Guppy Love

So you have seen the vividly coloured Guppy at your aquatic
centre and have decided they will make a beautiful addition to
your community aquarium, indeed you are right, and the
flamboyant colours of the male Guppy look stunning and are the
easiest fish to keep in your tropical setup.

However there are some things that you need to know about
Guppy’s before rushing off to buy them.

Guppy’s are live bearing fish which means that they give birth
to free swimming fry, they also breed very quickly, imagine them
like the rabbits of the water.

Once a female Guppy has mated she will give birth for up to six
months consecutively, therefore you must have a large enough
tank to be able to handle to the vast amounts of new fish that
the Guppy will introduce to your tank.

The first brood will be delivered after 25 to 28 days and will
usually be around twelve to twenty fry, the second can range
from twenty to fifty and consecutive deliveries of up to a
hundred or more fry can be delivered, all within twenty to
ninety days apart.

However not all the fry will survive, the mother will begin to
eat her babies after she delivers her last fry if they are not
separated, and they will be of course vulnerable to other tank
mates who will be looking for a free meal. The larger the brood
that is delivered, the more fish that will survive.

You can however help the survival of the fish along. Breeding
traps are fairly cheap, come in various designs and are very
effective. Floating traps are both reasonably priced and are
simply floated within the tank, the pregnant Guppy is placed
within the trap near delivery time and the fry simply fall into
a chamber below the female safely. Once the female has delivered
all of her fry she can be released back into the tank after a
resting period of twenty four hours, any longer will stress the
fish.

So how do you tell if you have a pregnant Guppy or not? It is
actually very easy to distinguish female and male Guppy’s, the
male usually has vivid colouring along its belly and fins, his
anal fin will be long and narrow. The female are usually much
duller in colour and have a rounded anal fin. When a female
becomes pregnant you will notice her belly becomes rounded and
bloated with a dark spot towards her rear called a Gravid spot,
as the fertilised eggs develop this spot will become almost
black.

Watch the female every day, they don’t all act the same way but
in my experiences they tend to hide away and try to find a good
place for delivery, this of course is not always possible with
the male Guppy chasing her around the tank. Because of this it
is important to have a ratio of at least 3 female Guppy per one
male. It should take around four to six hours to complete the
delivery but it has been known to take around twelve to fourteen
hours. Also in stressed females they have been known to deliver
some of their fry then stop and give birth again a few days
later. It all sounds very complicated but as long as you keep an
eye on your pregnant fish everything will be fine.

Although a great fish for stocking your aquarium there are
dangers of interbreeding, the quality of the fry produced by
interbreeding deteriorates through the generations and therefore
a new stock of male Guppy’s from you aquatic store is advised to
help prevent this.

If you find that you have too many fish than the aquarium can
handle your local pet store or aquatic centre will usually be
prepared to take them or buy them from you.

Often nicknamed the millions fish because of their ability to
breed and produce so many fry, the Guppy is an ideal fish for
the community tank and because it is almost impossible not to
breed, Guppy’s are great for the novice aquarist.