How to Attract Your Guppy Lover: Male Guppies are More Attracted to Gravid Females

Abstract

Male guppies use many different visual displays in order to attract females. Among these displays are: sigmoid, gonopodial swinging, fin spreading, and biting (French, 2014). In this investigation, we tested male guppy responsiveness to 3D printed models of female guppies with a dark gravid spots. We conducted our experiment by placing two 3D female guppy models into a tank with one live male guppy, similar to previous studies that, also, tested the sexual selection of male guppies (Boyles, 2015). We concluded that male guppies showed more preference toward female guppies with a darkened gravid spot, by increased visual displays, during each trial of five minutes. During this experiment, we used 3D printers to produce and test various stimuli in order to determine the sexual selection of male guppies toward female guppies with increased fecundity.