How to Keep Guppies

Guppies are one of the easiest aquarium fishes to keep and breed. They bear live young and plenty of them. Guppies are colorful, bold and amorous. They live in water that has wide temperature variations in the wild, so they are compatible with most in-home temperatures. They need clean water and good food. If you provide those things, your guppies will thrive.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Choose Your Fish

1. Go to a pet store and watch the guppies for a bit.

2. Pick fish that are swimming energetically and whose fins are spread.

3. Go to a different pet store to buy your fish if there are several tanks of guppies in the pet store, and you see fish exhibiting the undesirable symptoms in more than one tank.

4. Learn the temperature of the guppy tank in the pet store. Match your aquarium with that temperature before putting the guppies in your tank.

5. Buy two or three females for every male you buy.

Maintain Your Fish at Home

6. Leave the guppies in the plastic bag and float the bag in your aquarium so the water temperatures will equalize for 15 to 39 minutes. You can open the bag and it will stay upright.

7. Pour the fish and water into your aquarium after the water temperatures have equalized.

8. Observe the fish intermittently for the next hour to see that they are acclimating okay.

9. Feed the fish a little after 2 hours if they are all swimming comfortably.

10. Keep the filter running in your guppy tank.

11. Siphon and replace some water every week if you have a 10-gallon tank. The larger your tank, the longer the tank can go between water changes.

12. Do not overcrowd your tank with fish. If the tank is crowded, you must siphon and replace water more often. Additionally, the risk of problems with water quality increases as does the tank population.

Tips & Warnings

• Avoid buying guppies whose fins are clamped against their body, those who hide in corners and those who hover in the water and wiggle weakly.
• Avoid buying fish with crooked spines.

Resources

• Find just about anything you want to know about fish here.
• Visit another good resource for fish keepers.

[Vladik]

on 4/14/2008 You're not supposed to pour the water from the bag in the tank. It could kill the fish. On the bag, it says so.