Keeping and Breeding Fancy Tail Guppies

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Fancy Guppy: Tips For Keeping And Breeding Them

The Fancy Guppy (Poecilia Reticulata) is one of the most popular fresh water fish and the most popular live bearing fish in the hobby. They can be found in a wide range of ornamental shapes and color varieties. Guppies are low maintenance and fun to keep. The bright colors can add a spark of beauty to any freshwater aquarium.

Learn more about Fancy Tail Guppies and other freshwater aquarium fish at Bala Shark Bay Aquarium Fish Resource.

Fancy Guppy Video 

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Live Bearer Links 

Follow some of these links to great sources of information on guppies and the other popular live bearing fish
Swordtails
Swordtails are very easy to keep and very easy to breed. They mix very well with Platys and Mollies. A Swordtail fish is a great choice for a community tank.
Platys
Platys are easy to take care of and will accept all types of foods. They are hardy and will tolerate a wide range of water conditions. A platy is an excellent fish for a first time aquarist and first time breeder.
Fancy Guppies
The Fancy Guppy is the most popular live bearing fish in the hobby today.
Black Mollies
The Black Molly is easy to keep and easy to breed. They are social and very active fish. They are a great addition to any community tank.

A Healthy Fancy Tail Guppy 

Fancy Guppies are popular because of the bright vibrant colors and their relative hardiness. Male Guppies develop long flowing brightly colored tails. Although they are hardy, males should not be introduced to a tank that has not yet been cycled because of their delicate tail.

Optimal water conditions for a fancy guppy is a water temperature between 72 and 79 F, pH range of 5.5 to 8.5 and a water hardness of between 10 to 30 dGH.

Providing a clean tank with optimal water conditions will insure that your fancy tail guppies will live long and always show the brightest colors.

Tips for Breading Fancy Tail Guppies 

Fancy Guppies are live bearing fish. They carry their eggs inside them after fertilization for a gestation period of 4 or 5 weeks than they give birth to live fry. This means that there are no eggs to protect from predators.

Like all live bearing fish, fancy tail guppies are very easy to breed. All it takes is placing a male and a female in an aquarium together and letting nature take it's course. Often female fancy guppies that are bought at a local pet store will already be pregnant.

The challenge with breeding fancy tail guppies is not getting them to breed but protecting the fry when the fry are born. Live bearing fish are notorious for eating their own fry after they are born. There are various options available for protecting the fry when they are born. Some are commercial breeding traps and plants for the fry to use to hide in for protection.

Protect Your Facy Tail Guppy Fry 

Fancy Tail Guppies are notorious for their tendency to try to eat their fry soon after they are born so it is important that something is done to protect them from their mother. There are a few options available to an aquarium owner to protect the fry.

Use a commercial breeding trap to separate mom from the fry when they are born. These special traps can be purchased at local pet stores. They are plastic containers that float inside the aquarium that have multiple compartments which divide the mother from the fry when they are born. After the fry have been born the mother can then be removed and the trap can be used to hold the fry till they are big enough to not get eaten.

The other option is using plant thickets with tight spaces to offer the fry a place to hide from mom after being born. Special plants can also be bought at local pet stores. These plants are often called baby hides. Using plants like this is better because it puts less stress on the mother. However there is greater chance that some fry may not make it to the cover provided by the plant.

Popular Types of Fancy Tail Guppies 

  • Flag-Tail Guppy
  • Fan-Tail Guppy
  • Veil-Tail Guppy
  • Delta Guppy
  • Lyre-Tail Guppy
  • Double Sword Guppy
  • Pin-Tail Guppy
  • Spade-Tail Guppy

Aquarium Fish News From Practical Fishkeeping 

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Get Answers to Your Fancy Tail Guppy Questions 

If you have any questions about anything to do with Fancy Tail Guppies or any other aquarium fish there is one great place to ask questions and get answers. Yahoo Answers is a place where you can ask questions and then other people can give their advice to try to answer your questions. Follow me on Yahoo Answers.

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Guppy Vids on YouTube 

Check out the Fancy Guppy vids from YouTube.
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  • Reply
    Koi_Lover Koi_Lover May 23, 2009 @ 7:35 am
    Wow time to breed some guppies...nice man 5 stars for you
  • Reply
    AdrienneJenkins AdrienneJenkins Feb 10, 2009 @ 11:58 am
    I just discovered you from the Top 100 Lensmaster group. Love guppies, were my first pet.
  • Reply
    heehaw heehaw Jan 2, 2009 @ 3:00 pm
    Guppy are very colorful fishes, it can be a good pet. 5 star for you.
  • Reply
    CoolFoto CoolFoto Dec 13, 2008 @ 7:48 pm
    Welcome to Tropical Fish group www.squidoo.com/groups/tropicalfish . 5*.
  • Reply
    ANDRI ANDRI Jul 20, 2008 @ 9:29 pm
    Good lens informative. I favorite it and give five ratings. You has explain me
  • Reply
    ElizabethJeanAllen ElizabethJeanAllen Jul 4, 2008 @ 10:19 am
    Great lens. I love all your fish lenses. They are well written and interesting.
    5*
    Lizzy
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  • Reply
    rms rms Jul 2, 2008 @ 5:05 pm
    Congratulations on becoming a Giant!
  • Reply
    alicesy alicesy Jun 26, 2008 @ 9:21 pm
    Excellent Lens. I like the quality insight you have provided here about Keeping and Breeding Fancy Tail Guppies. Keep up the good work.

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    A_RovingReporter A_RovingReporter Jun 22, 2008 @ 7:45 am
    Great five-star guppy lens.
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Great Deals on Fish Tanks on eBay 

eBay offers a great way to save money on aquariums and aquarium supplies. You can often find fish tanks for much less than the cost of buying them at the local pet store.

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Fancy Tail Guppy on Wikipedia 

The guppy (), also known as the millionfish, is one of the most popular freshwater aquarium fish species in the world. It is a small member of the Poecilidae family (females 4?6 centimetres long, males 2½-3½ centimetres long) and like all other members of the family, is live-bearing.

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love aquariums and aquarium fish keeping. I have either been around or owned fish since I was really little. I currently have a 20 gallon community ta...

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