Guppies Onli

How Male guppy mate with Female guppy?

Some male guppy will develop sexual characteristics as early as three weeks. In order for the male guppy to deposit sperm in the body of the female guppy, the male guppy has to develop special type of anal fin called gonopodium.

Usually about three weeks of age, the anal fin of males begins to develop into the shape of a stick with a hook (gonopodium).
Photo credit : LA pic.

A male guppy can employ 2 strategies inorder to mate with a female guppy. He can court the female and try to persuade her to mate with him, or he can attempt a forced copulation.

Courtship behaviour consists of sigmoid displays, in which the male bends his body into a ‘S’ shape with the dorsal and caudal fins either fully spread or closed – such display usually last up to three seconds.

Forced copulations consist of rapid thrusts of the gonopodium at the genital pore of the female in an attempt to copulate without the female consent.

A copulation may lasts as short as 0.8 seconds to average 1.3 to 2.4 seconds.

How copulation takes place : the male guppy thrust the gonopodium forward and rotate to one side forming a tube for passage of sperm packets (spermatophores). He then “inserts” it into the female’s oviduct, located at her gravid spot. The hook holds the gonopodium in place for the transfer of the sperm packets along the spermaduct.

Some research suggested that the female also participates in mating by squeezing and holding the gonopodium in place.

The sperm fertilizes the ripe eggs in the female and each sperm packet contains thousands of sperms. About 80% of the sperm from a male is transferred during a mating.