Care for fancy guppies?

Question

I am saving up for a aquarium full of fancy guppies but first I need to know what it takes. I do not know how to care for regular guppies either. I want to start a aquarium garden in the tank what plants are good for that? Do they eat plants? What can you do for population control? Of course I don't want to do anything cruel to them! I just don't want a big hole in my allowance!! How often do they breed? What kind of tank do they need? Etc etc


I also want some additional breeds in the tank what other fish can live with them?

Do you have to feed the fry anything special AND do you have to take the fry out. Basically GIVE ME ANY ADVICE YOU HAVE

How long do they live for? When they die do you have to take the body out?

Is Petsmart or wal-mart good places to buy them? Or even petsco.

Answer 1

I have 5 guppies, 4 fancy and a feeder, and they are the easiest fish to take care of. They have a high immune system, so they dont get sick easy, they dont need a heater, and they are really just simple little creatures. They also dont NEED a filter if you dont want one, but filters help the water stay cleaner longer. On thanksgiving, i got a fancy, and I didnt know she was pregnant. She died while giving birth, but i got 4 babies out of it. :) If you want to get more than one, make sure you get double the amount of females than you do males...(IE, 2 males, 4 females) Male guppy are really sexual and will try and "get it" whenever he can. They tell you this so there are more females for the men to pick from, and one female doesnt get stressed from the men chasing it around all the time. Oh, and watch it, they will reproduce every 28 days if old enough...and they only have to be about three months old in order to have babies. Fry...You want to keep the fry in a seperate tank for about 2 months if you want them to live. Otherwise the momma and other fish will eat them. What I did, is i took ONE flake of food, and crushed it....rubbed my fingers together and made it like a powder, and dropped it in the tank...The fry will eat it, trust me. I have one plant in my tank, and its plastic. I dont think they really NEED plants, unless you dont plan on seperating the prego fish from the rest. Then the babies have something to hide in. My suggestion would be getting fake plants, because live ones make the water murky real fast. If you want population control, leave the prego guppy in with the rest of the fish, it will cut down on the number of fish that actually survive. They can have up to 25 fry at a time.
I had an alge eater in with my guppies, and they were fine..both fish are verry passive aggressive. They shouldnt bother eachother. Snails and ghost shrimp are good too...I have 2 shrimp, and a snail in my tank....If you have a guppy that dies, and you have a snail, the snail will probably eat it within a couple of days. If not, then i would take him out. Oh, and my hubby suggests a 10 gallon with a light. Thats what we have. Make sure that you dont have more than a half of an inch of fish per gallon of water....Until its stable, and your tank has been set for about six months. I would suggest getting 1 or 2 fish of the same sex, to make sure you can keep them first. Other than that, i don think there is anymore i can tell you. I have told you all I know...Oh wait! You will know a fish is going to have babies when they get really big and 'boxy' in the stomach, you will be able to see the fry when she gets big enough, and she will have a dark spot on the bottom of her stomach toward her tailfin. Hope this helped!

Answer 2

Wow, that's really a tall order for a Yahoo answers question. There are loads of things you need to know to do a really good job of keeping your new aquarium. You are off to a great start though by asking questions BEFORE you get the tank and fish. If everyone did that they would all have successful aquariums!

Here's a few links to help you start earning about your new hobby, read up and you'll find most of your answers in these links.

For great guppy info you can't beat the International Fancy Guppy Association. Here's their beginners page:

http://www.ifga.org/beginners/beginners_corner.htm

Here's a good page to get info for people new to aquarium keeping:

http://www.petfish.net/articles/Aquarium_Basics/equip.php

And finally some info about a planted aquarium:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?acatid=328&aid=885

Once you put all this together and google up a few more pages, you will be ready to start getting your tank and equipment together.

The stores you mention can be a good place to get equipment and good prices, but I would avoid buying fish there or going to any of them for advice. Your best bet is to spend the little bit extra and go to a good pet shop or aquarium store. In the long run it will really save you money big time!

Hope this helps!

MM

Answer 3

Fancy guppies are actually not suitable for such a small tank. I recommend you upgrade to at least a 20g. They thrive when kept in groups of at least four to five. When breeding guppies, it is important to keep three females for every one male. Otherwise stress and aggression levels will occur. Their pH should be maintained around 7.0-8.0. They should be kept in an aquarium maintained at a temperature of 78-80F. They prefer harder water, so keep the hardness between 10-20 dH. They're omnivores, so they should be kept on a staple diet of pellets/flakes, supplemented with protein such as blood worms, brine shrimp, etc.

Answer 4

www.fancyguppy.com
http://www.fancyguppies.co.uk/page12.htm (Good Site!)