Keeping and Breeding Fancy Tail Guppies

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.

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.

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.