Guppy

Poecilia (Libestes) Reticulata

The scientific name for guppy is 'poecilia reticulata'. Guppy originates from the late R.J. Lechmere Guppy, an English botanist who discovered this breed in 1850. However De Filipo, a Spaniard reported of this same breed two years before the discovery. De Filipo was approved to be the first discoverer in 1813 but the fish is still named guppy to the present day.

Temp: 75 - 85F
pH: 6.8 - 7.2
dH: 4 - 10

Distribution: The area north of the Amazon: North Brazil, Guyana, Venezuela, Barbados and Trinidad. This species is very variable and has an unusually large number of varieties, both on the mainland and on islands. In addition to the aforementioned races, there is also the wild Guppy of Florida in which the body is coppery or reddish-brown and the tail has a striking pattern of black dots. The leopard Guppy is a natural mutant which also occurs in Florida, this has a pardine pattern  of peacock's eyes overlaying the greenish-yellow ground colour. There are several other colour varieties of the wild Guppy. There are also far too many colours and fin variations to show all on just one page. I will show you the most common.

female                                        male

Quite possibly the easiest fish to breed in your aquarium. All you need to do is select the pairs and nature does the rest. Of late I am of the opinion that there has been so much inbreeding and efforts to create a "new" guppy that the species is becoming a weakling. When I first started keeping tropical fish in the mid 70s, the guppy was a very hardy breed, capable of living in almost any conditions or temperatures and was always recommended to new enthusiasts as an excellent starter fish. Nowadays they are puny, weak and suffer ailments far to easily. Water conditions can affect their health to more of a degree than the past.

Normal breeding setup consists of two males and three to four females. That is to cut down on the chances that one of the males is sterile. If a male is sterile, the females will normally just cast out the unfertilized eggs from her body when the time is ripe. If you really are interested in getting a new breed, virgin females should be used, the reason is that females can easily drop young if she has being fertilize before, cause the semen can remain active in her body for a few generations, thus you can wait for months, but the only fry you obtain are of a different  breed. Breeder of at least four to five months of age are more encourage to be use. Concentrate on what you are breeding one at a time, with that, I mean if you are breeding for size, use the largest fish, if for colour, use the best coloured males. But the best is still a all rounded male.

Once a female guppy is pregnant, her anal area will swell and darken. The darker the region, the closer she is to spawning her live young. In the image above, the female is within a couple of days of giving birth. If your pregnant female is in with community fish, she should be either removed to a small tank or placed within a floating breeding trap, with a grill like base set within.
 
This will allow the babies to fall through the grill into the lower section and be relatively safe from unwanted attention. This method is not without risk as, when I did this many years ago, I noticed my Angel fish were trying to "vacuum" the fry though the slats.