Will group size have an effect on male Poecilia reticulata mate selection?

Abstract

For this experiment we looked at the mating behaviors of male guppies Poecilia reticulata. We observed these behaviors towards female printed models. We hypothesized that the male guppies would show more mating behaviors towards the group of 3 female guppies. To test this hypothesis we used two groups of 3D printed female models. 1 group being 2 3D female printed models and group 2 being 3 3D printed female models. Our results showed that the male guppies showed more mating behaviors towards the group of 3 female models rather than a group of 2 female models. Our male guppies also spent more time with be bigger group rather than the small group which shows that our hypothesis was supported.