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Guppy (Poecilia reticulata)

Reviews	Views	Date of last review
17	4654	Sun December 23, 2007

Recommended By	Average Price	Average Rating
94% of reviewers	$2.41	8.6

Description:

Compatibility: Community fish, should not be kept in a tank with 'fin nippers' as their long tails will be shredded.
Maximum Size: 2-3 inches
Minimum Tank Size: 10G
Temperature: 72-82F
Diet: Readily accepts flake food, loves live bbs, shrimp pellets, good to supplement their diet with live or frozen foods to enhance their coloration.
Level of care: Very easy, good beginner fish
General Notes: Guppies are popular aquarium fish because of the brilliant coloration of the male finnage - long, tinted with combinations of yellow, red, orange, green, blue, and purple, and spotted with black. No two individuals show the same color pattern. You can also find different fins shapes and sizes to add to the variations! The females tend to be more dull in their coloring, but larger in size. As with most livebearers, it is best to keep 2 females per male in a tank if you plan on having females. However, if you do not have a large tank or multiple tanks to house the fry that grow to adulthood, you may want to consider only housing male guppies. If you mix sexes in a small tank you will find your tank will eventually become so crammed with fish that they do not all get fed and the babies do not grow properly.

Male guppies go through an elaborate courtship ceremony, spreading their fins before the female much in the manner of certain birds. After mating the sperm is stored inside the female for later use. The female bears live young, and can have a new brood as often as every four weeks, with each brood numbering between 2 to over 100! As many as five broods can be produced as a result of a single mating, therefore if you buy a female guppy at a pet store, it may very well be carrying babies already. The fry are often eaten by the parents, so if you want them to survive you should prepare separate tanks or thick vegetation in the parent's tank for them to hide in.

In order to distinguish between a male and a female guppy fry, one must wait until the males mature and develop their gonopodium- the male reproductive organ. This organ is a modified anal fin for the males only. The female anal fin will remain a fan shape and attached to the body. The male anal fin, at around 1-3 months of age (depending on environment and genetics) will begin to grow pointed and be detached from the body so it may move up and down and side to side, in order to assist in the mating process. It is difficult to depend on the males to begin colouring up to distinguish sexes because some females will colour at the same time and the same amount. As the male gets older they are generally much more colourful.

Guppies generally occupy the middle and top level of the tank. They are plant friendly and sometimes even nibble at algae!

Author

FroggyFox
Forum Manager

Registered: May 2003
Location: Colorado
Posts: 8281

Review Date: Thu April 14, 2005

Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: Not Indicated | Rating: 8

Pros:	pretty, easy to breed, easy to keep
Cons:	can overpopulate a tank quickly

Guppies are a good starter fish, the fry are fun/easy to raise. There are so many different color variations that you can add some color to a dull tank.

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wrinkledog8
Teenie Weenie Fish

Registered: August 2004
Posts: 4

Review Date: Mon May 16, 2005

Would you recommend the profile? No | Price you paid?: Not Indicated | Rating: 4

Pros:	pretty
Cons:	too many

these fish are annoying. unless you are buying them with the intention of breeding, dont. there are many other beautiful beginner fish that you could have that wont overpopulate your tank in 2 months

Balloon Fish
Super Fish

Registered: July 2004
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Posts: 3025

Review Date: Sun June 12, 2005

Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: $2.99 | Rating: 8

Pros:	easy to care for
Cons:	sometimes has too many babies

Great beginner fish and adds color to most aquariums. If you are a begginer in breeding fish this is the place to start. They have a lot of babies at a time and it is fun to watch them. If you don\'t want so many babies just let them have babies in a big tank with other fish that would eat the babies and you won\'t have to worry about it.

fish lover88
Teenie Weenie Fish

Registered: July 2004
Posts: 64

Review Date: Fri July 8, 2005

Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: Not Indicated | Rating: 9

Pros:	easy to keep, beautiful in color
Cons:	n/a but are fast breeders

Guppies are excelent starter fish and very easy to care for. If you don\'t want the too breed you can buy all males or all females for your tank(males don\'t fight). Great community fish and peaceful.

Izz
Teenie Weenie Fish

Registered: August 2004
Posts: 41

Review Date: Sat July 30, 2005

Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: Not Indicated | Rating: 0

Pros:	Active, attractive, peaceful
Cons:	They aren\'t called millions for nothing

Guppies are active and attractive fish, especially the males. They have way too many babies. The situation can easily get out of hand. But hey, they are a joy - especially watching younglings grow up.

bandito41
Little Fish

Registered: December 2005
Location: Coolville, Ohio
Posts: 177

Review Date: Fri December 23, 2005

Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: Not Indicated | Rating: 10

Pros:	easy to keep, colorful, fast breeders
Cons:	fast breeders

Guppies are very colorful and active. They are a great addition to any tank. They breed fast, which can be good and bad.

swordtailraiser
Teenie Weenie Fish

Registered: January 2006
Location: earth
Posts: 42

Review Date: Mon January 2, 2006

Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: $2.99 | Rating: 8

Pros:	good information, pretty fish
Cons:	not very sturdy fish i think.and they are always breeding all the time.

it's nice to have guppies because they are very lively and COLORFUL.the males have beautiful fan tails and the females have the normal body look.the females are always having babies so if u wanted to breed guppies, ur in luck.

ReefRelics
Teenie Weenie Fish

Registered: January 2006
Location: M Indiana
Posts: 81

Review Date: Sat January 14, 2006

Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: Not Indicated | Rating: 10

Pros:	Good personality, nice colors, great community creature, lots of veriations
Cons:	Fragile, very picky and may not like other fish of their size.

Though they may be fast breeders I see nothing wrong with that , in a good tank if you cant explan things to your kids on the basis of lifes chain, put them together and watch the kids in amazment as life deth and birth grows in your aquarium and alowing the little ones to help doesint hurt one bit =D for they eat alot and enjoy whatever you toss at them. In the wild they lived in lagoons so it's best to have drifting things in there from plastic plants to real drift wood. But do not get a real plant for they may eat it and it's possable to get a worm in their body that will kill them off in the matter of hours. Also they are very hardy in water of any temp but keeping live plants can cause the amonia to sky rocket killing your guppies in two short days.

There colors range for 690 breeds of one fish and its enjoyable to stick two kinds together and watch as they mature. Most likly if you done want all those fry, buy five males and two females to start with and you wont have any surviving to worrie about, and if you end up haveing one or two survive, theres nothing for you to worry about for they wont grow much biger then a thumbtack for coverage and natural selection. But if you want to breed on purpose then I would suggest a 40 gal with ten to start, and watch the spawing begin =D!.

They are very picky when the filtration isint good though, any tiny hint of chlorine will kill them, any amonia levels, any ph thats to high will be instant die off, and if your not to good with getting healthy guppies to start with,dont get to attached. Cause your first batch of guppies you buy will most surly die off and you will have a whole tank die off before you figure out what is being done wrong with your specific fish for each one has their likings. If you grow attached you most lilkly wont get any more =/ and thats a sad missunderstanding for these durable fish. If this happends shrug and get more. The more you learn the more nature gives you in the future of your aquarium. All together I rate this fish a ten. easy to tend to and with a little aquariumsalt you can defeat most desease =D!

greigula
Teenie Weenie Fish

Registered: January 2006
Posts: 1

Review Date: Tue January 17, 2006

Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: Not Indicated | Rating: 8

Pros:	Arrayconcise
Cons:	Arrayverbose

Good and true information about an underappreciated and truely beautiful fish species.

Zman16
Large Fish

Registered: August 2005
Location: Pennsylvannia
Posts: 865

Review Date: Mon February 6, 2006

Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: Not Indicated | Rating: 9

Pros:	Great personallity, active fish, easy to breed.
Cons:	TOO easy to breed!!!!

I only had this fish once and there very pretty. I had a male and a female but the male died the first day I got it. The female stayed alive for months, but sadly i never got to see any fry because I think all the other fish were eating it.

##123
Teenie Weenie Fish

Registered: February 2006
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Posts: 1

Review Date: Mon February 13, 2006

Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: Not Indicated | Rating: 0

Pros:	Array
Cons:	Array

How long they can live? Thanks

Smalltank3
Large Fish

Registered: December 2005
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 958

Review Date: Sat March 18, 2006

Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: $1.50 | Rating: 8

Pros:	Colorful
Cons:	Breeds a lot

Very Cheap fish and can breed a lot. It is also very colorful. I had one for only a night because I didn't acclimate well. I recommend this fish to any beginner aquarist.

fishcraziee
Medium Fish

Registered: October 2004
Location: Monterey Park CA
Posts: 319

Review Date: Sun March 19, 2006

Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: $1.99 | Rating: 9

Pros:	colorful, small, great in communities
Cons:	breeds a bit too much

Great colorful fish. They can start to breed too much and then you stop knowing what to do with all you new guppies. They are be really colorful. If you just get males you'll add splashes of color and no risk of having too many babies, unless you want that.

kda2011
Little Fish

Registered: June 2006
Location: Ohio, USA
Posts: 144

Review Date: Sun June 18, 2006

Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: $2.99 | Rating: 9

Pros:	Pretty, Fun to watch
Cons:	None

Remeber with most Live Bearers they all breed fast. And if that is a problem for you get 2 males like I did. Or just dont get any! They are my personal favortie fish I have for color! **Black Widow Tetras seem to be very agressive towards my Guppies!

guppy_girl
Teenie Weenie Fish

Registered: January 2007
Posts: 15

Review Date: Thu January 4, 2007

Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: Not Indicated | Rating: 10

Pros:	beautiful fish
Cons:	nothing

i love these fish. they are so pretty. i have 20 very pregnant females and 5 males so i think im in for a pretty fun time with the babies

Stradius011
Teenie Weenie Fish

Registered: January 2007
Posts: 27

Review Date: Tue January 9, 2007

Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: Not Indicated | Rating: 9

Pros:	Hardy, colorful, has great personality
Cons:	prone to finrot

These fishes are a joy. I'm a guppy breeder and think they're easy to take care of, but they can get fin rot pretty easily.

drake53
Medium Fish

Registered: March 2007
Location: southern Texas
Posts: 394

Review Date: Sun December 23, 2007

Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: $1.99 | Rating: 10

Pros:	colorful, angel like
Cons:	none

i have tons of these and loving em! they're so colorful they just pop at at you. i even found a formula for a new strain that i produced. they're excellent for beginners, hardy, elegant, and fun.

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