Type of Guppy fish

There are so many distinct varieties of guppies that it is difficult to list all of them, and breeders are constantly working to create new varieties all of the time.

1. Albino Guppy Fish

The Albino guppy shows the recessive albino phenotype trait. This trait shows red eyes and the absence of black melanin. This type of guppy can appear in many colors. There is a Red Albino Delta and Tank class and any other colored Albino delta would be entered in the AOC(Any Other Color) class. Albinos with veils are entered in the Body/eye color class. Pregnant females should be placed separately in a heavily planted tank since newly born babies have poor vision and can be eaten easily.

2. AOC (Any Other Color)

The AOC color class covers all color types that do not fit in any of the other color IFGA delta color classes.

3. AOC BiColor

The AOC Bicolor class (Any Other Color Bicolor) covers all bicolor types that do not fit in Blue Green or Red bicolor classes. A bicolor must have a base color and the secondary color must be at least 25% of the tail color. Both colors must be distinct. No other third color that is more that 15% should be present or it would considered a multi-colored guppy. The dorsal should match the same color and pattern in the tail.

4. Black

The Black guppy color goal is to be completely black with no secondary color. Most Black guppies are small to medium size. Breeding for larger size often results in a loss of good black color and matching dorsal.

5. Blue

The Blue guppy ranges from a sky blue to a dark blue. Females will show blue highlights in their fins.

6. Blue Green BiColor

The Blue Green BiColor guppy comes in many types. Blue, Green, or Blue-Green must be the dominant color over the secondary color in the tail. The dorsal should match the same color and pattern in the tail. A Blue Green Bicolor must have a base color that must be blue/green/blue-green and the secondary color must be at least 25% of the tail color. Both colors must be distinct. No other third color that is more than 15% should be present or it would be considered a multi-colored guppy.

7. Bronze

The Bronze guppy is a guppy that is a genetic gold with more than 25% ” gold color” on the body with scales outlined in black. Most Bronze guppies on the show bench have either Red BiColor or Green BiColor tails. As per IFGA standards, a Gold guppy must have at least 25% of the body showing the color of real gold metal on the body. The addition of the recessive bronze trait that edge the scales in black makes it eligible in the Bronze class.

8. Green

The Green guppy is much sought after color strain. A true green guppy that is show quality is difficult to develop. Most Green guppies on the show bench are green mixed with blue iridescence and can be disqualified due to the type of light and the angle of the light that may turn it blue or green or purple. Female of green strains show green highlights in their fins.

9. Half Black AOC

The Half Black AOC guppy is any half black body guppy that can not be entered the black class or any other half black color class.

10. Half Black Blue

The Half Black Blue guppy is a blue guppy with the half black body trait.

11. Half Black Green

The Half Black Green guppy is a Green guppy with the Half Black body trait. A difficult strain to maintain a dark half black body with good green color finnage.

12. Black Pastel

The Half Black Pastel has the half black body with any pastel solid colored tail except for yellow. Most fish on the show bench are white pastel colored fish. The types of food fed to the Half Black White Pastel guppy can effect the pure white color of the tail.

13. Half Black Purple

The Half Black Purple is a purple guppy with the half black body trait.

14. Half Black Red

The Half Black Red guppy is a Red guppy with the half black trait. Some are genetically gold to have a cleaner red tail, but this degrades the desired dark half black body. This type of guppy is difficult to have the desired 1 to1 proportion body to tail length.

15. Half Black Yellow

The Half Black Yellow is a striking looking fish with its bright yellow tail and contrasting half black body. The difficult line to maintain.

16. Multi

The Multicolor guppy ideally has 3 or more distinct colors that are equally distributed in the tail. Each color must have 15% or more of the tail area to be considered a tail color. The dorsal should match the color and pattern of the tail.

17. Purple

The Purple guppy has solid purple in the tail and dorsal.

18. Red

The Red guppy comes in many body color types such as gray, gold, and albino. Gold and albino body types are the most popular since the black melanin is minimized or eliminated to create a cleaner red color. The quality of the color depends on the combination of the basic red with a background of blue, lavender, and yellow background colors. The colors on the show bench range from orange to deep maroon. Reds generally have large bodies and slow developing fin growth.

19. Red BiColor

The Red Bicolor guppy must have a base color of Red and the secondary color must be at least 25% of the tail color. Both colors must be distinct. No other third color that is more than 15% should be present or it would be considered a multi-colored guppy. The dorsal should match the same color and pattern in the tail.

20. Round Tail

The Round tail guppy has existed as one of the first guppy tail types to come from the wild-type guppy. This type of fish was accepted into the IFGA as a class in 2005 but has been removed from the available classes in 2007.

21. Snakeskin

The pictures shown here are guppies that carry the snakeskin genetic trait that shows a rosette pattern on the body. The snakeskin trait is generally dominant and Y-linked. Some strains are X-linked. Many strains also carry the dominant zebrinous trait (not sex-linked) causing vertical bars on the peduncle area. This can mask enough of the snakeskin rosette pattern to make it less than the 60% rosette pattern required to qualify for the Snakeskin class.

22. Swordtail

The Swordtail comes in single or double swordtail. Ideally only the sword portion of the tail should be colored with 5 to 1 proportioned dorsal. Swordtails are long-lived compared to Delta tailed guppies.

Swordtail Guppy

Double Swordtail Guppy

23. Yellow

The Yellow guppy is a striking fish to see on the show bench. Difficult to maintain the intense yellow color and finnage. Generally a medium-sized fish. Most Yellows on the show bench are genetically gold

24. Gold

Gold is a body color. The guppy must have a buttery yellow/gold coloring covering at least 25% of its body. Again finnage can be any color.

IFGA Classes

• The following are the standard classes recognized by the International Fancy Guppy Association. All pictures on this site will be labeled by this standard. The guppies are first divided into divisions by tail shape and then divided further into classes by caudal color.

• There are three main tail shapes for the males – delta, veil, and sword (both single and double). This year a provisional class has been added for roundtails.

• Many breeders will give their color strains fancy names, some to be descriptive, some just for marketing purposes, but to be eligible for showing, guppies must fall into the following classes.

• This list is not set in stone and has been changed many times over the years to accommodate the hobby, adding colors as they have gained popularity and dropping others because they lacked support.

• Deltas Deltas must be a triangle of 55-75 degrees, with 60-70 being ideal.

Information from Guppy Associates International Chicago http://www.guppychicago.org/