The Guppy fish is one of the best known and famous aquarium creatures for both beginners and experienced Aquarius. They add a lot of color to tubs, are quiet, relatively inexpensive, and very easy to maintain.
Guppy Summary Care Guide
Care Guide
Scientific Name: Poecilia reticulata
Common Names: Guppy, Fancy Tail Guppy, Millions Fish, Rainbow Fish
Color: Red, Orange, White, Light-Yellow
Guppy Care Level: Easy, suitable for freshwater aquarium fish beginners.
Size: 1-2 inches (2.5-5 cm)
pH: 7 – 8
Temperature: 66°F – 84°F (19°C – 29°C)
Water Hardness: 10° to 20° dH,
Guppy Lifespan: 1.5 years to 2 years
Origin / Habitat: South America: Venezuela, Barbados, Trinidad, northern Brazil, and the Guyanas.
Guppy Temperament / Behavior: This is a peaceful and hardy fish that is good for beginners.
Tank Size: 10 gallons or larger.
Guppy Compatible Tank Mates: Many, given their peaceful nature.
Diet / Fish Food: Give your Guppy flakes, freeze-dried and live foods. Vary their diet for optimum colors and health.
Tank Region: Middle to top
Gender: Easy to determine. The male will have larger, more colorful tails than the female.
Guppy Information
The Guppy (Poecilia reticulata) is one of the most beautiful and comfortable to keep fish of all times. A great tropical fish for freshwater aquarium fish beginners, the Guppy, is a very hardy tropical fish that is also a very prolific breeder.
The Guppy fish are tropical fish freshwater originating in South America and are from the Poeciliidae family. There are nearly three hundred varieties of Guppy fish globally, and they come in all different types of tail colors, sizes, and shapes. Their name derives from Robert John Lechmere Guppy, who found them in Trinidad in 1866. They are also known by some other common names, such as “The Millions Fish” (due to their incredible reproduction rate) and “The Rainbow Fish” (due to the wide variety of colors they come in).
In addition to the beautiful colors and always cheerful activity they can bring to your tank at home, they have also been used in freshwater pools in Asia to control the mosquito population; however, their release had a negative impact in some cases on native fish populations.
The male Guppy is easy to distinguish from the female Guppy because the male is usually more colorful with extremely colorful and large caudal fins (tails). The female is generally larger, thicker bodied, with less color and a smaller caudal fin (tail).
Guppy Tank Requirements
The Guppy requires an aquarium of at least 10 gallons in size. It is a very peaceful fish and should be housed with tankmates of similar temperament. Though the Guppyis a hardy fish tolerant of small changes in water parameters, care should be taken to keep water temperature, pH, and nutrient levels in check. This hardy and energetic fish makes an excellent fish for beginning hobbyists.
Guppies are relatively easy to breed, even for the beginning aquarists. If you are interested in breeding guppies, the ideal aquarium should cover floating plants and a breeding box to protect the fry. Adults may eat the fry if left to fend for themselves without the breeding box. The fry should be fed brine shrimp, micro food, and pulverized flakes.
The behavior of the Guppy fish
Guppy fish are peaceful and sociable – they like to be kept in groups. They are active swimmers and practically move continuously. You will often see males chasing females, trying to impress them by waving their fins.
If your fish are continually hiding, it could be an indication that they are stressed or sick.
Guppy Breeding
It is very easy to get these fish to mate once they reach sexual maturity (between three and five months). They have many telltale signs:
- Coloring; males are usually much brighter and more vividly colored than females.
- Modified anal fin; males have a modified anal fin, which is known as a gonopodium. It is longer and narrower than a female’s anal fin. Some species also have a pair of claws on the tip.
- Males are smaller than females.
- Females often have a gravid spot (a dark spot behind the anal fin, which becomes darker during pregnancy).
How do they reproduce?
Males are thought to be able to determine which females are still too immature and which are ready for pregnancy. The male fish comes into contact with the female quickly, and fertilization occurs when a package of spermatozoa known as “spermatophores” passes into females. The packet then divides into thousands of sperm, and the female incorporates it to create a series of litters. It can have multiple pregnancies from a single fertilization.
They are livebearers, which means that the babies are free swimming at birth. At each birth, the female can have anywhere between 4 and 60 or more babies. If left in a community tank, the guppy fry will be quickly eaten if not secured in a breeding net or breeder’s box before she gives birth, or remove the female fish once the baby fish have hatched, to prevent her from eating them.
Please be responsible and have a plan for what to do with the guppy fry. If you’re not interested in breeding them, they should do just fine when kept as all males or all females. Mix the sexes, and you will most likely have babies. If knowing that the larger fish in the tank are having a feast (as they would in the wild) on the baby guppies bothers, you only keep all females. You may sometimes see some aggression amongst the males but nothing too out of hand. Also, keep in mind that female guppies can be pregnant when you buy them from the store. Look for the gravid spot by the anal vent or a bulging in the belly area.
Common diseases
Guppies are very hardy fish; however, their long tails can make them prone to fungal infections.
Ich is common among these fish. This is a disease in which small white dots grow on the fish’s skin, and you will notice them rubbing their bodies against objects. To get rid of the ich, you can use the medications available at your local pet store.
They are also prone to fin rot; the tail will look torn. Again, this can be treated with medication and prevented by choosing suitable tank mates who will not mistreat your guppy fish.
To reduce the chance of disease infecting your tank:
- Maintain optimal water conditions.
- Make regular water changes and maintenance checks.
- Always rinse everything or quarantine things before adding them to your aquarium.
- Keep your fish’s stress levels low.
- Please give them a varied diet.
- Don’t overcrowd them.
The best tankmates For Guppy
The most common tank mates for a Guppy are, quite simply, other Guppies. Most people who keep these fish do so because they like the vibrant colors of males. If you are keeping them just for their looks, we recommend keeping the males only. You can keep a guppy in about 10 liters of water: for example, you can keep five in a 30-liter aquarium and even ten in a 70-liter tank.
They can also be kept with other very peaceful temperament fish, such as Molenisia, Plati, Gourami, Corydoras, and peaceful tetras.
You should avoid housing them with larger aggressive species, especially if they are likely to make a meal of them. Keep them away from species such as red tail sharks, barbels, and aggressive tetras. Or they will bite its fins. If you want to keep them with other non-fish animals, you could house them with Ghost Shrimp or the African Dwarf Frog.
