to OP.

So assuming my plan is solid that leads me to my time line here.

Lets assume I get the Quality Trio from online at the middle of this month(Jan) I could have 3 month old fish to sale in 6 months right?

• Feb  Fish are in tank with first spawn on the way.
• Mar first fry drop (calling them Spawn A)
• April- May original females still dropping fry (still part of Spawn A group)
• June Spawn A fry are 3 months old and start spawning
• July Spawn A have dropped fry (Spawn B)
• Sept Spawn B are ready to start spawning
• Oct Spawn B have dropped fry (Spawn C) 
• Feb Spawn C have dropped new spawn
• Mar swap over 5 or 6 males in each tank

Rough math is Spawn A will be 15-20 fish, Spawn B 100-125 fish, & Spawn C many hundreds of fish but with deaths and having to cull some realistically I could have fry to sell in 6 months.  

That would mean I need to be adding the Guppy Grass or Java Moss right away and then around April-May I could add Red cherry shrimp to the tanks. That gives the tanks some time to get ready, the plants to grown in well so the shrimp have room to hide. Then given another 3 or 4 months the shrimp should be established well and can start to sell of these guys too. 

So my thinking is about a year to have it going full swing with 2 very solid tanks fully of Beautiful fish, lots of plants and colorful shrimp crawling all over the place.  

 

With the mutts I could have have the fish in the  tanks in full swing in 6 months with the shrimp needing a little more time.  Very hard to say I could tell myself I would swap out the mutts down the road but honestly that won't happen I would have to setup new tanks for quality guppies. But I could use the time to build up my own line of guppies if I wanted to go that way.

 

[lefty o]

lots of variables in timelines depending how well things go, buy i would definately get the plants in and going first thing. guppies for sure thrive better with plants to hide in and browse on.

[Warhawk]

 

3 minutes ago, lefty o said:

lots of variables in timelines depending how well things go, buy i would definately get the plants in and going first thing. guppies for sure thrive better with plants to hide in and browse on.

Yeah the timeline is very vague and things would change. My thought is my filters are seeding in my main tank right now and will be adding water and substrate this week. I have to order new heaters I don't want to use my old ones just not worth the risk. That means I could order plants over the weekend and have them in the tank next week, so fish could be this weekend or next week depending if I go with mutt or order online.