What Size Tank Do You Need to Breed Guppies? (Answered)

If you’re wondering, what size tank do you need to breed guppies then you’re in the right place.

In this article, I’m going to answer the same question.

You will need a 10-gallon tank to breed guppies. You can also use a 5-gallon tank to breed guppies but smaller tanks are less forgiving so they are not recommended for beginners. Usually, larger tanks are better for breeding so get a 15-gallon tank or 20-gallon tank if you can.

Guppies are fairly easy to breed but there are a few details that you’ll need to keep in mind. I’m going to share everything you’ll need to know to breed guppies successfully.

Keep reading…

Does tank size matter for breeding guppies?

Tank size does matter for breeding guppies. Generally, larger tanks (10, 15, or 20 gallon tank) are better for breeding.

If you chose a relatively smaller tank (less than 5 gallon) then you may face a lot of complications down the road.

At least a 5-gallon tank is needed for breeding a trio of guppies.

If you want to keep more guppies then you’ll need a larger tank.

A good rule of thumb to follow is one gallon per inch of the fish (3.7 liter per 2.5 cm of the fish) you want to keep in the tank.

The size of guppies varies from 1 to 2.5 inches (2.5 cm to 6.3 cm).

So if you want to keep more than three guppies then you should set up a 10 to 20 gallon breeding tank.

There are several benefits of a large breeding tank.

• A large breeding tank provides a lot of space for the guppy fry. 
• Guppy parent eats their babies. In a large breeding tank, you can create a lot of hiding places for the guppy fry to give the fry the best chance to survive.
• The hiding places in a large breeding tank will also provide space for adult guppy males and females to hide if they are harassed. Usually, when a female is about to give birth to the fry the males started to harass the female. So the hiding places will sure help the females.
• Larger tanks are easier to maintain than smaller tanks. In a large tank, you’ll not need to do water changes very frequently. Doing water change once a week will be sufficient. On the other hand, in a smaller tank if you keep more fish than recommended then you’ll need to do more water changes per week.

How to breed guppies in a 5-gallon tank?

In a 5 gallon tank, you can keep a trio of guppies. Out of the three guppies, two should be females and one should be a male.

Male guppies usually get very aggressive and constantly chase females when they get pregnant. That’s why maintaining (2:1 / female : male) ratio is important to spread aggression of the male among the females so that only one female will not get harassed too much.

How to set up a 5-gallon breeding tank for guppies?

You should keep the breeding tank set up very basic. 

Here is the step-by-step process of how to set up a 5-gallon breeding tank.

• First of all, take a 5-gallon tank and add dechlorinated water into the tank.
• Usually, in a breeding tank, it is a good idea not to add substrate. Because without substrate it is very easy to vacuum out any an eaten food and fish poop from the fish tank.

• You should also set up a heater in your fish tank to maintain the ideal temperature. The ideal temperature for guppies is between 75° to 82° Fahrenheit (23° to 27° Celsius). Some people found that guppies breed more and faster in warmer temperatures.

• Guppy parents eat their babies. That’s why it is very important to create a lot of hiding places in a guppy breeding tank so the fry can hide and survive in the tank. To create the hiding places you can add some live aquarium plants in the breeding tank.
• Live plants such as Guppy grass and Java moss are great plants to add in a breeding tank because they provide a lot of hiding places for the fry.

• Now you will need to cycle the tank. 

The most effective way of cycling a breeding tank is by adding a sponge aquarium filter from an established i.e. cycled aquarium into the breeding tank.

The sponge filter from an established aquarium will already have a lot of beneficial bacteria to convert ammonia into nitrite.

Besides, I have written a detailed article where I show you different ways to cycle your fish tank instantly. You can check it out here.

• Once your fish tank has cycled then you can add the guppy trio into the breeding tank.
• After 20 to 30 days you should see some fry in the breeding tank.

How to breed guppies in a 10-gallon tank?

In a 10-gallon breeding tank, you can keep four female puppies and two male puppies.

How to set up a 10-gallon breeding tank for guppies?

Here are step-by-step instructions for setting up a 10-gallon tank.

• First of all, add dechlorinated water in the 10-gallon tank.
• You should not add substrate in the breeding tank because it is a lot easier to vacuum out any debris, fish poop, and uneaten food from the fish tank.
• You should add a heater in your guppy fish tank to maintain the temperature between 75° to 82° Fahrenheit (23° to 27° Celsius).
• In a guppy breeding tank, it is very important to create a lot of hiding places for the fry to hide because guppy parents eat their babies. And to create hiding places you can add live aquarium plants into the fish tank.
• The live aquarium plants such as Guppy grass and Java moss are ideal to create hiding places for the fry.

• Before adding the fish in the breeding tank you will need to cycle the tank. You can easily cycle a fish tank instantly by using a sponge filter from a cycled aquarium.

• You should only use a sponge filter in a breeding time because if you use any other type of filter like a hang on back filter or a canister filter then its current will be too strong for the fry. And there is a possibility that the fry may get sucked in through the filter inlet.
• Once your fish tank has cycled and the filter is set up and running, now you can add guppy fish in your fish tank.

How to breed guppies in a 15-gallon tank?

In a 15-gallon guppy breeding tank you can add about 8-9 guppies.

Remember, your guppy breeding tank should contain more females than males.

So in a 15-gallon guppy fish breeding tank, you can add about 6 female guppies and three male guppies.

How to set up a 15-gallon breeding tank for guppies?

Here are step-by-step instructions for setting up a 15-gallon tank.

• First of all, take a 15-gallon tank and add dechlorinated water into the tank
• You should not add substrate in a breeding tank because it becomes easier to clean the tank by vacuuming out any debris, uneaten food, and fish poop from the fish tank when you don’t have substrate.
• Now add a heater in the breeding tank to maintain the temperature between 75° to 82° Fahrenheit (23° to 27° Celsius). Many people have found that guppies breed faster at warmer temperatures so you should keep the temperature around 80° Fahrenheit (26° Celsius).

• To create hiding places for the guppy fry you should add a lot of live aquarium plants in your 15-gallon guppy breeding tank
• Usually, in a guppy breeding tank, Guppy grass and Java moss are commonly used because it provides a lot of hiding places to the fry. But in a 15-gallon tank, you can add some other varieties of aquarium plants along with Guppy grass and Java moss.

• Now you will need to add an aquarium filter in your 15-gallon tank.
• In a guppy breeding tank, you should only use a sponge filter. Because if you use any other type of filter in the breeding tank then the current produced by the other filters is quite strong for the guppy fry. And there is a possibility that the guppy fry will get sucked up into the filter through the filter inlet.

• To cycle the fish tank instantly you can add a sponge filter from a cycled aquarium into the breeding tank. 
• Once your fish tank is cycled now it’s time to add the guppy fish in the breeding tank.

Related questions

How to breed guppies fast?

To breed guppies fast you’ll need warmer water temperature in your breeding tank (around 78° to 80° Fahrenheit or 25° to 26° Celsius ). Besides, create a lot of hiding places in the tank for guppy fry so they can hide from adults. 

And feed the fry very small about 2 rice grains size boiled egg yolk once a day.

To feed the boiled egg yolk, take a very small quantity of the egg yolk (around about 1 to 2 rice grain size). Put the egg yolk in a spoon. Add some water from your tank into the spoon and mush it. Now add the mixture into the tank.

How quickly do guppies breed?

A female guppy can breed at the age of 10 to 20 weeks. And a male guppy can start mating at the at of 7 weeks. After mating, it can take 20 to 30 days for the fry to come out of female guppies. The warmer water temperature of the tank can help to breed guppies faster.

What do guppies look like when mating?

Here’s a video that shows the behavior of guppies while mating.

Can I put 2 pregnant guppies together?

You can put 2 pregnant guppies together. Just make sure that the tank size is big enough for the pregnant guppies and the babies that will come out later. If you’re just keeping 2 pregnant guppies then a 5-gallon tank is big enough for them.

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Conclusion

Overall, how big of a tank you’ll need to breed guppies depends on how many guppies you want to keep in the breeding tank.

Guppy breeding tanks are generally 10-gallon tanks. You can put 5-6 guppies in a 10-gallon breeding tank.

Besides, keep in mind all the other details I’ve mentioned in the article while setting up your guppy breeding tank to breed guppies successfully.

I hope you found this article helpful.

If you do, please share it with someone who can benefit from the information.

Happy fishkeeping!