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Guppy fish (Poecilia reticulata) are some of the most magnificent in the aquarium community. Respected for their stunning shade and fast breeding rate, guppies are exemplary domesticated freshwater fish. The guppy was first discovered in the 1860s in South America. They’re most predominant in Brazil and Guyana. Some wild ones are found in Barbados, too. Excitingly enough, you can find guppy fish in many places around the world.
The fun fact about guppy fish is that it is every so often used for mosquito control. Their tendency to consume mosquito larvae makes them a cheap and reliable option to reduce mosquito populations without chemicals.
Physical Traits of Guppies
Wild guppies have slight or no resemblance to their decorative captive-bred colleagues. The wild guppy strain is very small and relatively dull in color. Females of these wild types tend to be brown or gray, with little or no tinting in the fin areas. The skin of these females is protected with black pigment cells called melanophores, which allow the wild guppies to quickly change colors to avoid predators.
Female guppies grow up to lengths of 2½ inches and start breeding generally at an inch. Males reach lengths of 1½ inches usually, much smaller than the females. Males display different coloring patterns. Guppies are usually bred for color, body size, and fin shape. Colors differ from strain to strain and contain various types of solids and pastels. Tails come in a wide range of shapes and sizes as well as the lyre tail, the delta, thin (ribbon shaped), swords (single and double), and round.
Hormones were once popular to preciously enhance the colors of guppies, but this frequently renders them sterile and is known to have caused changes in the secondary sex characteristics of the aquarists managing the drugs.
Tank mates
Guppies are peaceful, easy-going eco-friendly fish and play well with a mix of other non-aggressive fish species. You may want to keep them with similar ones, such as platys or mollies. Other good tank mates include small fish such as neon tetras.
Guppy Habitat and Care
Guppies are considered great beginner fish. They require low maintenance and can tolerate some beginner mistakes. Bigger tank size is recommended since guppies are very active fish. In order to keep your inhabitants from blowing up, it is strongly recommended that you separate males and females in separate tanks.
Guppy Diet and Feeding
Guppies are omnivores and do well on a variety of available feeds. Even though guppies are small in size, pelleted diets, called micro pellets, are the best options as they hold onto their nutrition longer than other flakes. You can also add supplements, such as frozen diets and veggies, but no more than once or twice a week.
How to Breed Guppies
Breeding any fish derives with its own unique prospects and challenges and the guppy is no exclusion. Two of the biggest glitches with breeding guppies are bent spines and too many fry. Inappropriate water parameters ground both the mothers and fry to develop severely bent and curved spines. Additionally, once they start breeding, it is usually impossible to get them to stop. Even after they have been detached from a male for over 6 months, a female can still give birth every single month.
Following are steps on how to breed guppies and raise fry the right way!
- Setting up Your Guppy Breeding Tank
There are more than a few issues to consider when setting up your breeding tank. The most important one is “What do I plan on doing with the fry?”.
If you plan on trusting the fry in the same tank as the parents, the arrangement will be very different than if you plan on separating them as soon as they are born, or even by using a breeder basket.
- Tank Size & Filtration
The breeding tank should be no less than ten gallons, however 20 gallons is recommended. The filter should be a sponge filter or similar one, as an uncovered Hang on Back or canister filter can destroy fry. Sponge filters do not allow this to occur, on the other hand still provide essential filtration and flow.
- Substrate & Decorations
The substrate is wholly up to you, as guppies are fine on gravel, sand, bare bottom, or tile substrate. You will need at least 3-4 sight break tickertapes, or decorations that will break the line of sight between two fish.
Males continually pursue and harass females (sometimes to death), so the females need to be able to get out of sight of the males.
- Water Parameters
Water parameters are one of the biggest issues that come alongside guppies. Though a beginner should know how to test ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, it is doubtful that they also know how to test kH, GH, TDS, and salinity, all of which are very valuable in keeping guppies.
Guppies need hard water in edict to live. And also water needs to contain a large amount of calcium. As females are constantly giving birth to up to 30 fry every month, they must be able to extract high amounts of calcium from the water.
Guppies desire water that has between 15-30 gH and 8 or more kH. The recommended temperature should be between 78-82 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Getting the Breeders
Once you set up your tank, 4ppm ammonia is sorted out into nitrate within 24 hours, you are ready to pick your breeders!
- Male to Female Ratios.
When picking your fish, you need a certain number of males and females. Males have what is called a gonopodium; a long and thin viewing structure where the anal fin of a fish normally is.
For a ten gallon, it is best to start with one male and two to three females.
Getting Started in Breeding Guppies
In terms of the trouble of breeding guppies, or nearly any livebearer, it is not easy. When you put a male and female together (even for just one day) the female will recurrently give birth for several months to over a year.
This can present an issue, as if the female was already in interaction with another male before coming into contact with the male you chose for her, the babies can be from either male.
This can weaken the genes you wanted to breed, but occasionally you will end up with a surprise guppy close to show quality.
