# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Livebearers >  Guppy breeding.

## yoyouyi

Hello i am new to guppy , is it hard to breed high grade guppies?

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## Shi Xuan

Unfortunately, yes because some high end guppies are delicate and seemingly less robust as their wild cousins but that would depend on it's genes too. I find short tail fancy guppies easier to keep and breed and much livelier, not so much for the heavy delta tails. If you want to breed fancy guppies, I suggest you look for the short/sword tails. Guppy galaxy or Guppy center should have these strains. Quite unlikely for local private breeders who prefer the deltas.

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## derricko

i also find high end guppies not easy to breed. 

we cannot mix high delta with short tail together. even though they are guppies. The short tail will bite off the deltas tail. I have a damaged of 28 bucks when i mixed them together. :Shocked:

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## vannel

Hmm. Send me a PM if you are interested in short tail guppies. I have quite a few Glass Belly, Red Lace guppies which I have been breeding for quite some time now. They are fairly easy to care for since they are non-albinos and will take a variety of food.

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## derricko

can know what type of glass belly? any picture available on net which may look similar?

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## vannel

You should be able to find pictures from an old thread I posted awhile ago.

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...lace-Guppy-Fry

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## AQuat

Actually, the difficulty is not on the breeding part. It is mainly on the rearing part as u need to provide extra time in term of its food and care. Aquarium environment also play a crucial part.

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## HappyGuppies

Have you decided on what guppy strain to keep? Do let us know...  :Smile:

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## retiredscv

I am having a hard time to decide which strain i should keep... ... DO let us know which strain you are keeping  :Smile:

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## Shi Xuan

Grey eyed speartail or any short tail guppy strains are quite easy as mentioned. The problem with all the high end strains is that, they are too inbred and lost the hardiness of their wild ancestor or pet shop guppies. I have such problems in the past and resolved to the short tails ones.

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## IrcKnight

No matter what strain you keeping. The most important you must be happy with the fish and you love them =) This will keep you in the hobby longer =)

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## issacyeo

> Hello i am new to guppy , is it hard to breed high grade guppies?


your post was in april, its end august now. have you gotten any guppies yet?

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## yew tee

I am new to guppy too. Would like to have a new setup tank for it.
May I have some advise on the plant and soil recommended. 
Also anyone willing to let go some of the guppy for me to start? Thank you

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## HappyGuppies

> I am new to guppy too. Would like to have a new setup tank for it.
> May I have some advise on the plant and soil recommended. 
> Also anyone willing to let go some of the guppy for me to start? Thank you


Hi bro, Happy to see another guppy-hobbyist! Have you cycled your tank?

Have you kept live bearers and succeeded before? If not, you may want to read up on threads about water conditions and stuff to get a better idea.

Guppies need aged, cycled water. 

You may want to google the different strains and see which strain catches your eye... Are you looking for pure strain? Or common guppy (which is available at most aquariums)?

For eyes, there's the grey/black or albino type.

If you get pure strain, you are probably getting females of the same strain too which means you'll know how the fries turn out to be. If you get common guppies, there's a high probability you can't match the male with a female of its same strain. The common guppies are probably crossed to begin with. But even so, some guppy hobbyists like mixed look in common guppies. So I guess it depends on individual.

But I would recommend getting a pure strain. The joy and self-satisfaction of successful breeding, knowing you have pure-bred gups is quite something. Since guppy hobbyists spend and dedicate time to feed, look after, I think it's more worthwhile to get pure strain ones. But beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.

Soil and plants.. Planted tank? Bro, do take a look at the pics available in the forum.. Think there are lovely setups you can follow, and threads to read. 

Good luck!

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## yew tee

I was told by shop owners not to put anything but just guppy alone. Which meant no plants. 
While, I follow their instruction to get the Water Safe liquid and Anti chlorine. However bef a week. I left with 4 guppies... so sad
Now I am afraid to waste money and not sure is he given me the right instruction???

Anyone giving out any guppy to reduce the bioload? Can contact me at 97879763. Prefer CCK or Woodland area.

Thank you

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## EdwinTay

hi bro

You should put some plants as they will help balance the water. However, plants will need sunlight otherwise they will die & decay which will them pollute the water.

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## HappyGuppies

> I was told by shop owners not to put anything but just guppy alone. Which meant no plants. 
> While, I follow their instruction to get the Water Safe liquid and Anti chlorine. However bef a week. I left with 4 guppies... so sad
> Now I am afraid to waste money and not sure is he given me the right instruction???
> 
> Anyone giving out any guppy to reduce the bioload? Can contact me at 97879763. Prefer CCK or Woodland area.
> 
> Thank you


Fish die due to many reasons, with the biggest culprit being water parameter. Then there's also sickness. I keep most of my guppies in bare tanks & it makes WC (water change) very easy. And when it's dirty, I'll know since the floor will be filthy. I can also observe their poop and determine if they are healthy. Overall, one should spend time to monitor and observe every guppy to see for signs of illness or weird behaviour. If you have a tankful of gups, one should do more of this. Quarantine the sick fish, do more WC, before the illness spreads to the rest of its tankmates... And if you are serious about your strain, keep a pair or trio separately in different tanks (and avoid sharing nets and siphoning pipes).

Bro, I have some common guppies. PM me if you're keen. Near Marsiling MRT.

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## HappyGuppies

> hi bro
> 
> You should put some plants as they will help balance the water. However, plants will need sunlight otherwise they will die & decay which will them pollute the water.


True true.. the choice of plants needs to be careful though. If unable to provide enough light, one should try plants with low light requirements. Once I'd tried Java moss in a 2ft tank, placed beside window. It received daylight and kept multiplying. However, the colour intensity was never as nice and brightly green as those kept under 8-12hours lighting.

How about German Seaweed; I heard it requires low light. Do research more..  :Smile:

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## yew tee

Thank you for the advise. I have washed up my whole tank and is now cycling the water. Will get some plant as advise. Frogbit ok?

Happy Guppies : I cant PM you i think is my rights issue. I have dropped you an email. Hope you dont mind. Or you can contact me at 97879763 if I can come over tomr. Thank you

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## HappyGuppies

> Thank you for the advise. I have washed up my whole tank and is now cycling the water. Will get some plant as advise. Frogbit ok?
> 
> Happy Guppies : I cant PM you i think is my rights issue. I have dropped you an email. Hope you dont mind. Or you can contact me at 97879763 if I can come over tomr. Thank you


Sorry for the late reply! I seldom check my email... I'm not sure if you'll want my FOC guppies.. They are culls that I think most people would not want. They look colourless, except for some red, and not really nice. Would you be interested in better strains? If not, a bro is giving away 20+ yellow tail fries. Do take a look at the sales thread.

Will there be 8-12 hours of lighting provided? You may want to see if you can provide sufficient light. Choosing of plants is also of personal preference. For me I prefer mosses. The shrimps or fries love them. Floating plants I use duckweeds also because of own preference.

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