Breeding Trap

When breeding live bearers such as guppies you can avoid the young being eaten by floating a breeding trap in the main aquarium. This is usually a net frame or a clear miniature plastic aquarium about 10- 13cm (4-sin) square with a small mesh grid in the bottom. When the female is nearly ready to drop her young, place her in the trap above the grid. As she releases the young, they fall through the grid and out of harm's may as she does not tend the young, the female can be returned to the main aquarium after a little rest.

Raise the fry in the breeding trap on finely crushed flake until they are big enough not to beaten or, better still, place them in another aquarium to grow to a safe size before releasing them into the community tank. Females can store sperm from a male and use it to fertilize up to five or six future batches of eggs, so it is quite possible to have a female and no male and still have several broods of young guppies. Male guppies are very attentive towards females, so buy two or three females for every male or else the female may become worn out.

Young females may produce as fe was three or four fry, but older guppies may - and often do - drop more than100 fry at a go. Be sure to separate males from females as soon as possible to avoid a guppy plague.

Disadvantages of Breeding trap

Before purchasing breeding trap you must think whether the trap for breeding is really advantageous for your pregnant fish or not. Some people don't prefer breeding trap as:

• It is just equivalent to setting your female fish on fire as she go through lot of stress in the breeder.


• Due to this stress she can abort the fry and even if she will give birth to fry they will not grow properly in the breeding tank.


• The breeding trap has lots of slots in it through which the fry passes to escape from the fish from being eaten. Sometimes their heads got blocked in the slots which are at the bottom of the breeding trap which can be unsafe for the babies (fry).


• There can be collection of silts at the bottom of the breeding trap which may affect the circulation of fresh water to enter in the breeding trap.


• When your fish lays eggs the best way to keep your fry safe from being eaten is to put them in a different aquarium.


• There is one more way if you don't want to purchase a new aquarium you can put a lot of plants in the existing aquarium so that the new fry will hide in them so that the new born fry will not become the prey of other fishes.

Advantages of Breeding trap

There are some advantages of breeding trap:

• One way breeding trap is beneficial also, the female fish feels relax as there is no hassle of other fishes in the breeding trap.


• Breeding trap gives a safe place to the fry to survive from other fishes and even from their own mother.