Variety in Guppies when space is limited.

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  1. wilsar
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    Variety in Guppies when space is limited.
    Part 1
    By Midge Hill.**

    Most guppy breeders love variety....this is usually why they pick guppies in the first place. But raising a large variety of different types properly takes a great many tanks and a lot of space. It is simple to fill 9 tanks with just the offspring of one particular kind of guppy.--but if you like variety it as possible to properly work and improve as many as 7 different kinds of guppies in those same 9 tanks by using the following breeding programme.

    Note, I did not say 7 pure strains! This 'short cut' technique is not to be confused with maintaining pure strains (for which there is no really successful short cut of which I know). You will eventually end up with your own pure strains if the programme is followed throughout, but in the beginning this is strictly a creative technique (which in itself can be very satisfying)....a way to expand without adding more tanks.

    For the sake of illustration, let's assume that our guppy raising space is limited to 9 tanks (15 gallons or larger).The first step of the whole breeding programme is to decide what basic colour you prefer. Then comes the most important step of the whole breeding programme...one which will decide the success or failure of all your efforts....selection of the basic pure strain which will be behind all the other variants in the 9 tank programme. Don't scrimp here...shop around, talk to breeders. learn as much as possible about each strain, then purchase the very best, truest-breeding strain you can find in the desired basic colour----hopefully one that also carries a recessive trait such as Gold, Bronze or Albino body colour.

    This becomes your BASIC strain. Breed the new strain immediately and when young are dropped, remove mom and dad to a holding tank. No attempt will be made to save their future litters unless tragedy strikes the first litter. When fry are old enough, be sure to separate males from females IN TIME! This is vital as these young females will the backbone of all the other varieties in the programme and will be the only females that we work with at all.

    While these basic strain fry are growing in tanks 1 and 2, start looking around for other fish with which to start the variety part of the programme. A little knowledge of genetics helps here as most of our varieties will utilize dominant characteristics which are visible in each generation. Most varieties of cobra or snakeskin are carried on the Y chromosome and will therefore be passed directly from father to all his sons. Some varieties of Half or Three-quarter Black carry the trait on the Y chromosome also and would be ideal for one of our varieties. If carried on the X chromosome they can still be used but require slightly different crossing methods and will produce 50% of the desired Black variety (except possibly in the initial cross) when bred in accordance with our programme. If the basic strain carries recessives for Gold, Bronze or Albino we do not need to seek an outside male for these characteristics as we can use a male from the basic strain to work this variant. We can also add a colour variant, which will often throw multi-colour when crossed into our different colour.

    For the sake of illustration we will select a Cobra, a Y-linked 3/4 Black, and a good fish of a different colour than our basic strain (which we will say already carries a recessive for gold). From these three plus the basic strain we can raise in only 9 tanks 7 distinct varieties of guppies that will all be breeding true for their variant characteristics....and in time all will be pure strains.

    The Programme can be started when the basic strain F1 females in Tank 2 reach breeding age (about 3-4 months)and will be set up as follows :-

    Tank 1. Basic strain females, first litter.

    Tank 2. Basic strain males, first litter

    Tank 3. Cobra. (The selected cobra male, 3 virgin Grey females from tank 1 plus one gold female from tank 1)

    Tank 4. 3/4 Black*, (The selected 3/4 Black male, 3 virgin females and one, at least, gold female from tank 1.

    Tank 5. Gold (or Bronze or Albino). Select the most promising Gold male from tank 2. Add two or three females from tank 1

    Tank 6. Gold Cobra. (First litter will be Grey bodied hybrids, all carrying gold). When gold females in tank 3 are heavily gravid move to tank 6 to drop the brood.

    Tank 7. Gold 3/4 Black.(First litter will be Grey bodied hybrids). When gold females bred in tank 4 show signs of pregnancy, remove to tank 7 for delivery.

    Tank 8. Multi (or some form of colour variant). Put selected male of any colour different from the basic strain colour with three virgin basic strain females from tank 1.

    Tank 9. Holding tank for mature males...to show, sell or for emergency.

    In case of X-linked 3/4 Black the process should be reversed- -if a virgin female of the 3/4 Black strain is available she is put in tank 4 with the best basic strain male from tank 2. If no virgin female is available, put X-linked 3/4 Black male with three virgin basic strain females. In the F1 only the females will be black and breeding plan will remain reversed...basic strain male to 3/4 Black female for each new generation. Only 50% of males will be 3/4 Black...it would pay to look for a Y-linked 3/4 Black male when breeding according to this programme.

    When females in tank 3 through 8 are well loaded, remove the males to tank 9.After fry are dropped remove and discard the female parent. Sex fry as soon as possible and DISCARD all females as soon as sexed except the Gold females in tank 5 which should be added to tank 1 to increase the supply of basic strain females with which to work. As young males begin to colour up discard any that show undesirable characteristics. As they mature gradually weed out all but the best.

    While they are maturing we will turn our attention back to the basic strain which should be kept moving along and improving also. Being at least three months ahead of the variants, we can now select the very best male in tank 2 and remove at least three to tank 9 (in case of emergency). Select the best three females from tank 1 and put the male in tank 2. When fry are dropped continue as before: discard parent females, sex fry, remove young virgin females to tank 1, discarding all the Grey bodied females which might remain in tank l. At this point all gold females are kept to ensure a good supply as sometimes gold and albino females prove difficult or impossible to breed and new females must be tried.

    As the breeding programme continues, it may become obvious that one or more of the outcrosses are incompatible with the basic strain and do not produce good fish. In some cases this can be overcome by merely carrying the breeding on for a few more generations, backcrossing to the basic strain females each time. In other cases it might prove best to locate a different strain of the variant involved and start again for that variant. In the case of the fish in tank 5 (the gold, bronze or albino) it would be advisable every so often to breed the selected male to a Grey bodied female of the basic strain to create stronger fish. (The Grey-bodied fry from this mating would be hybrid for gold and will produce 50% in the next generation when again bred to a gold female....and the gold variant is off again and running with new vigour.)

    *** Midge Hill is deceased but her pioneering efforts in breeding fancy guppies still continues to this day*** Don Hutson

    http://aquarium-club.org/Members/guppy_genetics.htm
     
  2. wilsar
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    wilsar Algae harvester

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    Guppy Gambits
    by Midge Hill
    http://members.tripod.com/~ppga/guppygambitart.html



    An outstandingly beautiful single male guppy, no matter how many trophies he may come home with, does not make a champion guppy strain... or a champion guppy breeder. You can be justifiably proud of your win in the single classes because the competition is brisk, but the secret of true champions in the guppy world is a strain of guppies that is capable of producing a number of matching males that are as close to carbon copies as possible.

    In the single classes it doesn't matter whether a fish is from a true strain or from a random outcross. All that matters is that the guppy be a superb individual specimen. The quality of a strain becomes progressively more important in the matched male classes. Random outcrosses may produce beautiful individuals, but rarely will they produce two beautiful individuals that match in every characteristic well enough to win in the two-matched-male classes (known as Tank Classes), much less five outstanding mirror images needed to win in the Breeder Class. Strains that have been developed to the point where they produce consistently uniform males of high quality are valuable and highly sought after. The time and effort and money that has gone into the development of such strains make them well worth the initial investment.

    If you were lucky enough, and smart enough, to locate and purchase breeding stock from one of the best strains available, and have paid attention to the raising of the offspring, even as a newcomer in the hobby you could already have guppies in your tanks capable of winning championships or helping you pay for your hobby. Even if these are the first show guppies you have ever raised, you can already be well ahead of more experienced guppy breeders who might have skimped on the purchase of their breeding stock and have had to struggle along wasting time and effort in trying to improve inferior stock. Naturally, this depends to a large degree on whether your care and conditions have allowed the fish to blossom to their full potential.

    In evaluating a strain there are two major criteria: (1) how many show-quality individuals the strain produces, and (2) how closely the males match each other in color, size, finnage, etc. Even the best champion strains do not produce 100% show-stopper, lookalike males. Perhaps only the top 10-20% will be uniform trophy caliber fish but, in a good strain, the also-tans will still resemble each other in the majority of traits and can usually be rated as extra-fancies. Relatively few should fall into the category of "junk fish."

    In past articles we have discussed how to select those individuals that are of show quality. Now we'll take a look at matching. To find out just how well your guppy males really match each other, try picking out your five best males and putting them together in a separate container where you can see them from all sides. At first glance they may all look pretty much alike, but when you start comparing them feature for feature, as the judges of matched competitions do in a show, you can begin to appreciate the value of a good true-breeding strain. Are the caudals all exactly the same shape and size... or does one have an indentation here or an extended ray there, or perhaps one has a rounded corner or concave trailing edge? Is the color and pattern of the tail the same in each fish, or is one a little brighter color, another have a few streaks of darker color or a different iridescence where the tail leaves the peduncle? Are the dorsals the same width? Length? Shape? Color? Are the bodies all the same size and shape, or is one smaller or larger; what about the one that has a bulkier pot belly or a narrower peduncle? Are the body markings the same down to the various splashes or dots of color? Do the fish all carry their finnage equally well? This may all sound like nit picking, but I have seen shows where the presence or absence of one tiny black dot on the body meant the difference between first and second place.

    It should also be noted here that fish with multi, or bicolor patterns in the finnage are apt to be less uniform than fish with solid colored caudals. Even in the purest of strains the patterned tails show more variation because of the added factor to the matching... pattern as well as color. When matching multis or bicolors for competition, select first for colors that match as closely as possible and then look for the closest pattern match from among those showing the desired color.

    When you figure the odds of getting five trophy caliber males in the first place and then add in the odds of having them all matched in every characteristic you can begin to realize why the quality of a strain is the single most important thing in guppy raising. NO amount of super food or super care is going to give your guppies the genetic makeup needed for uniformity and show-quality characteristics.

    When selecting guppies for show competition, most experienced exhibitors will select their matched male entries first, knowing that the combination of top quality and good matching is harder to attain than finding a single outstanding male. Winning in matched male classes is not only more prestigious but, deservedly, earns the breeder many more points toward the annual championship awards.

    If, after evaluating your stock as to both the number of show quality individuals and the good matching of the males, your strain does not seem to measure up, don't automatically assume you were "taken" by the breeder from whom you purchased your strain. That is possible, of course, but it's usually not the case if you bought from a reputable breeder It is a known fact that guppies react differently to different environmental factors. For example, guppies of the same strain may be one color in acid water and quite a different shade in alkaline water. Lights, temperatures, foods, water, etc., can all have visible effects on physical appearances. Unfortunately, when you acquired the guppies from the breeder, you could not hope to also acquire his identical set up and handling techniques. It sometimes takes several generations of working with a new strain to discover the conditions that will make it perform best for you, so don't be too hasty to blame the breeder. I once obtained breeding stock of a champion blue delta strain from one of the top breeders. In the first generation most of the males showed up with yellow and blue variegated tails... they weren't even very pretty. Knowing the breeder, I stuck with it and amazing as it may sound, after two generations had been raised in my tanks, the color settled down to a solid green, No, I never could never get them to turn blue, but I did end up with a very lovely solid green show strain. It had to have been the effect of something in my environment, because when my "greens" were passed onto breeders in other areas, they sometimes became pure blue again.

    The time to be most suspicious about not having obtained high quality stock is if the first generation of young show a wide assortment of colors and characteristics. Different conditions and handling won't make helter-skelter differences in a good strain. if environment makes any changes to the appearances, they will Usually be quite uniform differences if the strain is true breeding to begin with.

    Throughout the discussions of evaluating show fish I have given tile points allotted to each characteristic as set forth in the IFGA standards, because its important for a breeder or exhibitor to learn the weight given to each trait in the final balance. I highly recommend practicing the actual pointing of your fish until these values become automatic. If you feel that you have learned them all well enough to successfully pick out your "most apt to win" show fish, test yourself with the following exercise: Visually select what you consider to bc your top three fish and place them in first, second and third position. Now, go back and, with pencil and paper, completely and honestly point each characteristic of each fish. If the point totals place the three fish in the same order as your original visual selection, you have mastered the point system well enough to feel confident you are not leaving your best fish at home when you enter a show.

    From this point on you can safely use the same short cut method of selecting your best fish as is used by show judges, who cannot possibly point every fish in a class. Instead of going through the arithmetic of pointing each feature and adding up the total, judges who thoroughly know the standards and the values placed on each characteristic mentally start each fish with 100 points and deduct for any short comings the fish may have. Although this system usually comes out amazingly close to actually pointing the fish, judges still point fish completely in close contests and you will probably come out ahead by doing the same when in doubt.
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
    A renowned aquarist, Midge Hill has been keeping and breeding guppies for 23 years and is a member of the Guppy Hall of Fame. Active in the showing and judging of guppies throughout the United States from the time guppy competition first started in California. Midge has won numerous trophies, including an IFGA Championship for the Albino Class. The author was one of the founding members of the Pan Pacific Guppy Association in 1965 and served in many capacities for that association, including the office of president. She also originated its publication, "Guppy Roundtable," which she edited for six years while serving as Guppy Judging Chairman and Seminar Instructor. Currently a lecturer, fish photographer, artist and author of numerous articles on guppies and related subjects. Midge is also active in the International Fancy Guppy Association where she has served as a member of the IFGA Judging Board since 1974. In addition, she edited the IFGA Bulletin for three years. Midge Hill is professionally associated with the aquarium hobby as one of the founders of Golden State Aquatics, Inc. and also as a Contributing Editor for Freshwater and Marine Aquarium Magazine.
     
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    wilsar Algae harvester

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    Breeding Strategy - Record keeping
    http://sgguppy.com/http://www.apsa.co.z ... ic.php?t=6

    Hi there,

    During my guppy keeping experience, I learn that record keeping is a practice you need to instill in your guppy rearing process. What would you do if you suddenly discover that a batch of fries from a strain that you own turn out really well and you need to know which female drop them. The female must be very special but too bad you cannot remember how it looks like?

    The below are a recording system used by the late Midge Hill of California. You can easily draft out an excel spreasheet with those columns to keep record.

    ID# Identification number (or breeding record number)

    M/F Male and Female

    Color Name of the strain and color

    Gen Generation, P1 (Parental) F1, F2, F3 etc

    Cross Type of cross: out (outcross), sib (sibling), back (backcross) etc.

    Parents Identification number of parent

    Date Born Dates of drops from this pair.

    Notes Special observations or notes about the breeders.

    The advantage of this system is that the breeder can trace back the lineage of the strain by flipping back to earlier Identification Numbers. You can flip back to these entries, read notes about the parents, and search back through the heritage of the line.

    When a female is moved into a maternity tank, a strip of masking tape is placed on the bottom of her tank with notes about her lineage. When she drops, the Identification Number is written on the masking tape and the date of the drop.
     
  4. wilsar
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    wilsar Algae harvester

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    FRY, THE VITAL 1ST MONTH

    By Midge Hill

    What happens in the first full month of life can make or break a show guppy. Whether you are hoping to raise winning show fish or just super special guppy pets, what you do in the first 30 days will make all the difference. Even though guppy breeders have many diverse methods of handling this critical period, it is generally agreed that it is important to make the most of this period of rapid growth and development. To get really good size and bodies sturdy enough to support the developing large finnage you have to push guppy fry to the maximum during the short interval between birth and the beginnings of sexual development.

    Guppy development tends to follow a certain pattern. During the first month of a guppy's energy intake goes toward body growth and the development of muscle and bone structure. Towards the end of the first month the guppy begins to divert even more energy into sexual development. By about the sixth week the guppy begins to divert even more energy into sexual activity. At this time energy is also beginning to be channeled into finnage growth... first of the caudal and, a month or so later, into dorsal growth. Even though the guppy will continue to put on body growth even up to death, the body growth becomes slower and slower. Obviously, for maximum size in their fish, guppy breeders concentrate on the first month of almost exclusive growth to get their show guppies to the best possible size before the energy starts to divert in other directions.

    But let's get back to the brood fish we set up in the last article (October FAMA). If you followed along and set up your breeders, by now your highly pregnant females should be isolated in their own 'nursery tanks' and be very near to dropping fry, if they have not already done so. There should be some protection for the fry such as clumps of foxtail or an unraveled plastic "chore girl" pad. (Guppies simply do not grow well once they get into mama's digestive tracts!) As soon as possible, after she finishes dropping, the female should be removed. Top breeders keep careful track of which female mothered which batch so that if a batch produces a number of really good show fish they can go back to the same female for future litters, or know which female to dispose of if the batch proves rather lean on show quality fish. For this same reason the female is kept away from all males to insure that subsequent litters will be on the same mating.

    With mother gone, the fry now have the run of the tank and all the food that it is provided with. The purpose of the small 5 gallon tank during the first month is that fry will grow better when they don't need to use up much energy looking for food... the energy goes toward growth instead. Bare tanks with corner filters make it possible to closely monitor the feeding so that the fry always have food before them, yet any food not eaten can readily be siphoned off the bare bottom before it has a chance to spoil. Breeders often use snails or other scavengers in fry tanks so that any leftovers from force feeding are cleaned up, especially uneaten live brine shrimp that decay rapidly once they have perished in the fresh water.

    Feeding... How Much? How Often?

    Guppy fry have very small digestive systems which must be refilled every 20 minutes or so for maximum growth... a feeding schedule not many of us can manage. The next best thing is to work out a balance between underfeeding, feeding enough, and dangerous overfeeding. The goal is to feed enough at one feeding to last until the next feeding without causing pollution. Probably the most workable arrangement is an every two hour feeding schedule with about 8-10 feedings per day. However, if even that is too frequent for your schedule, don't panic. By using live foods, or foods that do not deteriorate rapidly, breeders have raised excellent show fish on far less frequent feedings; it just takes a bit more experimentation. But a word of caution... always make sure the previous feeding is either eaten or siphoned off before feeding again,

    What to Feed and How?

    Force feeding was mentioned earlier. The trick to force feeding guppies is to get the fish to keep eating a little more than they might naturally be hungry for... and to eat a diet that supplies them with all the essentials they need for growth. This means high quality food with a minimum of unusable filler material that takes up space in their turnroles but passes through without benefiting the fish.

    Just like a child that won't turn down an ice cream cone even though already uncomfortably full from a large dinner, guppies will excitedly gorge when a new favorite food is fed, even if they are really not all that hungry. This, of course, implies a certain order in presenting foods. The full feeding of the day is the one to present a food you know is good for them but about which they are not particularly enthusiastic... they will keep eating it because they are truly hungry. While their bellies are full and feeding has become less enthusiastic, add a feeding of live baby brine shrimp and watch the sheer gluttony with which they attack it... as if they hadn't eaten in weeks. That is what force feeding is all about... keeping the irresistible goodies coming so they keep eating whether hungry or not!

    A well rounded feeding schedule would look something like this:

    Feeding

    1. Dry food A (granular, flake or freeze-dried)
    2. Baby brine shrimp
    3. Dry food B
    4. Live food, paste food or a popular dry food such as freeze-dried tubifex, plankton (micro size)
    5. Dry food C
    6. Special fry formula dry food (usually extra rich in nutritional value)
    7. Baby brine shrimp, newly hatched
    8. Any good stick to the ribs dry food to last through the night. If this is the last feeding, allow at least an hour for the fish to clean it up before lights out.
    9 & 10. If you can handle the extra two feedings, repeat any of the above.

    Because brine shrimp have a laxative effect, most breeders precede all feedings of live baby brine shrimp with a feeding of solid food to work as a kind of stopper to keep the brine shrimp in the digestive tract long enough that the fish can get maximum nutritional benefit from them. The next feeding after a brine shrimp feeding, the fish are ready again for another stick to the ribs kind of food. By alternating foods and flavors the fish are tempted to maximum indulgence and, at the same time, are sure to be getting the best possible assortment of essential nutrients, since no single food has everything. I might mention here that it is next to impossible to get maximum growth from fry without the use of some kind of live food, especially during the first crucial formative months. Although baby brine shrimp (newly hatched) are almost universally used by major guppy breeders, guppies also enjoy live tubifex worms (although many breeders feel the risks of contamination are too great), mosquito larvae, white worms, vinegar eels, tiny gammarus, micro worms, wingless fruit flies, etc.

    Water Changes

    Guppy breeders have found that frequent water changes seem to spur growth. With so many fish in a small volume of water eating so heartily and so continually, frequent water changes are necessary to remove waste material and ammonia. Trace elements are also replaced, and the water changes seem to be invigorating and an appetite stimulant to the fry. Some breeders replace 25% of the water once a week while others prefer to change lesser amounts (such as 10%) daily. Changing more than 25% at any one time could shock the fish if the water quality or temperature were very different than that in the tank. In Singapore commercial breeders change up to 100% of the water daily and produce very large fish... but they are blessed with water that is naturally warm and not chemically treated.

    Temperature

    Temperature also affects growth... the warmer the temperature the more the metabolism of the fish is stepped up. Breeders take advantage of this fact in different ways. Some breeders keep their fry quite warm (80 degrees) so that their fish will eat more and ~row faster even though they know that the fish will "bum out' faster later. The other school of thought is that by keeping temperatures low (72 degrees) the fish will mature more slowly thus giving a longer period of time during which energy is used primarily for growth. Still others try to hit a happy medium keeping their fish around 75-76 degrees. Since all methods have produced top show fish, irs what works best for you during the growing stages. When guppies reach maturity, most breeders try to keep them in cooler tanks so they remain in their prime longer.

    Lights

    Lighting also affects growth. The number of hours the lights are on influences the number of hours the fish are actively feeding. Some even leave the lights on 24 hours a day. Others feel that unless fish can be fed every two hours throughout this 24 hour period, the extra activity without extra feeding siphons energy from growth. Probably the most common lighting schedule used by top breeders is 16 to 17 hours on, 7 to 8 hours off. The intensity of light does not seem to be a great factor in growth, but too little light, or light that is too dim, has been shown to cause deformities, especially of the spine.

    Filters

    I won't go into filters here because many kinds are used successfully, the main criterion being that they are kept clean. Undergravel filters are seldom used by guppy breeders who are force feeding because of the difficulty of siphoning off uneaten foods. Probably the most common filter used in guppy breeding is the inside box filter with charcoal and dacron wool. I know it is the only filter I have found that keeps the water crystal clear and unyellowed. I presume many outside filters would do as well, but since most guppy breeders have many tanks placed tightly side by side, there is no place but the front glass to install them and that is not particularly desirable.

    Culling

    Culling begins with day one. A breeder whose goal is a tank of prime show fish keeps a continual close watch for any inferior fish. In batches of newborn guppies there are often one or more that are darker color than the rest and may not swim well. Almost never will such fish develop properly and they should be removed as soon as spotted. Belly sliders might be of normal color but sort of slide from one spot to another rather than swimming. These rarely develop properly and should be quickly disposed of. As the fiah begin to grow, there are usually a few that are considerably behind the others in size. Seldom do they turn out to be large bodied adults so can also be discarded. However, if there are fish that keep up in size with the majority but lag behind in the onset of sexual development, do NOT dispose of these as they could well become the biggest fish of all because they are still turning the majority of their energy into growth while the others are diverting energy into sexual development.

    To recap, the main job during the first month of raising a show guppy is to push growth through force feeding of quality foods, water changes, cleanliness and controlled temperatures. During this period the fry do best in small tanks where they never have to go far for food. The culling of inferior fish is a continual process so that more food and tank space is available for growing the real show stoppers.

    By next month the fry will be about ready to move to larger headquarters and we will get into sexing and watching for key signs of development.
     
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    How To Outcross

    How To Outcross
    Guppy Strains
    by Midge Hill
    (Taken from the August/September, 1973 issue of the GUPPY GAZETTE)
    We all know that the best advice one can receive (and follow) on how to breed show guppies is, ".. get a good quality, well established strain and then keep it as pure as you can." Keeping a strain pure is called inbreeding the strain. Inbreeding means the breeding of fish that are closely related to each other genetically, such as brother to sister, father to daughter, etc. A technique known as linecrossing is used by some breeders to maintain an established strain, and it also comes under the general heading which we refer to loosely as inbreeding.

    Outcrossing is the opposite of inbreedingl since outcrossing means the mating of fish that are genetically unrelated to each other. Now the reason that all successful guppy breeders outcross strains from time to time but seldom advise others to try it, is because outcrossing is really a form of genetic Russian roulette. A successful outcross requires that the strains which are crossed my be genetically compatible. The odds against finding two compatible strains are very high. Even when a good result is obtained from an outcross it is as often due to blind luck as to intelligent selection.

    There are times, however, when outcrossing may produce something that no amount of inbreeding within a stain will accomplish. Them are also times when your only alternative is to outcross, for example, when you buy a fish at a show auction without a related mate. Fortunately, there are ways to improve your chances of getting a good result from an outcross. And this is what I want to talk to you about tonight. That is, when to outcross, how to pick the outcross strain, and how to proceed after the initial outcross to get the best result in subsequent generations.

    Before I get into the good reasons for outcrossing, I want to point out that there are a lot of no-good reasons for outcrossing. Now there is nothing wrong with outcrossing just for the sake of idle curiosity or for some other frivolous reason, as long as you do not pass these fish along. What outcrossing does is to rearrange, to scramble together, the genetic patterns of the two parents. Therefore, offspring from an outcross are genetically all mixed up. They are referred to as hybrids. Play with these hybrids if you want to, but do not pass them along; for they are genetic accidents and are not going to do much good for the hobby.

    Getting back to the good reasons for outcrossing, in my view there are five situations in which outcrossing can be a suitable thing to do: I) When an established strain will not produce characteristics you want (a larger dorsal, perhaps) because the gene pattern for that characteristic is simply not present in the strain. 2) When you are having trouble with an established strain, infertility, maybe. 3) To outcross for big show hybrids. 4) Necessity, as in the case of a male purchased at a show auction without a related female. 5) To create your own strain. I want to discuss each of these five situations in detail, to tell you why I think outcrossing, as chancy as it is, can be a good thing to do; and how to proceed after the initial outcross, because the breeding techniques are a little different for each type of outcross.

    In the first situation, where you have a good established strain but you have not gotten a certain feature you want by inbreeding or linecrossing within the strain, outcrossing can be the solution. Lets say that you have been working with a strain of reds which are not as bright a red as you would like. Dr. Larr has told us there are about four or five different genes for red. If your strain does not have all of these genes, no amount of inbreeding is going to produce what is not there to begin with. So, you can outcross to try to pick up the missing genes that are needed for a clearer, brighter color.

    0r, perhaps, you have been trying to get a larger dorsal. You might be able through inbreeding by careful selection of parents, to get gradually over the years, a larger dorsal, maybe. But there is a chance to use an outcross to pick up a larger dorsal in less time.

    It goes without saying, doesn't it, that you do not want to lose the fine characteristics of your original strain. So, while you are trying an outcross, you must keep your established strain going. Otherwise, it the outcross does not work, you will have lost your strain.

    Well, what strain do we pick to outcross into an established strain when we want to add a new feature to the established strain? The outcross strain should also be well established that means the strain has bred true over several generations, so that all of the males in each litter look very much alike and each generation looks very much like previous generations.

    The outcross strain should be of the same type as the strain you are going outcross it to. In other words, you should outcross red to red, blue to blue, halfblack red to halfblack red, etc. And, obviously, the outcross strain must have the particular characteristic you are looking for.

    When you find a strain that meets the above three requirements as much as possible, you make the outcross both ways. Take your best male and mate him to females of the outcross strain, and also take a male from the outcross strain and mate him to females from your original strain. You do this because you do not know which way will come out best. And, of course, you have to keep the young separate, so you can determine which way the outcross works best.

    Offspring from an outcross are referred to as the F1 generation, the second generation after the original outcross is called F2 generation, and so on. If you find a male in the F1 generation that looks like your original strain and also has the new feature from the outcross strain that you were trying for - well, you are just about as lucky as it is possible to be. What has happened is that the feature you wanted proved to be dominant. and so it appeared in the first generation. This happens sometime, and when it does you breed this F1 male to females from your original strain. (Remember, you have kept your original strain going,) This is the proper procedure, because you want to work back into your original strain as soon as possible after an outcross. Breeding the F1 male that looks most like your original strain and which also has the new characteristic you want to females from your original strain produces the F2 generation. You continue to do this, using only females from your original strain, because you must keep working the new characteristic back into that original strain.

    We have been talking about an outcross which produced the feature we wanted in the first generation. Many outcrosses will not be so lucky, the feature we want will not appear in the first generation, but that does not mean it isn't there. There are two reasons why a feature possessed by a strain used in an outcross may not show up in the first generation: a) the feature is recessive, or, b) it is carried only by the females.

    If a special feature you want (and which was present in one of the strains used in the outcross) does not show up in the F generations, you must take brother and sister from an F1 litter and breed them together to find out if the trait is recessive. If it is recessive, it should show up in 25% of the offspring from this sibling breeding. Assuming that the feature is a recessive, and it shows up in the F2 generation (from breeding F1 brother to sister), you pick an F2 male that looks most like your original strain and which has the new feature and then breed him to females from your original, pure strain which you have kept pure for exactly this purpose. This gives you the F3 generation from the initial outcross.

    This F3 generation will now show the recessive trait. (From here on it is going to Sound complicated, but it really isn't.) You must remember that what we mean when we say a trait is recessive is that an individual will not display a recessive trait unless he (or she) got the necessary genes from both parents. This F3 generation had and F2 male which did have the recessive trait for their father and their mother was from your original strain which does not carry the recessive; therefore, the F3's got the recessive genes from only one parent. Each offspring in the F3 generation carries the recessive genes, but there will not be visible evidence of it. The next step is to breed brother to sister from the F3 to give offspring, 25% of which will again show the recessive trait.

    You can see that when you are breeding a recessive trait back into an established strain which does not carry the recessive, you have to use a two generation cycle for a while. In other words, every other generation you will breed siblings and in the alternate generations you will breed back to your pure strain females.

    You remember we said there might be another reason why a trait would not show up in the first generation. It might be that the new trait was passed to the F1 females, but not the F1 males. But you never know.

    Therefore, besides breeding brother to sister from the F1 generation to see if the missing trait is recessive, you must also breed some of the F1 females to males from your original strain to see if the trait you are working for is not recessive, but just carried by the females. If you get the new trait by breeding F females to your original strain males, you are off and running. That is, you would breed the males from your original strain into the hybrid females, which will be getting closer, genetically to your original strain after each generation of breeding.

    In summary, when an outcross is used to try to add a feature to an established strain, one of three things will happen in the fifth generation: 1) the desired trait is dominant; 2) it will not show in the first generation because it is recessive, or 3) it will not show in the first generation because it is carried by the females. The dominant trait and the trait carried by the females are the easiest to handle. The recessive trait is more difficult. But in all three your whole purpose is to breed the new trait into your original strain as often as possible.

    This breeding back to your original strain will mean that you are purifying the hybrids, but it also means that the hybrids will be getting more and more like your original strain. You may start losing the feature you made the initial outcross for and which you got in the first generations after the initial outcross. You have to watch out for that. If things start going the wrong way, then you begin mating brother to sister within the hybrids to see what happens.

    Now let us go on to the second situation in which I believe an outcross can be a good thing to do. This is the case of an established highly inbred strain which has developed a major genetic flaw such as infertility, a high percentage of crooked spines, susceptibility to disease, etc. An established strain which is rapidly going downhill because of a genetic problem (but which is still beautiful in other ways) can sometimes be rescued by careful selection of breeders without resorting to an outcross. You would want to try to do that first.

    Let me say here that inbreeding guppies, even very close inbreeding, is not of itself harmful. Guppies will take close inbreeding for many generations longer than most of us continue to work with any one strain Without significant loss or size or color or vigor. Dr. Eugene Larr and Dr. W. H. Hildeman, to mention only two genetic scientists who have exhaustively tested the effect of inbreeding on guppies, have both bred guppy strains brother to sister for over eighteen consecutive generations without loss of their desirable characteristics. When highly inbred strains develop serious genetic defects, and they often do. it is not because they have been inbred for a long time. It is because the guppy breeder picked fish to use as parents that had some invisible weakness. Though these weaknesses do not show in the parents, they will show up in succeeding generations, usually in the form of deformities and/or lack of fertility.

    This sort of thing happens to the best of us. And it is a serious problem. After all, if the point is reached that a strain produces no young, the strain is lost. Or a well established strain will begin to throw a high percentage of deformed young in each litter, but the fish which survive undeformed are still beautiful. You would want to try to save these strains.

    But what if your established strain just gets worse, no matter how carefully you tried to pick the best parents; you can try an outcross. You still must keep the original strain going if you can, because you are going to bring back the outcross hybrids into the original strain as fast as you can.

    Again, when you pick the outcross strain, you will want one which looks as much as possible like your own strain, one which is also well established, and one which produces fertile and vigorous young.

    This is a big order, I know, but having acquired a strain to outcross to your own strain for the purpose of improving fertility and/or vigor, you will proceed as follows. Outcross both ways if at all possible. That is, take your best male and mate him to females of the outcross strain and also take a male from the outcross strain and mate him to females from your original strain. Again, you must keep the offspring from these matings separate. When these F1 hybrids are old enough to select breeders, you pick a male from the best looking of the F1 litters and breed him into females from your original (pure) strain. And you keep doing this in succeeding generations, working the hybrid males back to your pure strain females.

    If you have enough tank space, you can also try working back into your original strain in the other direction. By that I mean you can also try mating the hybrid femala~ from each generation after the outcross back to your pure strain males. My own experience is that you will get better results with the first method, that is, by breeding the hybrid males through your pure strain females. But if you have enough tank space, it wouldn't hurt to try it both ways.

    Perhaps I have not said enough about why you want the outcross strain to be a well established, true breeding strain. Remember, that what an outcross does is scramble together the genetic patterns of the two strains which are crossed. If one side of the cross is itself only a few generations away from a previous outcross, all you have accomplished is to further mix up the genetic patterns. Long experience and experimentation have proved that these hybrid-hybrids may look good for a few generations, but that their mixed up gene patterns soon cause them to regress back to a small, motley fish like their wild ancestors.

    Some additional comments: This article is most valuable. The methods are still currently used by many successful breeders. I relied on these techniques when I first began developing my Half Black AOC lines. Whenever I introduce an unrelated line to one of my strains, I will adhere to these methods as closely as possible. Do not (after reading this article) try crossing into your set strains without having a purpose. Remember: every cross you make requires at least eight to ten additional tanks to raise the offspring in. Make certain to keep records of all breeders as well as the results in each generation.
     
  6. wilsar
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    wilsar Algae harvester

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    Try This for Tail Rot by Midge Hill

    Try This for Tail Rot by Midge Hill
    By: AquaFishTalk

    Until discovering this method of treating tail rot, I had previously run into one problem or another with any other medhod of treatment I tried...either the medication did little or nothing to cure the tail rot, or it worked fine on the tail rot but damaged the health of the guppy itself.

    Having gone through a wide variety of formulas to cure the bain of the guppy breeder I gradually reached the conclusion that anything that was strong enough to cure the tail rotbefore the show value of the guppy was lost, was too strong for the guppy to live in safely.

    The answer had to lie in getting a super strong dose on the tail area without giving the guppy the same dosage. Since this theory obviously does away with adding medication to the tank water, the next locical step was to net the guppy out of the water for treatment.

    To make a long story short, several methods and several types of medication were tried. The easiest and most effective method turned out to be as follows:

    1. Net the fish and hold it in the net until the first wild thrashing aroung stops.
    2. Hold the fish firmly but gently within the net so his head is uphill from his tail... this is vital as thestrong medication must not run down in to the gill areas. Should this happen, immediately return the fish to the tank and cross your fingers.
    3. Paint the exposed side of the guppy tail, beginning at the peduncle and concentrating on ther final fringe where the tail rot is most active.
    4. Paint the other side of the tail right through the net from the outside.
    5. Wait about 20 seconds after painting then return the fish to his home tank (providing of course, that it is clean and well cared for).

    All signs of tail rot should be gone by the next day and within a week new growth should be visible. Ocassionally a fish needs more than one treatment (maybe a spot was missed during the first treatment). Because the functional part of the guppy does not come in contact with the medication it has proven perfectly safe to repeat the treatment as often as necessary to clear up even the most persistant tail rot.

    The medication that has proven most effective on my guppies is Tetra care Fungistop (active ingredients: colloidal silver, natrium chloratum, Ma-gn.sulphuric) used full strength from the bottle painting directly on the tail it seems to stop the tail rot right now and regrowth begins quickly... no need to trim away diseased areas. If the tail rot has not been allowed to progress very far, the fish is back in show finnage in no time at all. And since it is not necessary to add medication to the tank water, the fish is not weakened but remains hardy and vigorous. It has certainly proven to be the quickest, safest method I have come across.

    Article Source: http://www.articlefishtalk.com
     
  7. wilsar
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    wilsar Algae harvester

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    i hope this will enthuse some to start breeding show guppies in SA. its a game of numbers and time. a farm type setup could be used, but this would only be possible in northern natal where temps are tropical.
     
  8. Luis Embalo
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    Luis Embalo Valued Contributor

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    I think that it would have to be related to economics.

    Breeding in such a large setup would involved money, and having to dispose of fish through either pet shops or online.

    Now how many people in South Africa have fish tanks at home and are prepared to spend money on guppies?

    Do you think that it is a viable business? After all guppies do breed quite a lot, so if a customer buys a couple of females he will end up with lots of fry in a few months.
     
  9. tyronegenade
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    tyronegenade Specialist

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    Woo-hoo! Thanks for all the information. It is a lot and I will need a fair amount of time to digest it. I can't wait to apply it to my guppy breeding.

    Wish i could find some albino guppies for my breeding...

    Thanks Wilsar. I do hope other people get interested in guppies.
     
  10. wilsar
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    wilsar Algae harvester

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    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    a creative solution to tanks are important if faced with finance problems.
    the "shoebox" sized fishtanks work well as drop tanks.

    [​IMG]
     
  11. wilsar
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    wilsar Algae harvester

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