Livebearers - Aquarium Fish City: Freshwater Aquarium Setup, Care, and Maintenance

Ideal TDS For Guppy Tank

Total dissolved solids (or TDS) is a technical term that describes the quality and presence of particles (organic and inorganic) that lie in the water inside your tank. This number is extremely important for keeping your fish healthy and tank safe. TDS is measured in part per million (ppm).

This article will explore the best TDS for the fish species of guppies. If you have different species of fish, then the correct TDS for those fish may be different than the TDS for guppies.

Guppies are generally most content in a TDS range between 400 and 600 ppm. However, you may find research which claims that guppies can survive in a TDS range between 200 and 1000 ppm. While that may be true, guppies are most comfortable between 400 and 600 ppm and you will want to get your aquarium set up to support this range.

Does TDS Affect Guppies?

The simple answer to this question is: yes! TDS actually affects all different species of fish. Guppies will absolutely be affected by the TDS of their water.

Guppies are a an extremely popular breed of fish. This is because when they are taken care of well and are happy, they can live for quite some time.

If you want your guppies to have a high quality of life, you need to take care of the TDS of your tank among everything else. So, what exactly is it that is affected by the TDS of the water in your tank?

Essentially, the higher the level of TDS in your tank, the lower the oxygen levels are within the tank. Fish need specific levels of oxygen in order to remain healthy.

Because TDS measures the particles in the water, it can be assumed that a higher TDS means that there is not room for the oxygen within the water. The oxygen is being crowded out by the other things unseen to the eye that are in the water.

When guppies do not have access to the amount of oxygen they need, then they will struggle to breathe. Much like humans, fish need a certain amount of oxygen to function properly. If their breathing is not going well, then they will begin to suffer from other health issues as well.

It seems pretty well established that if you want to have healthy guppies, you need to keep a regular check on the TDS inside of your tank. But, how exactly do you check the TDS of a tank at any given time?

How to Measure TDS?

It is actually pretty simple to measure the TDS levels within your tank in order to keep your guppies healthy.

First, you will need to purchase a TDS meter. You can find these online or in the aquatic section of a local pet store. How does the TDS meter work?

Step 1: First, measure the water temperature. Usually, the TDS meter has a function that will measure the temperature for you if you simply put the device into the water.

Step 2: Once you have garnered an accurate water temperature, get the device set to measure the TDS. Usually, there are buttons that will allow you to set the device to perform these different functions.

Step 3: Place the device back into the water of the tank. This time, the device will display the TDS of the tank.

Measuring the TDS of the water within your tank is actually really simple. This can be a process that can make sure your fish are happy and healthy. However, you may be wondering what you should do if the TDS is too high?

How to Reduce TDS In Your Aquarium Water?

If you get a reading for your TDS that is too high for the recommended levels, you will want to immediately reduce the TDS to make sure that your fish can breathe.

Here, you will find some simple tips for keeping the TDS of your fish tank within a normal range for the health of your fish:

Do Not Feed Your Fish Too Much

Feeding your fish too often results in an awful lot of extra junk floating around in the fish tank.

The best advice you can get for feeding your guppies is to only feed them enough for them to entirely eat it in 3-5 minutes.

Feeding them too much will result in extra food settling into the bottom of the tank. Further, when fish overeat, they produce more waste than they do when they are eating just enough.

Regularly Change Water

This advice might seem like something you are already doing, but dirty water is a huge sign that the TDS levels are out of whack.

If you do not regularly change the water within your tank, then waste and uneaten food will begin to take over the oxygen supply for your fish.

Perform Maintenance Checks

Regular maintenance of your fish tank is necessary for keeping your fish healthy and happy while living in your tank.

There is a lot of waste that actually sticks to the floor and the walls of your fish tank. Physically going in and removing that waste is a good way to keep those TDS levels in check for the health of your fish.

How Does TDS Get in your Guppy Tank?

If you are wondering how high TDS levels occur to begin with, you are not alone. There are many different reasons that your fish tank may experience high levels of TDS.

Most commonly, high TDS levels will occur if you are using tap water to fill your aquarium. Tap water typically has a higher TDS level than bottled water, so you will need to follow the steps outlined above to keep the TDS levels from increasing rapidly.

Fish waste is another reason that TDS levels tend to boost in the water. This is why overfeeding guppies is a big no no. When you feed them too much, they produce too much waste.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, TDS is crucial for maintaining the health of your guppies. Be sure to keep a lookout for TDS levels and follow the steps too keep them down.

Pregnant Guppy Fish Care

Much like when we find out our friends or relatives are expecting, finding out one of our pets is expecting is extremely exciting. However, taking care of a pregnant fish might seem a bit overwhelming for the new fish owner.

In this article, we are going to cover what to expect when your guppy is expecting a little bundle of baby fish. We are going to explore the guppy gestation, caring for your pregnant guppies, and so much more!

If you suspect that your guppy might be expecting babies, then join us as we discuss what to expect on this wild ride.

How to Tell if a Guppy is Pregnant?

Unfortunately, there is no pregnancy test that you can dip in the water to learn if your guppy is pregnant or not. However, there are many symptoms you can look out for that will help you discern if you may be expecting some baby fish soon.

Some pregnant fish will show a physical sign such as a bulging belly. At first, this may be hard to definitively show whether or not your fish is expecting. Bloating can happen in fish too, so a little bit of a belly is not always a sign of pregnancy. However, if you notice a guppy’s belly slowly growing larger over time, you can safely assume the guppy is pregnant.

Guppies also have some fairly distinct behavior that they exhibit when they are in the season of mating. You can see when males chase females in order to mate them, they will chase them until they make them too tired to move anymore. The female has no choice but to stop running and allow the male to mate with her. If you see this, then there is a good chance the female will be pregnant soon.

Pregnant guppies may also shake or shiver when they normally would not. You may notice a pregnant guppy rubbing herself along the wall of the tank or rubbing against decorations within your tank.

While none of these symptoms alone will show that your guppy is pregnant, if a guppy is showing multiple symptoms, then you can be pretty certain she is pregnant.

Pregnant Guppy Stages and Gestation?

Each and every guppy will actually have a unique situation that will change her gestation period. Factors such as the guppy’s overall health, the conditions in the tank and water, and the stress level of the mother guppy.

On average, the gestation period for a guppy is pretty short. Research suggests that guppy gestations last from 21 to 31 days but pregnancy ending from 22 to 26 days is most common.

This short period of gestation does not give the fish owner much time to notice the pregnancy or to prepare for the possibility of baby guppies. Keeping an eye out for mating is a good idea if you would like to be prepared for a baby guppy takeover.

However, female guppies can actually hold and store male sperm for up to 8 months. This means that theoretically your female guppy could become pregnant long after you bring her home from the pet store.

An interesting fact about this is that the long period of time that sperm can live within a female guppy is considered a means of survival. Male guppies tend to only have a lifespan of around 2-3 months. Females, on the other hand, can survive for around 2 years. Storing sperm allows the female guppy to have babies even if no male is around.

Can You Speed Up Gestation in Guppies?

If you are wanting to decrease the already short gestation in a pregnant guppy, there are a few things you can do to reduce the pregnancy time.

You can start by slowly increasing the temperature in the tank the guppy lives in. It is not a good idea to suddenly heat your tank up very quickly, so the key is to increase the temperature slowly.

This will take you several days. Each morning, simply set the heater inside of your tank to a slightly higher temperature. You only want to increase the temperature by one or maybe two degrees at a time. Raising the temperature too high or too quickly could actually cause the pregnancy to terminate.

Another method for decreasing the time gestation takes within guppies is to switch the pregnant guppy to a high protein diet. Changing their food to include bloodworms or even purchasing some brine shrimp is a great way to do this.

If you want to give your guppies the most high protein quality food, feed them live shrimp or worms. However, if you cannot get ahold of live foods, give them frozen ones over dried or canned foods.

These two methods are not guaranteed to reduce the gestation time, but they are certainly worth a shot if you are looking to decrease your wait time.

How Many Babies do Guppies Have at One time?

Guppies give birth to what is referred to as a live fry. If that sounds like a lot of fish babies, it actually could be! A live fry can be anywhere from 2 to 200 fry at a time.

The birth can last upwards of 6 hours, but it could go all the way to 12 hours if the mother guppy is actually stressed.

Do not panic. Guppies who are pregnant will not always give birth to 200 fry, and not all of them will survive. In fact, Guppies are one of many fish species who turn cannibalistic after they give birth. If you do not remove her from her fry, she may eat them all.

Why Pregnant Guppy Not Giving Birth?

There are a few reasons why a guppy may not give birth, even if you know that she was most certainly pregnant. This may be concerning as a pet owner, but it is actually common for a pregnant guppy to abort the pregnancy in certain conditions.

If the temperature in your tank is too low, then a pregnant guppy will not give birth. Make sure that you check the temperature and do not lower it if you believe your guppy may be pregnant.

A stressed out guppy will also sometimes not give birth in time. This can happen if your guppy feels crowded or if the other fish in the tank do not leave her alone during the gestational time she will not give birth.

Caring for a Pregnant Guppy?

Caring for a pregnant guppy is not that different from caring for your guppy any other time. However, there are a few things that you may want to consider when caring for a pregnant guppy.

First, you may consider adding more variety into your pregnant guppy’s diet. This can help to avoid deficiencies that would terminate or risk the pregnancy. As mentioned above, you may want to add brine shrimp or blood worms into the diet. You can also alternate pellets, flakes, and even algae discs to make sure she gets what she needs.

As mentioned before, you will want to help your pregnant guppy avoid stress. Other fish in the tank can stress the pregnant mother out, especially if she has no way to hide from those other fish. The mother may absorb the babies rather than give birth which will obviously end the pregnancy.

You may consider purchasing a breeding box to help your pregnant guppy fish separate from the other fish in the tank. However, you want to make sure that this is not done too soon. Being in a breeding box may actually cause even more stress, so you do not want to do this early.

A breeding box is a good place for the pregnant guppy to have her fry for various reasons. Having the fry in a breeding box can allow you to quickly separate her from the fry without the risk of her eating them.

Signs Your Guppy is Ready to Give Birth

When the pregnant guppy is ready to give birth, then he or she will begin to display some specific behavior that can be an indicator of the beginning stages of labor. Typically, a guppy who is ready to give birth will display at least two of the following behaviors, if not more.

You will need to know this information especially if you are planning to place your pregnant guppy in a separate tank or a breeding box. These signs are tell-tale signs that the guppy should be moved.

Her Belly Changes Shape

We have mentioned how a pregnant guppy will have a bulge in her belly. When she is about to give birth, this bulge will take more of a square shape and will actually seem a bit bulkier than it ever has before.

Staying Put

If your pregnant guppy seems to be swimming in one place rather than moving about the tank, then this may be a sign that labor has begun. This is actually one of the most commonly reported behaviors that a guppy is about to give birth.

Hiding & Rubbing

Fish frequently hide in the foliage at the bottom of an aquarium. However, excessive hiding can be a sign that a pregnant guppy is about to give birth.

Rubbing her body along the plants or decorations at the bottom of the tank can also be a sign of labor. Your guppy may also rub her body along the walls of the tank, all of these are signs that your pregnant guppy is about to give birth.

Nervous or Aggressive Behavior

When you approach the tank, the guppy may get nervous. This is a good sign that labor has begun. This is marked by the guppy suddenly hiding when she sees you approach the tank.

You may also notice aggressive behavior from a guppy in labor. The guppy may bite or chase other fish that come near her. This a good sign that labor has begun.

Other Signs

If your guppy is routinely flexing her spine, then this is a sign that labor is looming. This can be easily spotted if the guppy moves her tail in an upward movement.

Shaking or shivering can also be a good sign that the guppy is in labor at the time of observing this behavior.

The last sign that a guppy is actively in labor is that she refuses to eat. Guppies who are in labor will not swim for food or show any interest in feeding time.

Moving Fry from Breeding Tank to Main Tank

Introducing the baby guppies to the main tank actually has a few important steps on its own. You want to make sure you do this in a way that insures their survival.

Make sure that the baby guppies have had plenty of time to grow and thrive on their own. You will want to make sure they are about an inch long, but the other fish may still be big enough to eat them at that time.

You also want to ensure that all of the fish in both tanks are healthy before combining the tanks. Otherwise, this could have devastating effects on the tank as a whole. You can easily check the health of the fish by looking for spots and looking out for odd behavior.

As mentioned before, smaller fish need a lot of hiding places to make sure that they are not at risk for being eaten. Being able to hide will also reduce their stress in a new place.

As usual, you will want to ensure that the tank is the same temperature as the breeding tank.

One last pro tip, go ahead and feed the fish in your community tank. This will make the small fish much less appetizing if the bigger fish are already full from eating their daily meal.

Final Thoughts

Having a pregnant guppy is an exciting adventure and can be really fun to watch. However, it is important that you take the necessary advice to keep your pregnant guppy and her babies safe. Good luck on this new adventure.

Best Commercial & Homemade Guppy Food for Color and Growth

In their natural habitat in the wild, Guppies are omnivores. As such, they’ll eat almost anything you offer them. They’ll eat meat-based foods as well as plant-based foods.

Live foods provide a much-needed source of nutrients for guppies. In the wild, guppies will eat a wide variety of live foods. Some of their favorites include:

Insect larvae
Invertebrates
Diatoms
Brine shrimp

Commercial foods are available in an endless selection. Not only do you have a variety of manufacturers to choose from, but you also have a large selection of different kinds of commercial foods.

You also have the option of preparing food at home for your guppies. It can be time-consuming, though. If you want healthier and more vibrant colored fish, you might consider making their food at home. However, the commercial foods on the market today are of high quality and full of nutrients.

Guppies in the wild like to nibble on the soft algae that grow on plants. Stocking your aquarium with an abundance of live aquatic plants will serve as an additional organic food source for your adult guppies as well as any guppy fry you may have.

Make sure you don’t overfeed your guppies. Overfeeding can lead to constipation and excess waste, which will ultimately disrupt the water chemistry in your tank.

Best Commercial Guppy Food Reviews

When looking at commercial guppy food, you want ingredients that provide maximum amounts of protein, vitamins, minerals, and fats.

Adult guppies love freeze-dried blood worms. They are a great source of fat, and you should only feed it to your guppies in small amounts. You can feed it to your fry as well, which will greatly improve their growth rate.

If you are conditioning your guppies, freeze-dried tubifex worms make an excellent treat once a week. However, do not feed your fish live tubifex worms because they can carry harmful bacteria that could kill your fish.

Flake Food

The most popular commercial food amongst hobbyists is flake foods. Flake foods come packed with minerals and vitamins high in the proteins necessary for your guppies to stay healthy. With high-quality flake foods, you only need to feed your guppies once a day.

Also, make sure to keep an eye on the expiration date of the flake food. The potency of the vitamins and minerals in expired foods will diminish significantly.

Veggie Pellets

Another addition to your guppy’s diet should be veggie pellets. They are high in calcium and iron, as well as vitamins B, C, D, and E. Most brands include greens such as kelp or algae, spirulina, plankton, and various vegetables.

Spirulina Tablets

Spirulina tablets contain natural carotenoid pigments, which will enhance your fish’s natural colors. It will also give your guppies healthier tails and fins, as well as resistance to skin infections.

New Life Spectrum Optimum Flakes

With all-natural preservatives, no artificial preservatives, colors, or flavors, this high-quality flake food if perfect for your marine and freshwater fish. Due to their positive buoyancy, the majority of the flakes float rather than sinking to the bottom.

New Life Spectrum contains garlic to support a healthy immune system, a variety of seaweed and algae, as well as marine proteins that are easily digestible. Naturally enhances your fish’s coloring. Made in the USA.

Hikari Usa Tropical Fancy Guppy For Pet Health

With soft granules, the Hikari USA Tropical Fancy food is perfect for guppy fry, juvenile, and adult fish. The ingredients contain everything needed for healthy guppies, including stabilized vitamin C, which supports a healthy immune system.

It also contains linolenic acid, which promotes growth, as well as seaweed-derived iodine, to improve overall conditioning.

It’s also ideal for livebearers such as guppies, platies, mollies, and swordtails. Rich in protein, these semi-floating granules do not cloud your tank water. The pellets sink very slowly, giving the fish plenty of time to eat before it reaches the bottom of your tank.

The small pellets act like a sponge and absorb water, making the texture soft without completely dissolving. The food stays together and doesn’t lose any nutrients to the water.

Aquacarium Brine Shrimp

Aquacarium Brine Shrimp is an excellent treat for all fish, whether saltwater or freshwater. Freshly dried and all-natural, this food is made up of large cubed brine shrimp, which can be broken into smaller pieces.

Your larger fish can enjoy it whole, while smaller fish will be able to pick it apart. This high-quality fish food is perfect for conditioning your fish for breeding.

Brine shrimp is a great source of protein and can be fed to both your adult and fry once or twice a week.

API Fish Food Pellets

Perfect for meeting all nutritional needs, API offers a complete and balanced diet for your small tropical community fish. API combines high-quality shrimp and squid proteins to encourage optimal growth.

It contains an enhanced protein that allows easy and maximum absorption of nutrients, resulting in the fish releasing less ammonia.

This will help keep the water in your tank cleaner and clearer, which means your fish will have a healthier environment, ensuring they stay healthy as well.

API pellets are formulated to sink slowly. They are easily digestible, and they enhance your guppy’s natural coloring.

Tropical Micro Pellet Fish Food

Tropical Micro Pellets are perfect for mimicking your guppy’s diet in their natural habitat while meeting their dietary needs. With a new Qik Color formula, the micropellets are small and multi-colored, perfect for tropical fish with small mouths.

Tropical Micro Pellets offer an ultimate blend of carefully selected proteins, including many beneficial algae. The micro coating locks in nutrition and gives the semi-floating pellets a texture that’s easily digestible, eliminating constipation worries.

With a unique mixture of vegetable and marine proteins that have been chosen specially, these pellets are perfect for feeding guppies, who have high energy needs. Krill and spirulina have been added to enhance your fish’s natural colors.

Fish at all water levels will be able to enjoy these slow sinking pellets. The remainder of the food that settles on the bottom of the tank will not cause water clouding and will not affect the water chemistry.

Homemade Guppy Food

If you want more control over the ingredients in your guppy’s food, you can make your own fish food at home. Making homemade fish flake foods is simple, although it can be time-consuming.

In a feed processor, combine fish liver oil, vitamins, spirulina, vegetables, daphnia, fish meal, and bone meal and make a paste out of the ingredients.

Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet and spread the paste out in a thin layer. You can then place it in the oven and bake it at 250° until it has completely dried out. After it has dried, crush it into small flakes and give it to your guppies on a daily basis.

Guppy Fry Food

The guppy fry’s diet should contain a variety of freeze-dried foods and live foods. Some of the most popular fry foods are:

Fry flake food
Freeze-dried tubifex
Microworms
Vinegar eels
Live daphnia
Live or freeze-dried baby brine shrimp

Another fry-friendly food is egg yolk paste. To make it, all you need to do is crush the egg yolk of a hard-boiled egg into a paste. If you opt for this fry food, make sure you only give it to your fry in tiny amounts because it can contaminate your tank water very quickly if it’s not eaten immediately.

Can You Feed Vegetables to Guppies?

As omnivores, guppies have no problem eating vegetables. Vegetables are actually good for your guppies. When feeding your guppies vegetables, you want to remove the soft parts that can come apart in the water prior to feeding. For cucumbers and zucchinis, you want to scrape out the soft middle parts and only use the firm parts of the vegetables.

You can very easily make homemade vegetable flake food with the following ingredients:

Broccoli
Cucumber
Green beans
Zucchini
Peas
Carrots
Spinach
Lettuce
Romaine lettuce
Sweet potato
Pumpkin

You can use both fresh and frozen vegetables. Using your blender, blend them all together. You can store your blended vegetables in a sealed bag and place it in the freezer. When your vegetable blend has frozen completely, you can chop off small bits and feed them to your fish. Be sure to remove any food that does not get eaten from the tank. Otherwise, the leftovers will contaminate the water.

As an alternative, you can also make flake food from your vegetable blend. Instead of freezing the mixture, you can spread the blend on a parchment covered cookie sheet and place it in the oven. Bake it at 250° until the mixture has dried out completely. When the blend has dried completely, you can crush it into small bits and store it in an airtight container or a resealable bag.

How Often Do Guppies Need to Eat?

Adult guppies will eat whenever you offer them food. But you don’t need to feed them that often. Feeding them too much can cause health issues and will contaminate the tank water.

You only need to feed adult guppies two to four times a day. Once in the morning and once at night should spread the feedings out adequately. Because guppies breed quickly, and they are livebearers, they need to eat nutritious foods.

If you don’t separate the fry from the adults, the adults very likely will eat the babies. You need to make sure that the adults have been fed adequately when the juveniles are sharing the same tank.

Because the fry grow so quickly, they will need to be fed more often than the adult guppies. You will want to schedule about five to eight feedings every day.

Consider removing them to a smaller tank to protect them from the larger, hungrier adults. This will also prevent the adults from eating the fry’s food during their frequent feedings.

If you’re planning a vacation, you don’t need to worry about feeding your guppies. They can survive without food for two weeks. However, there is a product called “vacation block food” if you would rather not leave them for two weeks without food. This block of food has been pre-formed and designed to slowly dissolve in the water, releasing only small bits of food into the water at a time.

How Much to Feed Guppy Fish?

Guppies love to eat and will eat as much as you give them. You want to provide them with only small amounts that they can finish eating in a minute or two, then remove any uneaten food that is left.

When you give your guppies live foods such as brine shrimp or blood worms, you will want to divide them up into multiple doses, don’t throw too much in the tank at one time.

If your guppies develop full and puffy stomachs, you might consider skipping the next feeding and reduce the amount you are giving them with each feeding.

On the other hand, if some of the food is going uneaten and sinks to the bottom of your tank, you are probably overfeeding your guppies. This can cause constipation in your fish, as well as making them uncomfortable and sluggish.

Plus, leftover food can end up contaminating your tank’s water. Letting the guppy food pile up on the bottom of the tank will eventually cause problems.

Conclusion

When you choose the right foods for your guppies, not only will they be healthy, but they will also grow big and have enhanced coloring. You want to choose food that has a good variety of vitamins, minerals, and proteins for a healthy immune system. With their high levels of activity, giving your guppies Omega-3’s will give them the added energy boost they love.

Feeding your omnivores a well-balanced diet of meats, vegetables, and organic matter will keep your guppies happy and healthy for a long time.

The Best pH Level for Guppies

Because guppies are such a popular fish species for many who own a freshwater aquarium, it is good to know how best to care for them. While they are generally fairly easy to care for and maintain, one matter which a potential owner should educate himself on is the best pH level for guppies.

Best pH Level for Guppies

Guppy fish are a fairly hardy species of fish which can actually tolerate a range of pH levels. However, they will definitely fare better if you are able to keep the pH level of the water stable, at a particular level.

So what is the ideal pH level for guppies? The best pH level is 7 to 8 for your guppies. A pH of 7 denotes completely neutral water (such as pure or distilled water) with no acidity or alkalinity. Anything lower than a pH of 7 is acidic, and anything higher than 7 is basic or alkaline. A pH range of 7 to 8 means that guppy fish will thrive in waters which are neutral or slightly alkaline.

Be aware of the fact that because guppies are fairly hardy and tough, a water tank with a pH of lower than 7 will not necessarily kill your guppies. In fact, their hardiness and toughness makes them an easy and popular recommendation for those who are just beginners in terms of fish keeping.

However, if guppies are kept in water with a pH of less than 7 for prolonged periods of time, there are some health issues that may arise. Thus, it is important to try to maintain optimal pH levels for your guppies. At the very least, you should keep the pH level above 6.5 and below 8.

Furthermore, guppies which are still young and not yet mature will be much more affected by the wrong water parameters, and water that has a pH below 7 will have an effect on these young guppies much faster. They probably will not die from a pH level that is on the lower side, but in order to increase their longevity and protect their health, you should always check on this water parameter.

How to Measure the pH Level in Your Fish Tank

The easiest way (which also happens to be the best way) to test the pH level of your water is to test it with a pH testing kit. Such testing kits are readily available from Amazon and come fairly cheap. Here are general instructions on using these kits (specific constructions will likely be included with the kit itself; when in doubt, you can refer to those):

Step 1: Add water from the fish tank into the test tube that comes with the kit.

Step 2: Add one drop of the solution for testing into the test tube that contains the water from your fish tank.

Step 3: The water will change color; match the color of the water to the corresponding color on the sheet or list provided by the kit in order to determine the pH level of your aquarium.

That’s all. Another tip is that many pH kits have been designed for testing water with a pH level from 5 to 9. To get more accurate results, you can look for a testing kit that focuses on a narrower range. This will get you a pH level reading that is more accurate.

How to Increase pH Level in Your Aquarium

After determining the pH level of the water in your aquarium, if you find that the pH level is too low, you will need to increase it in order to protect the health of your guppies. Before you increase your tank’s pH levels, you should remove your guppies from the aquarium temporarily. Then take the following steps, which will require baking soda:

Step 1: Measure out approximately 1 teaspoon of baking soda for every 5 gallons of water in the tank. This is generally a safe amount of baking soda for increasing the pH level of your tank, and it will not do any harm to your guppies.

Step 2: Add the measured baking soda into your tank (be sure that you have already removed the fish).

You may wish to dissolve the baking soda beforehand in conditioned water. You can then add the already dissolved baking soda into the tank. After you reach the desired pH level for your water tank, place the guppy fish back into your tank.

You should never create large and sudden increases in the pH level because the guppy fish will have some difficulty adjusting to that new environment, and health issues may surface as a result.

How to Reduce pH Level in Your Aquarium

If the pH level in your aquarium is too high, you can reduce it in the following manner:

Step 1: Acquire peat moss and place it into a mash bag.

Step 2: Add that bag into your tank’s water filter. The peat moss will lower the pH level gradually. The water may be discolored by this process, but it will pass after a period of time.

Step 3: Next, test the pH level regularly. When it falls to the desired level, take the bag out of the filter.

The peat moss method is a common one. Other methods include adding driftwood into the tank, which lowers the pH level over time, moderately decreasing aeration, increasing CO₂ levels (which works well in planted aquaria), and adding reverse osmosis (RO) water.

Be sure to follow guidelines strictly no matter which method you use and test the pH regularly to ensure that the health of your guppies is safeguarded.

Conclusion

Since the pH level of your aquarium is a determining factor in the health and longevity of your guppy fish, it is important to check it and maintain it properly to preserve the well-being of your guppies. By taking the above steps in this article, you can provide an environment in which your guppies may live healthily and happily.

Guppy Fish Growth Stages

If you are a guppy owner or are seeking to become one, it may be useful for you to learn the growth stages of the guppy. Knowing how to properly care for your guppy fish as they pass through each of the different stages will allow you to grow guppies which are colorful, large, long lived, and healthy.

What is the maximum size of a guppy? A male guppy can reach a length of 1.5 in or 3.8 cm, while a female guppy may attain a maximum length of 2 in or 5 cm. The following advice will enable you to grow your guppy fish to their full size in approximately five or six months.

Guppy fish are livebearers, which means they bear live young instead of laying eggs. Thus, the larva stage of the life cycle is not applicable to guppies. The female guppy is fertilized internally by the male guppy, and the guppy offspring develop within the body of the female guppy for approximately thirty days, after which the baby guppies are born.

Fry Guppies

Guppy fry are free swimming from the very beginning. As soon as the fry are born, they will immediately begin to look for a place in which they can hide. Right after birth, the shape of their bodies are deformed, but a few hours later, their bodies straighten out. They then become strong enough to begin feeding.

The fry are tiny: they have a length of approximately ¼ of an inch or 0.6 mm. It is common for larger fish or adult guppies to eat them or to attempt to do so. In order to save the fry from such a fate, try separating a pregnant guppy from other fish. You can also try to give the fry ample hiding spots, like live plants.

Baby guppies share the same diet as their parents. But note that when feeding guppy fry with flake foods, you should crush the flakes into a fine powder to make it easier for the fry to eat. Live food is also excellent for guppy fry, especially baby brine shrimp which is the best food available for them. You can also help them grow significantly by feeding them with the yolk of an egg that has been hard boiled.

Furthermore, another way to contribute to the growth of guppy fry is to leave the light on for twelve to sixteen hours per day.

The water in your tank must be changed frequently, particularly if your baby guppies are fed several times a day. Guppy breeders sometimes change the water completely every day or once every two days.

Guppy fry become juvenile guppies at approximately the one month mark.

Juvenile Guppies

Juvenile guppies begin gaining color, and the sex becomes distinguishable. Males have a smaller tail and begin coloring up, while females are significantly larger and have a visible gravid spot. This is the beginning of the formation of male guppies’ gonopodium.

This is a very important stage in the guppy life cycle in which the best water and food must be supplied to them. Feed the juvenile guppies with brine shrimp, high quality fish flakes, blood worms, spirulina, beef hart, and plankton pellets.

The length of juvenile guppies is from ¼ in to ¾ in, or 1.2 cm to 2 cm. When they are approximately two months old, their sexual maturation begins and they are considered young guppies.

Young Guppies

Young guppies begin to be sexually active when they are about two months old. Guppy breeders will often separate females from males when they are juveniles. The separation promotes the growth of the guppies, because they will be focused exclusively on feeding, not on reproduction.

Young guppies require a slightly different diet; their fat intake should be lowered, and they should receive more greens and more protein. Brine shrimp is still the best food for them. Plankton pellets and spirulina will enable them to develop more intense, richer color.

Young guppies turn into adults at approximately six months of age.

Adult Guppies

The growth of an adult guppy will slow significantly or stop. Male guppies’ tail and fins may continue to grow over time (it depends on their genes).

Keeping guppies colorful and healthy requires supplying them with a varied diet. The main food for adult guppies ought to be flake food which is protein-rich. Try not to feed them fat, which can negatively impact their health.

Guppies can survive for two to five years. Once an adult guppy is 1 ½ or two years old, it is usually infertile and can no longer reproduce.

Conclusion

Breeding guppies, determining the stage they are in, and caring for them accordingly will now be easy for you, since you now know the life cycle of a guppy. Just follow the instructions to get guppies that are as healthy, colorful, and long-lived as possible.

Guppy Fry Care 101 – Caring For Baby Guppies

Having guppies are a great fish to own and have around your house. However, one thing that is not so easy is caring for baby guppies. Adult and parent fish do not take care of their young, and will even eat them if circumstances call for it.

You can help take care of them and make sure your baby guppies survive with the information provided below.

How are Guppies Born?

Guppies are a unique fish because they don’t lay eggs. This species of fish are livebearers. The female fish gives birth to a group of other live fish. Healthy guppies will give birth monthly for a time span of around 2 years. As with most fish, the mother fish will hide away to have her babies. At the time of birth, most guppies are not ready to fend for themselves and will have to hide at first. After a few hours, the new baby guppies will be travelling around and beginning their quest for food.

How Many Babies Do Guppies Have?

A female fish will birth an average of around 40 baby guppies at a time. This number can vary depending on the health of the fish, as well as other factors. Typically, you will not see a group of guppies born below 20 or above 60 fry in one birthing session.

How to Save Guppy Fry?

The #1 tip to save your guppy fry is quite simple. The best practice is to put your pregnant fish inside of a separate tank. This could be a tank specifically designed for breeding or it can be any other tank you have that is suitable for fish to live in.

This really increases the chance that your guppy fry will live because it gives them a safe place to start out their life when the first few days are so dangerous for them. While your guppies may not survive being around other fish (and even the parents), they should prosper in a brand new environment with no harm to them whatsoever.

If you don’t’ have a separate aquarium, it doesn’t mean your guppies are doomed.

You could also use a different kind of container whether it’s a big glass container or jar, or a large enough plastic container could work. It’s important to note that you don’t want to isolate the pregnant guppy before she starts giving birth. Doing so could lead to some unwanted problems – so wait until the last possible second to transfer the pregnant guppy.

If no containers are a possibility, you may want to buy a special piece of gear known as a breeding box. This keeps your fish separate even if they can’t be outside of the same aquarium as other fish in a general population.

This is a simple method because it’s not too complicated for you as an owner of the fish. The water can get through the breeding box but fish will not be able to leave or enter the box. This keeps the fish safe but keeps them in the same environment so there are no water quality issues to worry about.

Once the female is done birthing the baby guppies, you would want to remove that specific fish from the breeding box. That keeps the babies safe from their mother and so that nothing bad happens inside the box.

If you are unable to get a breeding box, you will have to turn to the last resort for keeping your baby guppies safe. This would include giving them any possible place to hide that you can. Generally, the best sources of a hiding spot for baby guppies would include a variety of live plants that would be in an aquarium. Guppy grass is an especially popular choice for this kind of fish, and would do about as well as you can in providing them somewhere safe to go.

You need the plants to give the baby guppies protection for at least a week. Sometimes this period is longer, but this allows them to grow up without being attacked by adults who are bigger and stronger than the guppies and could wipe out your entire school before any of them are able to reach a mature age.

Baby Guppy Food

Feeding baby guppies provides an interesting challenge. Even though baby guppies are extremely tiny, they are also a very hungry species. As babies, they are ready to eat about every half hour. While you don’t necessarily have to meet that demand, for optimum growth you should probably be feeding them around once an hour.

Recreational owners will be able to feed their guppies much less than that schedule. The biggest thing that recreational owners should keep in mind is that they need to make sure the food is crushed down small enough for the baby guppies to put the food in their mouth.

Live food is a great choice for baby guppies. Baby brine shrimp is an especially popular food among those who raise baby guppies professionally. Again, if you are a recreational owner, you may consider flake foods without much worry as long as it is crushed in a small format.

Tank Maintenance

One good thing about raising guppies is that babies do not necessarily need a special tank adjustment. If adults thrive in the environment you have set up, it’ll be great for babies too.

If you do have a separate tank, you should set the temperature right around 80 degrees. Change your water regularly. Changing the water 2 times a week would be healthy. Make sure to keep lights on for over half of the day – while also giving them dark times to rest.

Conclusion

There are many things to keep track of when raising your baby guppies. You want to make sure that they are isolated from any general population of fish. You’ll need to make sure they have proper water changes and food to eat as well. Helping baby guppies grow is a fun and rewarding activity no matter the level of your experience!

Guppy Fish 101: Types, Care, Lifespan, Breeding And Tank Mates

Quick: Think of a fish. The sort of fish that you keep in your home, the sort of fish which properly calls a clear fishbowl its habitat. You’re likely thinking of a guppy—the single most popular aquarium fish there is. If you’ve ever considered owning a fish, you might have been thinking of a guppy—as they’re very easy to procure, easy to care for, and easy to feed.

Species Summary

You might not have thought of them beyond that, though! What are guppy fish, exactly, and where do they come from? Guppies are very small fish, between half an inch and two inches long, and they come in every color under the sea. Originally from South America, they are now indigenous everywhere due precisely to their popularity as easily cared for children’s pets.

Their Latin name is Poeciliidae, and there are several subgenera within that category, such as the Wingei guppy and the Reticulata guppy. The one you’re likely familiar with is the Reticulata guppy, so that’s the one that we’ll be talking about today.

Types of guppy fish (Color, Pattern and Tail Shape)

As we mentioned above, guppies can come in hundreds of different colors—so much so that they earned themselves the name of Rainbow Fish, simply because of their thousands of different hues. (They also have the unofficial moniker of ‘Millions Fish,’ because their breeding rate is so high!)

Because of their breeding rate and ease of care, guppies are often imported into areas with high mosquito populations to control the number of mosquitoes attacking the human population.

This has been done in South Asia, in fact, with great success. As far as the pattern of the guppy fish, in addition to their bright color they have leopard-like flecks of black across their body.

Their tail shape is likely the most distinctive thing about them, as it fans out in a beautiful peacock-esque shape behind them, flitting through the water like a delicate leaf.

The patterns swirling across their backs can come in several distinctive genres:

The ‘Cobra’, which will have stars across the body as well as zebra-like vertical barring
The ‘Snakeskin’, which will have more of a pattern of interlinked chains, as well as the more typical stars
The ‘Tuxedo’, which will feature a front half and a back half rocking two distinctly different colors

The fans are larger on the males, as, just like in many types of animal’s mating rituals, it’s up to the male to attract the female. The males will flutter their attractive fins beguilingly at the female they’ve judged most likely to help them carry on their DNA, and after that, the game will be on.

Behavior

Guppies are naturally very social fish; if they’re not waving their fins at each other and are instead hiding behind tank decorations or rocks, they could be very sick.

You’ll want to keep your guppies in groups, not only because it’s better for them, but because it’ll be more fun for you; after all, the ‘Rainbow Fish’ are undoubtedly best when viewed together. Because the males have the more peacock-y tails, if you’re not planning on breeding them, it’s best to invest in just male guppy fish.

Tank Size

The minimum recommended tank size is approximately five gallons, but most people go for a ten gallon tank—especially if you’re going to have more than a couple of guppies living together, which is also recommended for their mental health.

Make sure that you set the tank up so that you can always be cycling the water out properly so you can be sure that you’re exchanging the bad bacteria for good ones—that’s extremely important for your fish’s health.

Guppy Tank Mates

Guppies should always be together, but just how together they are and just what else you put in the tank should be dependent upon what you want to do with the fish. Are you planning on just keeping them for show? Or are you planning on setting up a breeding system? This will determine whether you keep only males, only females, or a number of each in the tank, as an example of one consideration you’ll have to have.

If you’re planning on keeping the guppies for show, you’ll want to fill your tank with plants and rocks and other toys for the guppies to interact with; if you’re planning on breeding them, fewer distractions for the guppies are better—and you’ll want to leave the bottom of the tank open, so you can clean it easily.

The best bet, whether you’re keeping males, females, or a mixture, is to keep one guppy per two gallons of water. Therefore, the size of your tank will be the ultimate determining factor in how many guppies you are able to maintain.

As far as keeping the guppies in a tank with other species of fish, the guppy is a very peaceful creature and will be fine with most other species. Our one recommendation would be to simply ensure that you’re not keeping the guppies in the tank with any particularly aggressive or carnivorous sort of fish, as the guppy doesn’t have much in the way of a defense system and will likely be the first to be thought of as food.

Feeding your Guppies

Guppies are as versatile with their preferred cuisine as they are with everything else! As their diet is dependent upon what was naturally available to them in their original habitat, guppies are naturally omnivores; they will eat both plant and animal matter.

One of the main things they eat in the wild is mosquito larvae, which is why they were imported en masse to South Asia to control the mosquito problem.

However, when they’re in your home, the majority of what they should be eating is simply fish flakes. You should make sure that you’re choosing good ones! Protein-rich fish flakes with an absence of filler ingredients are best.

To mix it up every once in a while, you can throw a few slices of cucumber or a shrimp in the tank, and watch your guppies as they have a feast.

Setting Up Your Guppy Fish Tank

So you want to bring home some beautiful, easily cared for guppies? Congratulations! You do have a few pieces of homework, however, before you can begin. Let’s discuss setting up your fish tank properly.

Nitrogen Cycle

The Nitrogen cycle is the number one most important thing you have to do prior to introducing fish to your tank; nitrogen is as crucial to the fish and their survival as oxygen is to us! The nitrogen cycle has more to do with cleaning the tank then making it breathable.

The waste your fish will produce gives off ammonia into the water, which is toxic to fish. Nitrogenating the water will help remove what is toxic and re-establish beneficial bacteria, so that your fish have a fighting chance.

Substrate

The best substrate for guppies is, fortunately, also the easiest for you to get your hands on! Sand is super-fine, cheap, and likely of a good enough size that it won’t easily get stuck in your fish’s mouths or anywhere else in their systems. For this reason, most professional fish-havers choose sand when it comes to the best substrate.

Filtration

Aside from the natural machinations of the nitrogen cycle, you will be needing additional filtration systems. This is true whenever you try to board a living thing! However, there’s a very simple solution for needing a filtration system: buy a filter. A power filter, though not necessary, is definitely easier for first-time fish owners; as long as you keep it powered and on, it will take care of most of the chores of cleaning out your tank for you.

For a good rule of thumb regarding the efficacy of your filter, just remember the following equivalency: for a ten gallon tank, use a filter that is able to cycle fifty gallons in a given 60 minute period.

Lighting

Remember, again, where your fishes are naturally from—the thing you’re trying to recreate with all of these conditions! Guppies are flexible in terms of lighting; keep it bright during the day, and dark at night for their sleep cycles.

Plants and Decorations

If you’re keeping your guppies for show instead of actively trying to breed them, definitely put some plants and decorations in there! Rock formations for the guppies to swim around and several different kinds of plants will help keep them happy.

Lining the bottom of the tank with some moss will give them a natural place to swim and hide in, which is a good thing for them to have if they need a minute.

Guppy Habitat and Tank Conditions

Water Temperature for Guppies

Remember wen you’re putting together the tank that the natural habitat of the guppy fish is the warm, extremely temperate waters found around South America. You should therefore try to replicate that environment as best you can when you’re making them your home away from home—in your living room or office.

Warm water, preferably between 75 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit, is preferable. You’ll likely have to use a water heater to obtain this window.

Always remember to leave the heater at one distinct end of your fish’s tank! Have a thermometer at the other end, though, so that you can easily check to ensure that the water is heating evenly throughout.

Water Flow for Guppies

You should aim to be cycling the water so there’s about a 25% change in water per week, whatever the flow looks like for you to obtain that goal—but the flow should definitely be constant, as that best mimics the water that they’re used to. Failing to meet this goal may result in your guppies becoming sick (you’ll be able to tell this because your social fish will start to seclude themselves).

Water Type for Guppies

As long as you keep your water in the right balance of acids/bases, use a filtration system to keep it clean, and keep it very warm, whatever water type you use should be more than fine.

Tank Water PH

Guppies are naturally very tolerant, so they can live successfully through a range of pH’s, particularly anywhere between 5.5-8.5. However, this does not mean that this is the best place for them to be! See if you can aim for an in-tank pH of about 7.0-7.2 for their best bet at health and happiness.

Ammonia, Nitrite, And Nitrates

Ammonia is the byproduct of fish’s wastes that you will be removing with a properly calibrated nitrogen cycle! Test your water frequently to make sure that the ratio of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates is in a good place—and dechlorinate your water if this isn’t the case.

Breeding Guppies

Guppies are not what we’d consider shy; it’ll likely be more difficult to stop them from breeding then to try to instigate it, as long as you set up the tank and their environment properly so that it’s conducive to their mating habits.

Choose The Best Guppies for Breeding

Guppies are not shy; as long as you put healthy males and females together in a 2 males to 3 females ratio, you will be able to breed them.

How to Tell the Sex of a Guppy

Guppies are very easy to tell apart, male from female. As previously mentioned, the males are usually brighter in color and have a particularly large fin. However, other than the fin, males are actually smaller than females.

Females often do have a very dark spot behind their main fin, called the gravid spot. This spot gets darker during pregnancy and is often one of the first registered signs that mating has completed successfully and your guppies are expecting.

Creating Your Breeding Environment

Separate Breeding Tank

Guppies can tend to eat their young (or anyone’s young) as they are strange and don’t seem quite like other fish to them yet; so, often, people do choose to put an expecting mother in a separate breeding tank about a week before she’s going to give birth, watch her carefully, and then remove her once she’s spawned her fry and before she tries to eat any of them. Setting up this secondary tank should be very similar to setting up the first tank.

Creating The Water Conditions for Breeding

Again, as the waters to which guppies are indigenous are the warm South American waters, the waters of the breeding tank in particular should be very warm. This will help protect the fry in their earliest days, when they are extremely small.

Line the bottom of the breeding tank with a dense plant such as moss, which will allow the fry to swim to and hide within while they are small—this is protective and instinctive, and will help them survive.

The Spawning Process

Guppies are ovoviviparous, which means that they have the fish inside of eggs—but the eggs grow inside of their bodies. Therefore, much of the spawning process happens rather invisibly.

Feeding Guppy Fry

The baby fish use the egg for nourishment during the earliest days of their lives; when the nutrients from the egg have been consumed and the baby fish has grown to a size where it can survive outside of its mother, they hatch inside the mother, and then are born after that.

The gestation of a guppy is only about one month, making breeding guppies a relatively sustainable situation if it’s something that you’d like to try.

Common Diseases

Guppies are relatively healthy; a disease called IcH is your one fear.

The best tips we have for making sure your guppies don’t get sick are:

Make sure that you’re always checking their water to make sure that the water is cycling naturally, that the pH is in the right place, and that it’s in a good temperature window.
Change the water regularly.
Before you put anything new within the tank, rinse it off, or give it a time in quarantine before you expose the fish to it.

Don’t stress them out! Feed them regularly, and don’t overcrowd them. Stressed guppies easily become sick guppies.

How Large Do Guppies Grow?

Guppies grow to be about 2 inches long; smaller, if they’re males.

Average Cost of Guppies?

Guppies are a cheap breed of fish; one fish will only cost you a dime.

Do guppies eat their own babies?

Mothers will eat their young, which is why many people choose to breed in a separate tank.

Guppies Keep Dying?

If your guppies keep dying, make sure that you’ve been cleaning their tank appropriately, and check the water for undue concentrations of chemicals. If everything else looks okay, go see a veterinarian for more information.