Guppies are real easy to keep. They are native to the south Caribbean and Northern South America. They are prolific breeders and are very pretty. They like temperature ranges of 72-80 degrees, on the cooler side of that range for the older guppies, and a water PH range of 6.8-7.6 with 7.0-7.2 being the most optimal. Guppies can be housed up to 20 per ten gallon tank. They are pretty small and usually get up to 1.5 inches in body lenght, but thier tails can get quite long. Adding another inch or so to thier length. Female guppies are pretty plain, thier tails are less colorful and don't get as long and pretty as the males. They are live bearers and the females will usually stay pregnant thier whole lives. The males and females should be separated at 4 months to avoid the females being bred. Then you can pick and choose wich pairs you would like to breed. They are best kept in a tank with box filters with floss filter material so that the babies are not sucked up into a backfilter. Newborn guppies and adults should be fed newly hatched brine shrimp and quality flake foods. The females produce a new litter every four weeks, the number of young varying from 2 to 126 at a time. As many as five litters are produced as a result of a single mating. The young, which are frequently devoured by the parents, survive in their surroundings by staying in the bottom vegetation. Guppies are valued in the West Indies because they destroy the larvae of mosquitoes that carry malaria.
"If you want to raise the young it is best to do it in a seperate aquarium. Raise the fry on Brine shrimp nuplii and a commercial powdered fry food. Do not try to raise successive generations of fry in the same tank. The younger fry will lose out on food and may become stunted as a result. Also you should resist the urge to overcrowd. Growing fry need plenty of space so about 10-11 fry per foot of aquarium is about right." Submitted by:firstname.lastname@example.org