Recently I have wan't to get some guppies but first I need to know more about guppies and what you need to look after your guppies. I need the following questions answered and any other cool information about guppies answered here thanks heaps.

#Do guppies live in Saltwater?
#What do you need to look after guppies?
#How big do guppies grow till?
#Can guppies be put with any other fish?
#Can you put male guppies together in the same tank?
#If you put male and female guppies together how do you breed them(I'm very keen to breed any type of fish)?

And any other cool information you can add will be much appreciated. I already own two shubunkins can I put them in the same tank with out them eating my guppies?

Guppies live in fresh water but like a little salt, about 1 teaspoon per gallon, although they can manage without any salt at all.

Guppies can grown 1-2" long.

Guppies are very easy to breed, they are live breeders (do not lay eggs) and multiply like rabbits. They will breed by themselves but generally eat most of the young, if you want to keep the babies they need to be seperated from the adults.

You can keep males together without any females. If you mix males and females together you need about 3 females for each male.

Guppies are a good fish in a community tank with other non-aggressive species. They like warm water and are not suitable to go with most goldfish as they probably would get eaten.

Why do you need 3 Females per a Male? Can't you just put one Male and one Female together?
And also What tank do you need? Do you need a tank any bigger then 10 litres for two small guppies?

Males will fight over the females, that's why it's necessary to have more females than males. Also a male can harrass and stress a female if she is alone.

Guppies are fish that like to be in a group, ie. 1 male and 3 females or 2 males and 6 females, or 4 males, etc.

A 10 litre tank is approx 2.5 g's, imo that's too small for practically anything, except perhaps for raising baby guppies when they are really tiny fry.

Guppies like to have plants to breed into, so I would recommend a 10 gallon (or 35 litre) tank with 1 male and 3 females plus some live plants if possible. This is a good start but it won't be long before you have fry and they wi9ll quickly outgrow your 10 litre tank.

Thanks! all I need to do noew is persuade my parents and also what do you feed guppies? Can you feed them goldfish flakes?

You could feed them goldfish flakes but it wouldn't be good for them, they have different nutritional needs than goldies. They sell tropical fish food that isn't any more expensive than goldie food. If I were you I'd go with a group of males, if you get females you'll be up to your ears in babies within just a few months and then you'd have to find homes for them....it gets to be a pain the rear to have to deal with all those babies.

a little tip from me which states more commonsense than anything

but make sure you get them from a good dealer, I got 2 males and 4 females from a big chain LFS and they all died within 48 hours of them getting home one died when it went in the tank and the params were all good. I now know that guppies are like neons they are overbred to suit demand and the quality of fish has gone down significantly.

So yeah be careful where you get them from

good luck with the breeding

I've never had much luck with them either - that's why I did the research into them but I agree with you that the gene pool has been overstretched and many guppies are not strong/healthy individuals.

My local goldfish dealer is Strictly Aquariums but they are quite rough when it comes to tying the elastic band around the bag and the fish get dazzled. So should I still try and get guppies from Strictly Aquariums or should I go to another one a bit more of a drive from where I live? Also do I need a heater or something that makes the tank water warmer to keep guppies?

Guppies like moderate temperatures in the low 20's. If it were summertime I would say forget the heater but in winter the water will get too cold for guppies without a heater.

The fish should be alright after the elastic band experience, he would have to be really rough and shake the bag before it would hurt the fish.

Cool Thanks everyone!
But before I get guppies is there anything else I need besides....

#Tank
#Filter
#Tropical fish food
#Aquarium Salt
#Heater
#3 females per 1 male guppie

Because I'm really keen to give the very best conditions for my guppies. Oh and one last question. Would it matter on what type guppie I get to which the aquarium needs change?

It sounds like you've got it all covered. All the variety of guppies available from your lfs have the same care requirements.

Someone mentioned plants for the guppies to breed into. although if you wanted to get live plants then you'd have to get an aquarium light as well...

Guppies are very susceptible to columnaris (a nasty, often fatal bacterial disease), I used to work in a 'reputable' (was, until they went out of business from poor planning) aquarium, and sometimes the guppies we'd order in would already be infected, most of the guppies would die within 24hrs of getting them fromt he distributors!. -It's good to look for evidence of columnaris in any of the fish in the tank. -if so, don't touch them with a barge-pole!

Article on columnaris...

Would artificial plants do instead of real plants so you don't have to
have a light?

Guppies will breed with artificial plants (mine do) but try to get silk plants rather than plastic ones. The plastic ones may rip those beautiful guppy tails.

Go for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

all the advice above is great!

I breed and sell gups

they are fun, interactive, colorful, and just plain awsome!

every month when I hand over 50 gups I cry! I pray they get a good home.
but as I watch each generation after another I am a VERY proud parent!

if you woried about breeding then get some traps
pop the female in just before she drops
now you have to know when she will drop

I keep written records on all my fish (over 100)
observe, and when she bout to drop, pop her in a breader trap the fry will go to the bottom and she cant get to them, if not she WILL eat them

then release the female
keep the fry in there till they strong....hmmm 2 weeks
then grow them out in another tabk

Cool Thanks everyone! I think I have got all the information I need.
I think I'll get 1 males and 3 female guppies and I'm hoping to get a much bigger tank soon.
But how long before I can expect them to breed?
Again thanks everyone!

Sorry Fishmerised, but 'guppys' are warm water fish and the 20's is too low they need a stable tempreture of 25.

Thanks Armo Gaurd I will make sure I put the heater to 25 degrees. Actually with the heater can you change the temp to the way you want it? Like can you pick a temp on the heater and then set it to that or will I have to get a digital Thermometer? Sorry I'm asking so many questions.
Oh and welcome to Kokos Armo Guard

Get a heater with a thermostuts, this will allow you to apply any tempreture, but with filters that don't have it it depends on the watts.

Did you get them??????


when you get a female, she may already be prgnanent so at any time she may drop
if she is roundish and fat and her gravid spot is large/dark then she already is with fry

females will usually drop fry every 28 days

once a male is removed they can store it up, so the female may drop some fry for a while without a male in the tank."
It is very hard to buy 'virgin" females so if you did get some, you could isolate the female for 3 months and let her drop the fry she has
then let her in with the males you got so then you know she will have "their" babies

I got about 30+ fry from my female, and I *think* they're all from my male

It's really fun watching the fry, you really start to see different personalities appear in a day or two. After that, they start getting dark patterns, and eventually COLOR! I can't wait!

Hope you have fun with yours

I haven't got them yet but I should get them this weekend.
And Luvmuhfred what you said about the virgin Female guppies I think where I get my fish from they have seperate tanks for the female and male so will that make a difference on the virgin thing?
And also Luvmuhfred I see that in your signature you have got a pic of your fish Mullow I think it is. Is she a shubunkin goldfish because she looks excactly like my fish Jet.

Hi Wasabi! Its past 4am here I couldnt sleep so glad I logged on as I have not been around the last few days.

Yes Mullow was my sons shubunkin....was so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but RIP


Have you got them?



that depends on mainly 2 factors:
1; if he bred them himself and separated them fast enough, this would mean a keen eye at early age to pick the females out. A male can be sexed between 3-6 weeks..so thats a huge time frame. and if the females are not taken out by then, its prob too late
or 2:
did he get them from a breeder/supplier? and he then put them in male female tanks for selling...if so.....did that breeder separate early enough.

They may be "labeled" as male and female in the shop so you know what gender you are buying. It is not a garantee that that the females are "virgin" just a guarantee that she is a she

My store where I sell mine separates his too, but most the females are young and pregnant already.

however its ok if you get a female that is already pregnant, keep her separate from the male you got for now and let her give birth and keep the fry and observe, if there are any problems you may consider another female.

here is a good link to some breeding basics:
breeding

it is interesting to note that the author states "females that are kept from males too long can have a problem getting fertilized, especially with half-blacks."
I have found this true with my HB Reds!! HB=half black

there are some great pics on there too so enjoy!!
hope that helps

I know this was said a long time ago but I don't get it.
Do guppies lay eggs? Or not?
Hey and I'm really sad that Mullow died
He looked a real cutie. Oh and the breeding guppies page was very useful I decided to print it off.

What price should I expect pay to get a heater with thermostuts at my local fish dealer?
Or would I be better off getting one on Ebay?

I don't have a heater in any of my tanks, the lights do a good job of warming the water.

Guppies don't lay eggs, they pop them out live. And I mean POP. Those little buggers just get pushed right out, then they zoom under the nearest plant!

If you lived near Florida, I'd be happy to give you some babies

Thanks Tetralover but I live on the other side of the world to you. But if I did live near Florida I would be privaleged to take some of your babies.

Ok back to the subject! Good news everyone! My friend picked up a huge tank with no leaks at a council pickup. And since he hasn't used it he said he would give it to me for free. The only problem is that the lid is broken so does anyone have any suggestions as to replacements for the lid?

I will probably go and pick it up tomorrow. And then get guppies the next day. And I will probably use the big tank that I'm getting as a tank for my guppies and I will use my old tank as a guppy baby tank.

What do you guys think?

I'm getting nervous because I don't want my guppies to die first thing when I get them.

one thing i noticed about guppies is that they do pretty well without females, they fight less and you wont have a housing crisis because theese guys BREED. guppies are my 3rd faviourate fish species after dojo loaches and goldies

The short experience I had with guppies was that they breed with no problems, and have LOTS of babies. Just like mollies! They are cute little guys though. Good luck to you!