How to care for guppy fish in an aquarium

A clear representative of aquarium fish is the family of guppies. Beautiful inhabitants have won universal recognition, so many are wondering about the correctness of care for the fish of this breed.

Features of the content of guppy

1. Fish do not need special care, they are unpretentious, so they easily get along and enjoy even an aquarium of 5-7 liters. Guppies are good because they do not require high quality water, some aquarists do not clean it at all when changing.
2. However, you should consider some subtleties. The male guppy requires a minimum of 1 l. water space, the females are more demanding, they cost 2 liters. Therefore, if you are a happy owner of a pair of guppies, they need a 3-liter can for two.
3. The water in the dwelling of water pets should be updated 1 time in 10-13 days.Contrary to popular opinion, it is better to defend the liquid before pouring over 2 days. When changing from the aquarium, only 1/3 of the available volume of water is drained, a new one is added to this amount.
4. Guppies feel good and live for a long time at a temperature regime of water of the order of 23-25 ​​degrees, but fluctuations within 19-29 degrees are permissible. It is also necessary to monitor the level of acidity of the liquid, the indicators should not exceed the mark of 6-7 units. With these characteristics, guppies will have a bright color, especially males.
5. If you are engaged in the organization of the home, take care of a decent layer of soil at the bottom of the aquarium. Choose sand of neutral color, so that it does not overshadow the features of coloring fish. Then their color will be more advantageous. Suitable gray, brownish, white primer.
6. All fish love solitude, guppies are no exception. They find peace and quiet in stunted algae. As for the neighbors in the aquarium, guppies may conflict with them, despite its peaceful nature. Therefore, create a secluded place for pets in which they will hide during “quarrels” with their cohabitants.
7. To this end, in the aquarium should be algae, a variety of houses, grottoes, shells, snags, etc. But you should not force the dwelling of aquatic inhabitants too much to have space.
8. With regard to health, guppies are of the type of fish that often suffer from infectious diseases due to its undemanding to clean. To prevent death and maintain health during a major change of water, dissolve 15 g in a new liquid. salt with a calculation of 10 liters. water.
9. Adding salt liquid is carried out no more than 1 time in 3 weeks, at another time, changing the aquarium is carried out without these manipulations. So you will provide pets with the right alkaline environment for 20-25 days. Because when ammonia and nitrates accumulate in an aquarium, guppies can die.
10. It is easy to identify the moment when the fish require major cleaning of the dwelling. The females with the males, wanting to clean themselves, begin to intensively rub the little body on various protrusions of the house, pebbles, shells. They scratch themselves, forcing the owner to change the water.
11. If you do not do it in time, the guppy's eyes begin to grow dull. The fish looks depressed, exhausted, cannot protect itself. Such an individual must urgently be deposited in another bank. Otherwise, cohabitants will start attacking her, which can lead to death.

How to distinguish male from female

Many new owners do not even know at all what sex they brought. However, determining the sex of a guppy is simple. Males have a length of 2-4 cm, a beautiful shiny tail and bright color.

Females are larger, they grow up to 6 cm, individuals do not differ in bright color and are lost against the background of other inhabitants of the aquarium. The female has a dark spot in the lower abdomen. Female individuals can produce from 20 to 150 fry.

How and what to feed guppy fish

1. Almost every owner of such pets knows that guppies are omnivorous. Therefore, without fear, the fish can be thrown into the aquarium, as canned, synthetic food, and live, frozen.
2. In a special degree and with great pleasure, pets will feast on flies, cyclops, worms or a live moth. But the store mix guppies will consume no worse. The bottom line is that in such compositions are concentrated all sorts of useful additives.
3. Despite the fact that guppies are just fishes, they should also have a balanced diet. Twice a day it is necessary to allocate a certain amount of feed. A serving of food depends on how many individuals you generally contain.
4. It is important to understand that during spawning, the amount of food should increase.One adult is on average food at the tip of a knife. It is also important not to overfeed the fish. Otherwise, pets can suffer from obesity and die.
5. You should know that if you are not going on a long trip, guppies can do without food for up to 1 week. Such fish are unpretentious, so you can afford a short vacation without fear. Do not worry about the fact that with pets something happens.

Breeding peculiarities of guppies

1. If you did not know before, then vipbearing guppies, they do not spawn, unlike other fish. Submitted pets reach sexual maturity after 4-5 months old. By the way, once a fertilized female can produce offspring without a male for a long time.
2. Also, guppies easily breed in a common aquarium. Such fish do not need special conditions and an isolated place. After a few hours, male fry are able to feed on their own and move around in the aquarium without any problems.
3. It is also important to understand that such fry become easy prey for other big fish. Parents often feed their own offspring.If you do not want to watch this horror, the pregnant female is better to move to another aquarium. The fry should have a shelter in the form of thick algae.
4. Consider, the pregnant female needs round-the-clock supervision. As soon as the fish will give birth, send it to the general aquarium. In this case the fry will remain in complete safety and will survive without difficulty. The female, therefore, does not harm the offspring. After 2 weeks the fry can be launched into the general aquarium.

Who can contain guppies

1. Such fish are not conflict and once again not averse to hide in a secluded place. Therefore, you can safely run into the aquarium swordsmen, plexostomus, battles, corridors and plazios. If you do not understand the types of fish, consult with a specialist in a pet shop.
2. It is strongly not recommended to start Gurias and barbs in such an aquarium. It is also strictly forbidden to contain in the general capacity also goldfish, discus and angelfish. The last species of fish simply eat guppies. Therefore, if you are the first time to get fish and plan to contain several species, consider everything in advance.

More and more people are installing aquariums with fish, and this is not surprising.This kind of aquatic pets do not require special care, walking, intensive games. At the first glance, a person calms down, gets aesthetic and moral pleasure.

Video: content, care and reproduction of guppy fish