Do Male Guppies Prefer Larger Mates?

Abstract

According to studies, it is supported that guppy sexual preference has to do with factors and characteristics such as size and color. This led to ask the question of do males favor larger guppies when it comes to mating?  We hypothesized that male guppies are more attracted to larger female guppies because their size suggests higher reproductive success. To test this, we had a large and medium 3D guppies in yellow print out. We placed these models into fish tanks that included a single guppy. We observed the guppy for five minutes and recorded how much interest was shown to each model. Next, the model was moved backwards and was observed again by another group. This went on three more times, all having five minute trials. The Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test was performed with our data and showed that our results had no statistical differences, making our hypothesis unsupported. Factors such as the models not moving and depending on how active the guppy is, could have been contributing factors on why the data came back inconclusive.