A Group of Female Guppies vs. a Single Female Guppy: Which Will a Male Show Off For?

Abstract

In this lab, we observed the sexual behavior of guppies, Poecilia reticulata. Specifically we observed the mating behaviors of male guppies. Our hypothesis is that the male guppy will prefer a group of female guppies compared to a single female guppy. To test our hypothesis, we used female guppy print models to set up one experiment with one single female guppy compared to two female guppies and another experiment with one single female guppy compared to three female guppies. Our results shows that when the male guppy was exposed to a single female guppy and two female guppies, he spent more time with the single female guppy but showed more mating strategies with the two female guppies. When the male guppy was exposed to a single female guppy and three female guppies, he spent more time with the group of female guppies but showed the same amount of mating strategies with both the single female guppy and the group of female guppies. Our results are inconclusive ad show that more research needs to be done about size of shoal’s and how it affects sexual behavior in guppies.