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Can someone give me some basic info on cold water guppies?

First welcome to fishprofiles, we are a funloving group who are more than welcome to help you, just feel free to ask...

OK basics on guppies....I can do that....

Depending on what you consider cold, they like 64-82F (18-28C) Mine do best at about 76-78. They are really easy to care for...

OK from the beginning sorry...

1 male to 2 or 3 females is a good ratio, I wouldn't put them in anything under 10 or 15 gallon...if they are in a 29 gallon even better.

They are livebearers, and breed quite easily from the time they are 3 or 4 months old. (joked about even breeding in a mud puddle if they were in one) They reproduce every 28-32 days, and the first few batches of fry may be less than 10 fry...as the female gets older and grows larger, she can have as many as 100-200 fry at a time (or so I've heard ). If a female has been in a tank with a male and the male is removed this does not mean that she can not reproduce again, as the females can store sperm and have 6-9 more batches (depending on where you read) of fry from what she holds.

I feed them a basic Tetra flake, sometimes other assorted "fish food", love fresh "over" cooked so that they are mushy veggies, will eat some fruits (on occasion), and pasta (though you have to watch the pasta, and carbs). My guppies favorites are green peas, squeezed out of their skin (the peas, not the guppies ).

To have a better survival of fry you should have a planted tank or hiding holes that the adults can not get into...though I have had them survive without anything to hide in, just very few though. (plants are best)...when the fry come I feed them the regular fish food...To be honest I've gotten so I just feed everyone the crushed flakes, all the time. (put them in a ziplock back and grind them to a powder...instant fry food)

Be sure to get a male that you really like the colors of as, eventually this will become your predominate color in the tank, not the only color though...don't believe that all females are ugly...my best breeding females are my pretties!

To tell the difference in sexes (almost forgot this, sorry) the male will have a long pencil like anal fin (the fin that is on their bellies/bottom), and the females will have a fan shaped fin.

I love these little fishies, they have a good personality once they get used to you. I am often messing in their tank and they are always friendly and nibble/peck at my hands/fingers/and arms (it doesn't hurt at all, not like my cichlids bites)...they swarm at me each time I go near the tanks...this is just them showing recognition of you being the feeder...(don't overfeed, it will mess up your water specs, and make the tank ugly!!! Twice a day once in the morning, once at night...)

That's all I can think of sorry it's so long...any questions feel free to ask...Heidi

Oops, here is a link to their profile guppy profile



Last edited by heidi at 30-Dec-2004 23:53[/font]

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

Im feeding my guppies crushed goldfish flakes (I have 2 red caps in my tank also) Is mthat allright?

Thank you so much you would do well in a speech competitionHAPPY NEW YEAR




Last edited by dude_dude at 31-Dec-2004 16:31

If you only really knew...

As an added bonus here are some recent (this morning) pictures of mine...(I guess it's a bonus )

One of my typical males...red tail with bluish/purple highlights. Dorsal Fin (top fin) is silvery white[/small/


One of my younger females. (abt 6-8 months old) She is gravid (blackish/grey spot on abdoment--pregnant). Has a bluish tail, and longish blue dorsal fin.


New male. Half black, smaller tail, shorter dorsal fin, rather young I suspect...was in need of new blood in the tank and thought he would make a nice addition. Have a female that matches him, also in the tank, but is very shy, and rather gravid (suspect fry in the near future ), tail in back ground is the first guppy I showed posted (he seems to be a camera ham today )


Glad the other information could help...Heidi

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"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

I just started breeding my guppies i got from a pet store.(duh!)and i can home from school 1 day and i found 9 baby guppies in the breeding tank. so i took em' out and they were this big --> | |. i don't know who there father is so thier color will be a suprise!I feed em' livebearer baby fish food.(thats what its called.)they've been alive for 3 weeks now so i must doin it rite!o0o0oo yeah...
!!!WELCOME...WELCOME...WELCOME!!!

Is this a new tank? Are you new to guppy keeping or new to fish keeping?

max

Guppies are my favorite fish and FYI there is no such thing as coldwater guppies, they will not do well in unheated water, otherwise they are rather hardy. Ottos and guppies IMO look great in a tank together, the personalities work togetherer sooooooooooooooooooooo great!