This is from by book collection special thanks to Philip Shaddock.


Setting Up:
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The guppy breeding set up should be designed to be easy to maintain while maximizing the amount of guppies you can house in the allotted space. Plan for expansion.


    * Use bare tanks. Set up bare tanks on end, in rows. You can set up more tanks in a given area this way. Bare tanks allow you to support more guppies per tank. Tanks will be easier to maintain and easier to keep free of disease. It’s difficult to rid a planted tank of disease.

    * Use small tanks. The segregation of guppies for breeding means that smaller tanks (5.5 and 10 gallon) are favored over larger sizes. Twenty gallon or larger tanks are often used for growing out males.

    * Learn basic water chemistry. The three most important water parameters are pH (acidity or alkalinity), GH (soft or hard water) and KH (buffering the water to avoid pH bounce). I have found that keeping coral or aragonite in the bottom of the tank automatically sets optimal water chemistry for my tanks and maintains those optimal conditions through fluctuations in water supply and chemical changes from fish waste and rotting organic matter. For the truly anal, here is a table of target water parameters.  

Optimal Water Parameters for Guppies
  pH range: 6.8 - 8.4   optimal: 7.8
  Temperature range: 70F - 79F (21C - 26C) optimal: 75F (24C)
  GH range: soft to hard optimal: moderately hard Moderately
    hard means 8 - 12 odGH in German degrees or 140 - 210 ppm.


    * Use a pump and corner filters or sponge filters. If possible, place the tanks in a heated room. A simple set-up is easy to maintain and inexpensive to expand. Aerate the water to expose more volume of water over time to gas exchange at the surface. Beneficial bacteria thrive on oxygen. Two filters at opposite ends of larger tanks (10 gallon or greater) are optimal. I use two filters in 5 gallon tanks to make changing filters easier. I change one at a time.


    * Use fluorescent lighting. Single 30 or 40 watt bulb fixtures mounted over each row of tanks will supply adequate light. Candescent lights throw off too much heat and waste electricity. The duration of light is more important than its intensity. Use an automatic timer to turn the lights on for twelve hours and off for twelve hours. Allow half an hour with the lights on before feeding and turn off lights minimum one hour after feeding.

    * Maximize biological filtration. Understand the nitrogen cycle, during which bacteria convert toxic wastes to less harmful substances. Add biological filtration to increase the waste processing capacity of your tanks. Bacteria do best in oxygenated water and dark conditions. Cylindrical or star shaped ceramic or polymer biological materials maximize water flow and available surfaces for the bacteria colonies. Choose materials that have porous surfaces as they make it easier for bacteria to establish colonies and prevent water from shearing over the surface of the material. A sponge at the top of the filter can be removed and cleaned. Marbles at the bottom of the filter weigh it down. I use sponge filters. They are much easier to change and I wash them in the washing machine (no soap!) with a little bleach.