How To Guppy Care And Breeding Guide

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About Guppies:
Guppy, or Poecilia Reticulata, originates from an island northeast of South America they are also known as million fish and rainbow fish.  Guppies are one of the world's most widely distributed tropical fish, and one of the most popular freshwater aquarium fish species.  There are hundreds of different types with various combinations of color, patterns and tail shapes.  Guppies are one of the few fish that even people who never owned a fish will easily be able to recognize.  They are fairly easy to keep but can be a challenge too as they have quite short life spans and are fragile to poor quality water.   You can buy guppies at most pet stores or online (but shipping can be rough on the fish) and better quality ones would come from a local breeder or home breeders. 

Water: They do best in slightly hard water. ph 7.0 to 8.4 (I use neutral regulator powder to keep mine at a 7.0 as the local tap water here is not very good) Guppies need to be kept in clean water and I also keep many snails in my tank to help keep things clean (I found that snails come free with almost any aquatic plant you buy at a pet shop).   Guppies can live happily in  10-20 gallon tanks (If just a small amount a 5 gallon tank will do too - think 1 gallon per 1 inch of fish). 

Lifespan: They do not have long life span it is only 2-3 years. They can start breeding at 10 weeks old and will continue to breed until 20-34 months. The males get longer tails with age and have trouble breeding with the females since they can not move fast enough. The females are baby factories and will produce babies non-stop.  Even without a male if they have been exposed to a male they can store the sperm for up to 8 months (So it is possible for you to get baby fish from a female that you got at a pet shop without ever having owned a male) 

Temperature:  They like from 78 - 82 degrees. The warmer you keep them the faster they will grow and age.   For reproduction they prefer lower temperatures of 72–79 so if you keep it around 78-79 you'll be sure to inspire them to breed. 

Food: They will eat all types of flake food, tiny pellets, shrimp pellets, freeze dried brine shrimp etc. They also enjoy live food such as brine shrimp, Daphnia, blood worms, Grindal worms, and mosquito larvae.  

Breeding: Guppies breed almost continuously.  A pregnant guppy will have a dark area near the anus. This is known as the Gravid Spot. The babies will develop around that area and will be birthed through the same opening.   
Babies also known as fry can be fed brine shrimp at first and slowly move on to finely ground flake food. You need to be changing about 25% of the water almost daily in the baby tanks to prevent the build up of waste and nitrates.   Most sites will state to remove the parents after the fry is born to prevent them from eating the babies.  I have found that removing the male seems to help the females have less stress. 
All of my babies survived the last time that I moved just the male to another tank after the babies were born.  Investing in some baby grass and plants will help give the babies some hiding spots to prevent them from being eaten as well.  If you succeed in keeping your baby guppies alive, you will soon have many more guppies!