How to Care for Your Fancy Guppy

Fancy guppies are always on the move. These quick fish come in all colors, with many different fin shapes, such as rounded, flag-tail and triangle-tail. A member of the Poeciliidae, or live-bearing, family, guppies are found in Florida, Barbados, Trinidad, Guyana and northern Brazil. Guppies do well when mixed with other docile tank fish.

Things You'll Need

2 tanks, 4 to 5 gallons each
2 filters with air pumps
2 tank lights
Gravel
Water
Teaspoon
Noniodized salt
Ferns
2 thermometers
2 tank heaters
pH-level kit
Fresh, live and flake fish food
Small net
Small gravel rake
Battery-operated siphon
Floss
Other compatible fish
Tulle
Rubber band
Magnifying glass

Instructions

- 1
  
  Help hide the guppies with fake decorations.
  
  Place a box filter with an air pump inside the tank. Pour fine gravel along the bottom. Fill the tank with dechlorinated water and add 1 to 1.25 teaspoons of noniodized salt. Decorate with floating ferns, which provides shelter for the fry (babies) so the guppies will not eat them.
- 2
  
  Monitor the water for the guppies' health.
  
  Keep the water at about 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Use a heater if the temperature drops more than 4 degrees at night. Drastic drops in temperature can lead to problems such as ich, white spots on a fish's body caused by a parasite. Test the pH level of the water with a kit to make sure it is between 6.8 and 7.6.
- 3
  Give guppies several small feedings a day, including a combination of live, fresh and flake food. Throw in a treat of brine shrimp, which is high in protein, or blood worms every other day. Allow guppies to also nibble on algae. Keep in mind that if a guppy does not get enough food, it will eat the fry in the tank.
- 4
  Clean the tank once a week by siphoning the water. Remove as much water from the top of the tank as possible with a net. This catches fish waste and old food flakes. Rake the gravel on the bottom of the tank to release the debris. Place the siphon into the tank and begin cleaning through the suction. Add fresh dechlorinated water.
- 5
  Remove the filter and change the floss, the item that traps the particles in the filter, about once a week when it starts to turn brown. Add some of the used floss to the new floss to keep the nitrifying bacteria that breaks down ammonia in the water.
- 6
  Mix the fish if you want fry. A ratio of two to three females for every male works well for breeding. Add corydoras catfish, which clean up leftover food on the bottom of the tank, platies and mollies to the tank. Keep out fish such as serpae tetras, black widow tetras and tiger barbs, because they are likely to eat the fins of the guppies.
- 7
  
  Enlarge the gender area for easier recognition.
  
  Raise the fry. Set up a separate tank by taking water from the initial tank. Cover suction devices with a rubber band and tulle fabric to stop the fry from being sucked in. Add filtration, heating and lighting, but no gravel. Set the temperature to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Reduce the temperature to 78 degrees Fahrenheit as they mature. Feed the fry up to five times a day by grinding flake food into powder with your fingers.
- 8
  Separate the male and female fry at four weeks. Take out a fish, place it in water from the tank and look under the tail through a magnifying glass. Look for the gonopodium, a long, thin anal fin for males or the gravid spot, a dark-colored spot on females. Keep the ones you want and give the rest to a pet store or a guppy distributor.