Kinds of Guppies

As one of the most popular aquarium fish choices, guppies add a splash of color to many freshwater tanks. Guppies have many distinguishing features and attract fish enthusiasts with their wide array of markings and shapes. With new guppy breeds arising each day, these physical traits help to sort them by shape, color and gender. The small size, great diversity and ability to coexist in large groups make guppies an easy fish to maintain and enjoy in aquariums.

  1. Color

    • The color of a guppy determines its likelihood to attract a mate and reproduce. While brightly colored guppies appeal to the opposite sex, they also entice predators and therefore have a shorter life span. Guppies fall into four different color categories: greens and blues, reds and pinks, oranges and yellows or purples, grays and blacks. Guppies display many variations of the shades within each category. Some guppies have one solid body color while others have different colors on fins and tails.

    Patterns

    • The distinctive marks of patterns also help guppies to either stand out or blend in among the crowd. The most popular patterns, such as mosaic, tuxedo, grass, leopard and cobra, decorate guppies around the world. The cobra guppy has a snakeskin pattern while the tuxedo guppy sports a black bottom half. The grass, mosaic and leopard guppies all have spots. Grass guppies have small spots, mosaic spots are medium and connected and leopard guppies have large spots.

    Fins and Tails

    • Guppies have various tail types, including wild, pin, spade, top sword, bottom sword, double sword, lyre, delta and fan. The wild tail occurs most commonly and the delta tail has a triangle shape. A bottom sword tail has a long fin on the bottom, a top sword has a long fin on the top and a double sword has one on each side of the tail. Spade and fan tails resemble their names and the pin and lyre reflect the middle part of the tail. Lyre tails have a shorter middle part while pin tails have a longer one. All guppies either have ribbon or swallow long fins. The ribbon type has an elongated fin and the swallow type has a rugged one.

    Gender

    • Guppies stand out in the world of fish as one of the only species to have live births. Guppies have features to set them apart by gender and lead them to the opposite sex. Male guppies showcase bright colors while females usually have gray tones. Male and female guppies both have anal, caudal, pectoral and dorsal fins, but the females have two extra fins, the gravid and pelvic fins. Females fins also typically spread out while male fins stay back and pointed.