Guppies are also known as million fish because if male and female guppies are kept together, they will breed out of control. Excessive breeding will result in overcrowding issues. So, How to control the guppy population? Let us find out.
There are various ways to control the guppy population like separating male and female guppies, having male guppy, removing hiding places, introducing carnivore fish like female betta and gourami. However, You can also sell or gift your guppy fry if you cannot prevent the breeding of your guppies.
This article will discuss why it is essential to control the guppy population and more effective ways to prevent our guppies from breeding and overcrowding. So, let us get into it.
Contents
Why is it important to control the guppy population?
Guppies are also known as million fish.
The reason behind it is guppies breed out of control.
If you keep male and female guppies in the same tank, they will soon make your tank overcrowded with guppies.
A female guppy can release lots of fry at one time.
Also, guppies can get pregnant just after releasing the fry.
Keeping male and female guppies in the same tank will result in constant breeding.
Several problems can arise if you have are not controlling your guppy population:
- Your tank will get overcrowded.
- There will be more production of waste than usual.
- An overcrowded tank will result in a lack of oxygen in the water.
- Your guppies will come under stress.
Overcrowding
If we keep male and female guppies in the same tank, then it is sure that they will breed out of control.
Female guppies can release lots of fry at one time.
The gestation period of female guppies is 30 days.
And you should know that female guppy can be pregnant right after their gestation period.
Breeding out of control will result in overcrowding your guppies aquarium.
Your guppies will not be able to swim freely and live comfortably in an overcrowded tank.
Guppies need ample space to live happily and thrive.
Increased waste
It is essential to keep your aquarium clean to prevent your guppies from various diseases and infections.
Usually, guppies don’t produce lots of waste, but an overcrowded tank will make your aquarium dirty quickly.
Your tank will need more maintenance than it usually needs, so you have to perform more frequent maintenance than usual.
More fish in your aquarium will result in more waste production.
You will have to burn more time and energy to deal with it as it will require more frequent water changes than it usually does.
However, you will not be able to clean your tank at that regular rate, and as a result, it can be very dangerous for your guppies.
The dirty tank can be a critical condition as your guppies can be affected by illness and even pass away.
Deficiency of oxygen
An overcrowded tank with guppies will lack oxygen in your guppies aquarium.
Oxygen is essential for the survival of your guppies.
Lack of oxygen will make your guppies vulnerable to various illnesses.
A deficiency of oxygen can also result in your guppies passing away.
Stress
Not controlling the guppy population will result in an overcrowded tank.
When your guppy does not find enough space to live freely, it will come under stress.
Also, an overcrowded tank with guppies will result in a lack of food.
All your guppy fry, including adult guppies, will not be able to get food and can come under critical conditions if they do not get nutritional food.
Also, lack of food will make it a competition for your guppies to get their food, which can trigger aggressiveness in your tank.
Controlling the population is crucial for preventing our guppies from these issues.
What to do with guppy fry?
These are the best way to get rid of guppy fry when you don’t get able to prevent excessive breeding of your guppies:
- Grow them in a separate tank and then sell them.
- Gift it to your friends and aquarium lovers.
- Leave them with adult guppies and let nature do its work.
Sell your guppy fry.
You can sell your guppy. This way you can also earn profit.
Separate your guppy fry from the adult aquarium and grow them in a separate tank.
Once they reach a suitable age, you can sell them online or at your nearby pet store.
Online sites like eBay will be an excellent marketplace for you to sell your guppies and earn profit.
Gift them to someone.
You can gift your guppy fry to your friends who have an aquarium and are willing to raise guppies.
Friends who have a betta fish or any other carnivore fish in their tank will happily accept your gift and feed their bettas with guppy fry.
Giving your fry to your friends is a good way of getting rid of guppy fry.
Let them live in a guppies tank.
Letting them live in a guppies tank is the natural way of getting rid of your guppy fry.
Adult guppy and mother guppy will feed on guppy fry by thinking of them as food.
Guppies don’t come with parental instincts and will happily feed on their fry when kept together.
How to control breeding in guppies?
There are various ways you can perform to prevent your guppies aquarium from getting overcrowded.
Some of the best ways are:
- Keep only male guppies.
- Keep only female guppies.
- Keep male and female guppies in a separate tank.
- Leave guppy fry with adult guppies.
- Remove all or reduce the hiding place.
- Add female betta fish. (No male betta)
- Place your guppy fry in an outdoor pond.
- Perform culling.
Keep male guppies.
Keeping only one gender guppies is the best way to prevent your tank from overcrowding.
Keeping only male guppies will help you prevent overpopulating your guppies tank.
Male guppies are more colorful and attractive and will look beautiful in a tank.
Keep female guppies.
Like male guppies, keeping only female guppies will also do the work.
But, you must know that your female guppy can release fry even without male guppies in the tank.
This can be possible when the female guppy is already pregnant before you add your female guppy into your tank.
Many pet stores keep male and female guppies together in the same tank.
When we buy female guppies from a pet store, then your female guppy may be mated with the male guppy at a pet store aquarium.
In such a case, female guppy will release fry, and your tank can become overcrowded over time.
It is impossible to detect a female guppy who has not mated with a male guppy.
This is why aquarists prefer to keep male guppies when they don’t want to full their tank with guppies.
Separating male and female guppies.
Separating male and female guppies is an excellent way to prevent the overpopulation of guppies in a tank.
Separating male and female guppies will prevent them from mating, and there will be no reproduction.
Make sure to separate your male and female guppies properly. You should be able to differentiate between male and female guppies.
Because even one female guppy in a male tank will result in breeding, your tank will soon be overcrowded.
The female guppy will get pregnant frequently if present in a male tank.
However, there can be chances that your female guppy is already pregnant while separating.
Putting a divider will also work if you are not interested in investing in a separate tank.
Leave your guppy fry with adult guppies.
Leaving guppy fry with adult guppies will also help prevent your guppies tank from being overcrowded.
Mother guppy will also not step back from feeding on their fry.
Adult guppies will see the guppy fry as food and will try to feed on them.
This will help you prevent your guppies aquarium from getting overcrowded.
Also read: Can Guppy Fry Survive In a Community Tank?
Remove all hiding places.
Removing or reducing hiding places from your guppies tank is an excellent way to prevent your aquarium from overcrowding.
Guppy fry will try to hide from the adult tankmates as the tankmates will try to feed on guppy fry.
Guppy fry will hide in hiding places until they grow to a size that doesn’t fit the tankmate’s mouth.
Removing or reducing hiding places will eliminate the places where guppy fry can hide, and the adult tankmates will easily find and feed on them.
Add female betta fish.
Bettas are carnivore fish species and will love to feed on guppy fry constantly.
Adding female betta fish will surely help you reduce the guppy fry population from your guppies aquarium.
Make sure not to add male betta fish as it will make the case worse than better.
Male bettas are more aggressive and will try to bully your adult guppies, creating a stressful environment.
Also read: Can Guppies Live With Betta Fish?
Place your guppy fry in an outdoor pond.
You can place your guppy fry in an outdoor pond by creating an outdoor pond.
An outdoor pond will have more space than the aquarium, eliminating overcrowding.
Also, add female betta and other predator fish to feed on your guppy fry.
No hiding place in an outdoor pond will make it easy for the predator fish to feed on your guppy fry.
Culling
Culling should be the last step you should take to prevent your guppies tank from getting overcrowded.
However, it is not recommended to perform culling as it is not a humane way to eliminate guppy fry or any living animals.
But, if nothing is working right to prevent your guppies aquarium from overcrowding, you can perform culling.
Conclusion:
There are various ways for preventing your guppies from breeding, like separating male and female guppies, keeping only male or female guppies, adding carnivore fish to your guppies aquarium, and removing hiding places.
You can gift your guppy fry to your friends who are having carnivore fish in their aquarium or to someone who is an aquarium lover.
You can also sell your guppy fry in an online store or pet store nearby.
But, this will take your money and time to raise your guppy fry and then sell them.
There are various options available for you to control the guppy population and deal with guppy fry. So now you have to decide which method fits you.