Guppy Fish: complete care guide
- Sep 14, 2020
- Anshika Mishra
- 3328 0 0
Why do you need Guppies? Probably because they look amazing and that is why you are doing the research to keep them alive after you spend money on them.
If you want your Guppies to thrive in your tank then there are a few things that you should surely take into consideration.
pH
They like higher pH so, 7.8 and higher will be great. They can go lower, but they like being in higher pH. So, if you really want them to look good then keep them in a higher pH
TEMPERATURE IS THE KEY
They like to be warm so the recommended temperature for them is 76-78 degrees. If you keep them at 82-degrees they will crank out a lot of babies and they'll look spectacular along with growing faster, but they are only going to live more almost 18-months.
Whereas if you keep them at 78-degrees they will live for more than 3 and a 1/2 years. They will grow their entire life, they will be having babies in every 6-months, not every month.
LIVEBEARERS
They are livebearers, which means that when they give birth, they have live babies. A lot of people get scared of it like, "What do I do if I have too many frays?" Usually what happens is that they populate to how much space they have in the tank.
That means if you have a 10-gallon tank with 5 Guppies, pretty soon you will have 50 guppies but you will have 6 adults and 44-babies and sooner you will have 6 adults, 8 juveniles, and 4 babies. So, it is kind of self-regulated, you can always scoop them out; give them to other friends or feed them to other fish, or you can even make more of them.
GORGEOUS FISH
They look great right next to a planted tank with all the nice green plants, all the showy flashy colors with big tails dancing around your aquarium making more babies, there is not a lot you can not like about that. You can sell them back to your store.
They are just a great fish they come in every color under the rainbow. They only get almost a 2-inches body with a long tail. You can get females with nice big robust, you can get the small one like the Panda Guppies.
THEY MIGHT NEED A LITTLE EXTRA CARE
Do know that guppies in a pet store can be weak, unfortunately, they get massively mass-produced around the world. Because they are kept in such a massive number, they are really susceptible to disease, they are highly inbred for getting the amazing colors on them.
By the time they hit the wholesaler, they pick up a disease or two, in the store they pick up more disease and then later in your aquarium they will need help to recover, they need a good diet, they need clean water, they might need some medicines, they might have a bacterial infection on their fins which might need help.
BRACKISH WATER FISH TOO
Sometimes they are even raised in Brackish water. In some other countries in the world fresh drinking water is very expensive and hard to get, so if they mix that with salt water, that makes brackish water. Guppies love brackish water because it is typically higher in pH and has a lot of minerals in it.
But when we put them in full fresh, sometimes they can fall apart. There is a benefit of it also like any disease they developed in the brackish water dies off in freshwater, so it is a bonus. But unfortunately, it is also stressful for the fish.
SET UP FOR SUCCESS
So, set up for success. Get your self a planted tank, higher pH, good food like bloodworms, brine shrimp and flake food, pallets. Check other people's guppies. Go talk to people who are passionate about Guppies.
This is one of the few fish that is so dedicated to this hobby, there are so many groups and lovers of these fishes in the world. you are making a great choice by thinking about keeping them.
Guppies are the real deal, lots of colors, make more, relatively cheap, relatively hardy, live in a small tank. It checks all the boxes for awesome. So, get yourself some and enjoy them in your tank
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