Guppy genetics?

[Karkadannspiral]

Heya, I was just wondering, if I were to get a few pregnant female guppies from a fish store and let nature go its way in the tank, would I ever get any more variety than one mother/father? I mean, would she have genetic material from more than one father that would mix among an entire drop of babies? And when those baby females grow, would they spread more color mixes from the genetic material from the various fathers and so on?
I just want a bit of variety in my new 29 gal for after it has cycled, and I dont believe I would be so lucky as to find healthy endlers livebearer *females* without ordering online.

 

[nonamethefish]

It would happen.......but what you would eventually end up with is feeder guppies. Thats because the traits for those fish are dominant over the traits of hte fancies(roundtails and lyretails over deltas, color to n ocolro in females, lots of color ot color in males)

Makiung the guppy strains took lots of hard work o nthe breeders part.....and it could backfire pretty easily.

It'd probably work for sevelra generations, and then more and more gray ones would start popping up.......but I think if you get rid of htem it may work.

 

[Karkadannspiral]

Even wild color male guppies arent ugly, theres one in the comunity tank thats been there for over a year now. And a female wild guppy isnt much different from a female endler. Would even be cheeper if I could find feeder guppies that arent mixed in with mollies/platties/swords.

 

[SLO-Dean]

Selection is key

I'm not an expert, but I do know a little about genetics. As long as you breed fancy males with fancier females you'll get some fancy fry. I would take out any undesirably colored offspring or any deformed ones flush or use as feeders. You can breed the males with the daughter or granddaughter if they have desired characteristics. The key in any breeding program is "selection" be it fish, mammal or plant.