FreeFishCareTips.com By Gale Chester Whittington. .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gay Author
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gay Author
Raising Guppies
| The Happy Guppy By Gale Chester Whittington ==Copyright 2004-2008== |
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HISTORY
In the recent olden days, magical fish breeders took the
rather plain male guppy and, while tripling its body size,
transformed its clear tail into a neon canvas that flows
ostentatiously behind its body like a flag waving in the
wind. Guppies showcasing single or mixed shades of
electric red, blue, purple, black, yellow and all shades in
between now abound.
As for the camouflage-gray female, she has evolved into
a gold or blond breeding machine ten times the size of
her male counterpart. Some individuals sport color and
tail-length rivaling the male. Selective breeding has
rendered her capable of birthing over 300 babies each
and every month.
FEEDING
While breeders often assume guppies must be fed newly
hatched brine shrimp to effect size and substance,
today’s highly digestible flake foods circumvent that
inconvenience. The secret is to feed small amounts often,
every two hours when possible, and to crumble the bits
between the fingers, thereby accommodating all mouth
sizes, adult and juvenile. Dry bloodworms fed once a day
provide welcome variety.
REARING
When choosing to raise young with often-cannibalistic
parents, live plants such as hornwort or watersprite
should be provided for hiding places. The only other
species of fish that can be safely housed with the tiny fry
are white clouds, a colorful minnow native to the
mountain lakes of Japan.
A separate nursery aquarium allows the breeder to raise
the most number of babies. But be advised aquariums
can become addictive in that one often leads to another.
Be prepared to convince the parents/partner that
obsessive fish keeping is a relatively safe fixation
compared to those that destroy livers and fry brains.
MAINTAINING
Clean, fresh, dechlorinated water maximizes fish health.
Guppies prefer slightly alkaline water and fortunately,
that’s how it flows from the tap in most areas. Breakdown
of waste products will eventually cause the water to turn
yellow and acidic. Changing one-third every two weeks
will keep the pH up, as well as the ammonia down, and
stimulate the fish to thank the caretaker by swimming
around the tank in a “happier,” more vigorous manner.
Most importantly, they’ll show their appreciation by
staying alive!
Plants help balance the tank by absorbing ammonia plus
carbon dioxide and recharging the water with oxygen.
But beware! Plants can introduce disease and/or
parasites. This is easily prevented by soaking new
purchases in alum water for ten minutes. Simply buy the
powder at your local drug store and dissolve a
tablespoon in a quart of water. This procedure will also
eliminate plant-eating snails and their eggs. Be sure to
rinse the plants thoroughly after soaking to rid them of
the chemical, which would otherwise poison the fish.
IMPROVING
Recent research found that guppy females allow only the
most “attractive” males to mate with them. However,
these studies failed to reveal what a female guppy
beholds as beauty. To insure your strain doesn’t
downgrade or if you’d like to reinforce a particular trait,
remove (cull) the undesirable but faster short-tailed males
before they attain breeding age.
In the recent olden days, magical fish breeders took the
rather plain male guppy and, while tripling its body size,
transformed its clear tail into a neon canvas that flows
ostentatiously behind its body like a flag waving in the
wind. Guppies showcasing single or mixed shades of
electric red, blue, purple, black, yellow and all shades in
between now abound.
As for the camouflage-gray female, she has evolved into
a gold or blond breeding machine ten times the size of
her male counterpart. Some individuals sport color and
tail-length rivaling the male. Selective breeding has
rendered her capable of birthing over 300 babies each
and every month.
FEEDING
While breeders often assume guppies must be fed newly
hatched brine shrimp to effect size and substance,
today’s highly digestible flake foods circumvent that
inconvenience. The secret is to feed small amounts often,
every two hours when possible, and to crumble the bits
between the fingers, thereby accommodating all mouth
sizes, adult and juvenile. Dry bloodworms fed once a day
provide welcome variety.
REARING
When choosing to raise young with often-cannibalistic
parents, live plants such as hornwort or watersprite
should be provided for hiding places. The only other
species of fish that can be safely housed with the tiny fry
are white clouds, a colorful minnow native to the
mountain lakes of Japan.
A separate nursery aquarium allows the breeder to raise
the most number of babies. But be advised aquariums
can become addictive in that one often leads to another.
Be prepared to convince the parents/partner that
obsessive fish keeping is a relatively safe fixation
compared to those that destroy livers and fry brains.
MAINTAINING
Clean, fresh, dechlorinated water maximizes fish health.
Guppies prefer slightly alkaline water and fortunately,
that’s how it flows from the tap in most areas. Breakdown
of waste products will eventually cause the water to turn
yellow and acidic. Changing one-third every two weeks
will keep the pH up, as well as the ammonia down, and
stimulate the fish to thank the caretaker by swimming
around the tank in a “happier,” more vigorous manner.
Most importantly, they’ll show their appreciation by
staying alive!
Plants help balance the tank by absorbing ammonia plus
carbon dioxide and recharging the water with oxygen.
But beware! Plants can introduce disease and/or
parasites. This is easily prevented by soaking new
purchases in alum water for ten minutes. Simply buy the
powder at your local drug store and dissolve a
tablespoon in a quart of water. This procedure will also
eliminate plant-eating snails and their eggs. Be sure to
rinse the plants thoroughly after soaking to rid them of
the chemical, which would otherwise poison the fish.
IMPROVING
Recent research found that guppy females allow only the
most “attractive” males to mate with them. However,
these studies failed to reveal what a female guppy
beholds as beauty. To insure your strain doesn’t
downgrade or if you’d like to reinforce a particular trait,
remove (cull) the undesirable but faster short-tailed males
before they attain breeding age.
| FREE FICTION! Hilarious short stories, poems, essays, blog, and novel excerpts by award-winning author, GaleChesterWhittington .com |
| Male half-black red tailed guppy. Ragged fins are considered a fault |
| A couple of the author's red-tailed neon-bodied guppies. |
Author's drawing of an idealized guppy pair.
| Photos of the author's own guppies start here: Pics & Tips: Guppies Page 5 Return to Home/Index |
