i have a 10 gallon tank and a 2 gallon tank and want to buy 2 male and 4 female guppies. i want to breed the guppies until i get a new line of color. so i figured if i had a blue male and a green female made them have fry then mated the daughter to the father to get more fry then finaly mate another female from that drop to the first father and when those fry are born start breeding brothers with sisters. i was wondering if i would start to get guppies almost exactly to the father but i want to know it this will harm the guppies. like make them deformed from inbreeding.

thnx

Hi guppykid,

To start a new project/line/creation of a new strain is not a simple task but an enjoyable one if you obtained the desirable result or getting closer to the end result. You can find some of my old thread documenting some of my projects I've undertaken.

The advise I can give you is set your objectives. Have a picture in mind of what you really wanted because at times you might get a single male that looks spectacular but not the end result you aimed for and you get distracted and strayed from your actual objectives. Then you'll have alot of crossing/hybrid creation.

Secondly please do some research on guppy genetics. Some traits are dominant and some are recessive. Creating new line of guppy is not like water color i.e mixing white and black you would expect grey. If you are good a theoretical gnenetics, chances are you might reach your goal in the 4th generation. Some well known breeders spent 10-20 years to perfect a line especially if you are thinking of a solid colored guppy. Just for information, now these breeders are trying to breed solid white not platinum white tail but real solid non-iridescense white. And they probably will succeed within this few years looking at some of the specimens.

So hope this helps and good luck with your endeavour.....

thnx. ive been searching on the internet for days using "dominant color traits of guppies" and stuff like that in google but i havnt found anything at all
i will try and find some books to read if there are any.

what color are u looking for why waste time to develope when u can get good show line locally now.

Guppies genetic is very complex

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Breeder's Paradise

blue and orange
because i want to see if i can do it myself

blue dominate orange is reccessive GOOD luck

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Breeder's Paradise

Guppykid06,

If you want some good reference on guppy genetics please visit Guppy Labs. It is an online journal for guppy enthusiast and thats as good as you can get. You will now after reading all the article that it is more than just dominant and recessiveness in guppy genetics. The positioning of the genes is also important on the DNA. So study it and experiment your own thesis.

Uncle Yogigan,

Propagating guppy and creating a new strain of guppy is totally different thing. The sense of accomplishment differs between them. Anyway it was meant to be a hobby so basically to occupy free time. So I don't call it a waste of time.

I see 2 difficulties here.

Issue 1. I think you need more tanks!!

1 breeding tank for F0 (parents).
2 growing tanks for F1 (1st generation) ... 1 for male, and 1 for female.
1 breeding tank for F0 male & F1 female
2 growing tanks for F2 (2nd gen) ... M & F
1 breeding tank for F0 male & F2 female
2 growing tanks for F3 (2nd gen) ... M & F
1 breeding tank for F3 male & F3 female
2 growing tanks for F4 M&F

Of course, you can do with less than 12 tanks ... but I doubt you can achieve good results with 2 tanks.

Issue 2. Color is about the MOST difficult area to change. It is indeed not like paint, or light. In DNA, it is usually 100% this or 100% that. So, mixing green and blue will get you e.g blue body with green tail. However, it will be difficult to get blue-green guppy. Mixing colors is usually done by advanced breeders.

Understanding the above limitations, I would HIGHLY advice you to just give it a try!!! It is a hobby after all ... no one is going to fire you for it!!! The important thing is to ENJOY the experience!!!