Post by Allaquatica on Sept 23, 2006 22:27:19 GMT -5
Q.What is a guppy?
A guppy is a small Omniorous livebearing tooth-carp Poecilia reticulata native to south america but now spred world-wide.
taken from : www.dec.ctu.edu.vn/cdrom/cd6/projects/nus_tropical_fish/guppy.html#S1
History of The Guppy
The Poeciliidae, or viviparous tooth carps, are fishes which bear living young. This family is found only in the Americas. The ancestral home of the guppy is the northern coastal sectors of South America, Venezuela, Guyana and some of the islands of the Carribean Sea. The first scientist to describe this small freshwater fish was a German ichthyologist, Wilhelm C.H. Peters, who in 1859 found them in Rio Guaire, Caracas, Venezuela. They looked so much like those fish in the Poecilia family that he named them Poecilia reticulata. The word 'reticulata' refers to the overlapping scales that form a lace-like pattern on the body of the guppy. Two years later, Senior Filippi, in Spain, probably unaware of Peters' description obtained some specimens from Barbados and considered them to represent a new genus, which he called Lebistes. He noted their resemblance to Poecilia he called them Lebistes poeciloides. (Frazer-Brunner, 1953).
The popular name of guppy was given to this fish about 5 years later when the English botanist, Robert John Lechmere Guppy brought back some preserved specimens from Trindad for identification. Dr. Albert Gunther of the British Museum identified the specimens as a new species and called them Girardinus guppyi in honour of Robert Guppy. The name "guppy" has stuck to this day and became popular. The guppy is also known as the rainbow fish bacause of the numerous colour patterns and as the millions fish bacause it is a prolific breeder.
The wild guppies were introduced into Singapore in the 1930's for mosquito control in the mangrove swamps (Herre, 1940). With an upturned mouth, the guppy gobbles up the mosquito larvae near the water surface. This proved to be very successful and they are now well established in monsoon drains, streams and canals (Johnson and Soong, 1963).
Q.How soon can a guppy breed?
Depending on the strain/size of the female they may fall pregnant anywhere from one month to three months of age. Usually when the body length of the fish is roughly 2.5cm long. It is best to separate females from males before the males develop gonipodiums at around 4-6 weeks of age, if you want to selectivley breed these fish.
Q.How long is a guppy Pregnant?
Usually 26-32 days but this can vary with the breed, water temprature and diet.
Q.How do I know my guppy is pregnant?
If the guppy is over 2.5cm in length and has been in a tank with a male fish then it will usually be pregnant. These fish have the ability to store sperm once fertilized so sometimes will remain pregnant even after giving birth up to 5 times without a male even present (called superfetation). Good signs of a pregnant fish are:
large belly
large gravid spot
fishes belly slowly growing larger over a few weeks.
Q.How do I know when my guppy is going to give birth ?
Good signs include:
'Hiding and darting' the fish will hide in plants or behind filter and heater and sometimes start darting from place to place or behave erraticly.
Male fish will madly start chasing the female, she is very receptive at this time and they will all want to be first in line to father the next batch of fry.
She will act irritable and agressive to males, usually hiding in one spot and 'headbutting' or biting fish that come near.
'squaring off' 'looking boxy' the females abdomen will occasionally take on a square appearance, this will usually happen only if the female is having a large amount of fry.
A sudden darkening of the gravid spot, may mean she is about to give birth. this may not happen with light coloured females
Q.When is it safe to put fry in with adults?
Guppy fry can be added back to the parents tank once they are no longer able to fit into the parents, or any other fishes mouth (if in a community tank). Some people go by length (1.5cm) others say 1 month old.
Q.What do i feed them?
Guppies will eat flake, frozen bloodworm, freeze dried tubifex, live tubifex, small crumble or pellets, baby brine shrimp, beefheart, spirulina flake. They are Omnivorous so will take almost anything small enough to eat.
Q.How often do i feed them?
Usually small 2 meals a day, not more then they can eat within a few minutes. Clean up any excess food to prevent disease.
Q.What do i feed guppy fry?
Very finley crushed flake, Baby brineshrimp, fry paste and first bites are all good.
Q.What is the best size tank for a guppy?
A minimum of 25-30lt is reccomended for full growth of these fish, smaller tanks can be used for fry up to 6 weeks. smaller tanks usually result in agression and poor water conditions for these fish.
Q.Do I need a heater?
Yes! unless you live in an area with 24c conditions year-round then they will nead a heater, guppies are tropical and will die at temps of 16c. Constant temprature fluctuation will also leave them prone to ick and other infections.
Q.what are the best water conditions/parameters?
Guppies like normal-hard water but will tolerate just about any water hardness. Ideal ph between 7 -7.6 (alkaline) but again they will tolerate a wider ph range. water temps are best kept between 24-26c and stable with a heater unless you have them in an environment that has a constant temp all year.
Q.How do I tell a male from a female?
Best way to tell these fish apart is to look at the anal fin (the one closest to the fishes anus) on a female fish this will look normal and triangular, also she will have a 1/2-1cm dark area inside the body just above this fin, this is called the gravid spot. A male on the other hand is generally smaller than the female. again look at the anal fin. on the male it will be longer and thickened as it is modifyed into a sex organ called a gonipodium that most male livebearers have, usually the male will also hold it flat against the body.
Q.How soon can I tell a male from a female?
If you have very good eyesight or a magnefying glass, sex of fish can be told at a few weeks of age. female fish will have the gravid spot from birth so look for the small dark mark just above the anal fin. Males will only develop gonipodiums at 4-6 weeks of age so it is best to look for the females first.
Q.How do I Save fry?
When fry are born it is their first instinct to swim towards light. In the wild they will 'hide' at the surface in amoungst floating plants. In the aquarium it is best to provide similar surface cover with plants such as floating watersprite (lace fern) the more surface cover you can provide the more fry will be saved. easy to grow fry-savers include watersprite, java moss and java fern. leaving a fake plastic plant floating at the surface will provide similar cover.
A guppy is a small Omniorous livebearing tooth-carp Poecilia reticulata native to south america but now spred world-wide.
taken from : www.dec.ctu.edu.vn/cdrom/cd6/projects/nus_tropical_fish/guppy.html#S1
History of The Guppy
The Poeciliidae, or viviparous tooth carps, are fishes which bear living young. This family is found only in the Americas. The ancestral home of the guppy is the northern coastal sectors of South America, Venezuela, Guyana and some of the islands of the Carribean Sea. The first scientist to describe this small freshwater fish was a German ichthyologist, Wilhelm C.H. Peters, who in 1859 found them in Rio Guaire, Caracas, Venezuela. They looked so much like those fish in the Poecilia family that he named them Poecilia reticulata. The word 'reticulata' refers to the overlapping scales that form a lace-like pattern on the body of the guppy. Two years later, Senior Filippi, in Spain, probably unaware of Peters' description obtained some specimens from Barbados and considered them to represent a new genus, which he called Lebistes. He noted their resemblance to Poecilia he called them Lebistes poeciloides. (Frazer-Brunner, 1953).
The popular name of guppy was given to this fish about 5 years later when the English botanist, Robert John Lechmere Guppy brought back some preserved specimens from Trindad for identification. Dr. Albert Gunther of the British Museum identified the specimens as a new species and called them Girardinus guppyi in honour of Robert Guppy. The name "guppy" has stuck to this day and became popular. The guppy is also known as the rainbow fish bacause of the numerous colour patterns and as the millions fish bacause it is a prolific breeder.
The wild guppies were introduced into Singapore in the 1930's for mosquito control in the mangrove swamps (Herre, 1940). With an upturned mouth, the guppy gobbles up the mosquito larvae near the water surface. This proved to be very successful and they are now well established in monsoon drains, streams and canals (Johnson and Soong, 1963).
Q.How soon can a guppy breed?
Depending on the strain/size of the female they may fall pregnant anywhere from one month to three months of age. Usually when the body length of the fish is roughly 2.5cm long. It is best to separate females from males before the males develop gonipodiums at around 4-6 weeks of age, if you want to selectivley breed these fish.
Q.How long is a guppy Pregnant?
Usually 26-32 days but this can vary with the breed, water temprature and diet.
Q.How do I know my guppy is pregnant?
If the guppy is over 2.5cm in length and has been in a tank with a male fish then it will usually be pregnant. These fish have the ability to store sperm once fertilized so sometimes will remain pregnant even after giving birth up to 5 times without a male even present (called superfetation). Good signs of a pregnant fish are:
large belly
large gravid spot
fishes belly slowly growing larger over a few weeks.
Q.How do I know when my guppy is going to give birth ?
Good signs include:
'Hiding and darting' the fish will hide in plants or behind filter and heater and sometimes start darting from place to place or behave erraticly.
Male fish will madly start chasing the female, she is very receptive at this time and they will all want to be first in line to father the next batch of fry.
She will act irritable and agressive to males, usually hiding in one spot and 'headbutting' or biting fish that come near.
'squaring off' 'looking boxy' the females abdomen will occasionally take on a square appearance, this will usually happen only if the female is having a large amount of fry.
A sudden darkening of the gravid spot, may mean she is about to give birth. this may not happen with light coloured females
Q.When is it safe to put fry in with adults?
Guppy fry can be added back to the parents tank once they are no longer able to fit into the parents, or any other fishes mouth (if in a community tank). Some people go by length (1.5cm) others say 1 month old.
Q.What do i feed them?
Guppies will eat flake, frozen bloodworm, freeze dried tubifex, live tubifex, small crumble or pellets, baby brine shrimp, beefheart, spirulina flake. They are Omnivorous so will take almost anything small enough to eat.
Q.How often do i feed them?
Usually small 2 meals a day, not more then they can eat within a few minutes. Clean up any excess food to prevent disease.
Q.What do i feed guppy fry?
Very finley crushed flake, Baby brineshrimp, fry paste and first bites are all good.
Q.What is the best size tank for a guppy?
A minimum of 25-30lt is reccomended for full growth of these fish, smaller tanks can be used for fry up to 6 weeks. smaller tanks usually result in agression and poor water conditions for these fish.
Q.Do I need a heater?
Yes! unless you live in an area with 24c conditions year-round then they will nead a heater, guppies are tropical and will die at temps of 16c. Constant temprature fluctuation will also leave them prone to ick and other infections.
Q.what are the best water conditions/parameters?
Guppies like normal-hard water but will tolerate just about any water hardness. Ideal ph between 7 -7.6 (alkaline) but again they will tolerate a wider ph range. water temps are best kept between 24-26c and stable with a heater unless you have them in an environment that has a constant temp all year.
Q.How do I tell a male from a female?
Best way to tell these fish apart is to look at the anal fin (the one closest to the fishes anus) on a female fish this will look normal and triangular, also she will have a 1/2-1cm dark area inside the body just above this fin, this is called the gravid spot. A male on the other hand is generally smaller than the female. again look at the anal fin. on the male it will be longer and thickened as it is modifyed into a sex organ called a gonipodium that most male livebearers have, usually the male will also hold it flat against the body.
Q.How soon can I tell a male from a female?
If you have very good eyesight or a magnefying glass, sex of fish can be told at a few weeks of age. female fish will have the gravid spot from birth so look for the small dark mark just above the anal fin. Males will only develop gonipodiums at 4-6 weeks of age so it is best to look for the females first.
Q.How do I Save fry?
When fry are born it is their first instinct to swim towards light. In the wild they will 'hide' at the surface in amoungst floating plants. In the aquarium it is best to provide similar surface cover with plants such as floating watersprite (lace fern) the more surface cover you can provide the more fry will be saved. easy to grow fry-savers include watersprite, java moss and java fern. leaving a fake plastic plant floating at the surface will provide similar cover.
