Guppies - Learn about beautiful, easy-to-raise, and cheap ornamental fish

Guppy, a national ornamental fish, is cheap, easy to raise, reproduces quickly, has diverse and rich colors, suitable for even beginners in ornamental fish keeping.

Guppies (also known as Guppy fish) are beautiful, super easy to raise, cheap and very popular ornamental fish in the Vietnamese ornamental fish market. They have colorful, rich colors, fast reproduction ability, very suitable for raising in aquariums.

In the article below, Nice Fish will share with you details about the characteristics, habits, reproductive ability as well as the most detailed way to care for guppies. If you want to try this fish, let's find out right away!

Guppy information :

Origin of guppies

Guppies or Guppy fish.

Guppy fish, scientifically named Poecilia reticulata, English name is Guppy fish, has natural origin in Central and South America, specifically some countries such as Venezuela, Brazil, Trinidad & Tobago, they like to live in warm, clear freshwater, with gentle currents, and lots of moss.

In 1866, guppies were first described by a German scientist named Wilhelm Peters.

In the early 20th century, this fish species was introduced to Europe and Asia as an ornamental fish because it is easy to live and has beautiful, colorful colors.

In Vietnam, guppy fish appeared around the 1980s. Initially, they were naturally monochromatic, but over time, many rich colors appeared as they are today.

Physical characteristics of guppies

Guppies come in a variety of bright colors.

Below are the physical characteristics that help you easily recognize guppies among thousands of other ornamental fish species. Let's find out now.

• Size : Male fish from 2.5 - 4 cm, female fish from 4 - 6 cm.
• Body : Elongated, slightly flat, slender, soft, flexible body.
• Color : Diverse such as red, yellow, blue, orange, white, koi, mixed,... male fish often have more colorful colors, female fish have lighter colors, mainly bright or transparent colors.
• Dorsal & ventral fins : Dorsal fins are short, ventral fins are located under the belly.
• Caudal fin : The most prominent feature of this fish species, the caudal fin can be wide open, triangular or fan-shaped, or delta - an isosceles triangle.
• Eyes : Medium size, flexible.

Guppy behavior

Guppies like to live in schools.

Let's learn about some typical characteristics of guppies.

Highly social, living in packs

Guppies are schooling fish, they feel safer when they are around other individuals, and this also helps them protect each other when they encounter enemies.

In addition, guppies can communicate with each other through swimming, fins and body. If any individual is threatened, they will immediately swim into a large school to surround and protect each other.

gentle personality

Guppies are very docile fish, they are not aggressive towards any fish, even smaller fish. However, during the breeding season, male fish may fight lightly to compete for mates.

Is an omnivorous fish

Guppies are omnivorous and can eat almost any food from industrial pellets to live food and even algae and aquatic plants.

Adapt to different living conditions

Guppies are highly adaptable and tolerant fish. They can live in fresh water, slightly alkaline water, and even in environments with changing temperatures.

Personal hygiene habits

Guppies love cleanliness, they often swim through areas with gentle currents to clean their bodies and fins. They even swim near rocks or aquatic plants to remove dead skin, algae and bacteria on their bodies, so smart right?

Detailed care instructions for guppies

A beautiful guppies tank.

Although guppies are easy to raise and adaptable, to help your fish stay healthy and have the most perfect color, you should keep in mind the following:

Design suitable guppy fish tank

Guppies are quite small in size, so when you design the tank, pay attention to the following details:

• Volume : The tank is 15 - 20 liters in size for a school of 4 - 6 fish. If you raise many fish, the tank volume should be from 30 - 60 liters or more.
• Filtration system : Required to clean water and remove waste.
• Oxygenator : Should have to help fish grow best.
• LED light : Use bright light to stimulate fish color.

Optimal water parameters for guppies

The optimal water environment for guppy fish needs to satisfy the following conditions:

• Temperature : 25 - 28 degrees Celsius.
• pH : 6.8 - 7.5
• Use : Dechlorinated water.
• Change water regularly: Change 20 - 30% of the water in the tank every week.

What do guppies eat?

Guppies are omnivorous, they can eat the following foods:

• Live food : Bloodworms, daphnia, artemia.
• Pellets: Chopped bran, floating pellets.
• Green vegetables : You can add crushed greens 1-2 times/week.
• Feeding frequency: Feed 1 - 2 times/day, do not feed too much to avoid waste and water pollution.

Some common diseases and abnormalities in guppies

Although guppies are very easy to raise and have good health, they are still susceptible to some diseases and unusual problems as follows.

Reproduction in guppies

Guppies about to give birth have big bellies.

Guppies are strong and easy to breed fish. Let's learn about the reproductive ability of this fish.

Reproduction by giving birth

Unlike many other aquarium fish, guppies give birth instead of laying eggs. Guppies fertilize internally, with the male fertilizing the female through a gonopodium, at which point part of the anal fin becomes a copulatory canal. The fertilized eggs develop in the female's abdomen, and she then gives birth to fully formed young.

Mating process

When it's breeding season, the male fish will actively attract the female fish by swimming around and "dancing its fins". Especially, after mating only once, the female fish can reproduce many times because it has the ability to retain sperm for several months.

Reproductive cycle

After fertilization, the female's belly will be noticeably larger after 2 - 3 weeks, she is pregnant for 21 - 30 days, can reproduce 5 - 6 times a year, each time giving birth from 20 - 50 babies. The sign that the guppies are about to give birth is to pay attention to the black dot under the fish's belly, the bigger the black dot, the closer the fish is to giving birth.

Caring for baby guppies after birth

Baby guppies are tiny.

Baby guppies are very small after birth, only 3 - 5mm, they can swim and find food by themselves just a few hours after birth. How to take care of baby fish is as follows:

• Food for baby fish: Egg yolk powder, fine bran powder, bo bo.
• Change the water regularly and gently.
• Add oxygen and light at moderate levels.

Tips to help guppies reproduce successfully

To help guppy fish breed successfully, you should know some of the following tips:

• Keep the ratio of 1 male to 2 - 3 females to help the females not get stressed.
• Maintain a stable temperature of 25 - 27 degrees Celsius.
• After the female fish shows signs of pregnancy such as a clearly large belly, the male fish should be separated.
• Female fish should be isolated in a separate area or tank to protect the fry.

The cheapest, most beautiful and easiest to raise guppies

Currently, there are many guppy fish lines, but the following are some of the most popular fish, cheap, beautiful, and easy to raise.

Dumbo Guppy

Dumbo guppy fish with excellent appearance.

This is the most popular guppy fish line today with the characteristic of having large pectoral fins, looking like "elephant ears" so it is called "Dumbo", the tail is usually a wide Delta tail. This line has many colors such as blue, purple, white, yellow or red..., gentle temperament, likes to live in groups, when swimming it looks very graceful.

Full gold guppy

The guppies have a super beautiful gold color.

This is a type of guppy fish with a body covered in a metallic gold color that looks extremely brilliant and eye-catching. This is also an eye-catching guppy fish line, bred a lot due to high demand. They have many variations such as full gold ribbon, full gold albino, full gold short body.

Full red guppy

The brilliant appearance of a red guppies.

This is a type of guppy fish with a bright red or orange-red body, tail, and head, and a large Delta or Fan tail. Male fish are usually dark in color and have a large tail, while female fish are lighter in color and have a much smaller tail.

Koi Guppy Fish

Koi fish.

This is a line of 7-color fish with colors similar to Koi fish , with a white, cream white or light yellow body; red or orange head, wide tail, bright patterns. They have many variations such as Koi Red Ear - with red spots on the head and gills, koi galaxy with metallic patterned tail, koi dumbo - wide fins, red head, colorful tail,...

American Guppy

American Guppy.

This is the special name for guppy fish lines bred and developed in the US. They are often large in size, have wide tail fins, color very quickly, have high resistance and are a high-end line chosen by many fish farms for breeding purposes.

Dragon Guppy

A super unique red dragon guppy.

This is a type of guppy fish with bright colors with dragon scale patterns on the body and tail in the form of dots or tiny stripes extending from the body to the tail. The fish's tail is large, with a bold, mottled pattern. The fish are usually orange-red, bright red, purple-blue and black-yellow.

Forest Guppy

Wild guppy fish.

This is a purebred guppy fish in nature, they are found in rivers, streams, ponds in tropical South America, are the original ancestors of hybrid guppy fish. The color is gentle, not as colorful as hybrid fish, the body is long, the tail is not wide and has a high survival instinct.

Guppy price list

Currently, in the Vietnamese ornamental fish market, guppies have many different prices, depending on origin, color, size... Below is the guppies price list that we have compiled, you can refer to it.

Pictures of the most beautiful and colorful guppies

Let's look at the beautiful pictures of guppies below to know the richness of species and colors of this national ornamental fish.

Blue dragon guppy.

Mysterious full black guppy fish.

Two platinum white guppies.

Blue Tarzan Guppy

Through the above article, nicefish.net has shared the most complete and detailed information about guppies . This is also a super easy-to-raise ornamental fish, cheap, beautiful colors, the perfect choice for aquariums.

If you want to learn more about different breeds of aquarium fish to satisfy your passion, visit our Blog section now!