Guppies are one of the few fish that even people who never owned a fish will recognize on sight. This guide is gear to the newbie with guppies. They are fairly easy to keep but can be a challenge. They are hundreds of different types with various combinations of color, patterns, tail shapes. They have been inbreed to show different traits. I have seen pictures of the wild guppies which look very different.

If you are buying guppies, I suggest that you find some from a local breeder, buy from a store that carries home breeders, or order online.

Water: They do best in slight hard water. pH is 7.0 to 8.4 Guppies need to be kept in clean water. Especially those from professional breeders which have live in near perfect condition for their short lives.

Lifespan: They do not have long life span. The males get longer tails with age and have trouble breeding with the females since they can not move fast enough. The female are baby factories and wear out with time. They normally last a couple of years so if you want to maintain a group you will need to breed them.

Temperature: They like from 75 - 85 degrees. The warmer you keep them the faster they will grow and age.

Food: They will eat all types of flake food, tiny pellets, shrimp pellets. They will also benefit from live food like brine shrimp, Daphnia, blood worms, Grindal worms, and mosquito larvae.

Breeding: Guppies breed almost continuously. The females will hold babies from previous matings. If you are selectively breeding like a professional you need to keep the baby females away from males. You want to pick health males with good color and fin shape and size. You will need at least five tanks per type of guppies. If you wanted to raise red tail half-black guppies. One tank for the mated pair. A tank for the young males and young females. A tank for the newly born. When the babies are three or four weeks old you can start to separate the males since they will start to color up and the anal fin takes the male shape. The female will have a fuller body and anal fin will be larger and not pointed.

Babies can be feed brine shrimp at first and slowly start them on finely ground flake feed. You need to be changing some of the water almost daily in the babies tanks to prevent the build up of waste and or nitrates. If the level are too high you will stunt the growth of the babies and possible lost some or all of them. If they is food left at the bottom of the tank it should be removed every night. Some people keep baby corydoras catfish in their baby tank to clean up all the mess. They both eat the small food and like similar conditions. Babies cories will not normally eat babies guppies.

If you are planning to breed professional I would suggest that you look web site from members of the describing the genetics. It is too complicated of a subject for me to discuss it here. Keeping breeding records is helpful. If the female is not producing healthy babies of throwing off colored babies you can remove her from the operations. Some of the multi-colored varieties are very variable in color.  Most assign a number and keep track of individual with index cards. You can keep track of spawns. and how your numbered fish are related. It is often a good idea to introduce less closely related fish to your breeding lines.