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- Mary Bly

The Guppy Fish

Guppy Fish

The guppy fish is a small, active, carnivorous freshwater fish, found in the islands of the southern Caribbean Sea and in northern South America. The fish are named after the Trinidadian ichthyologist R. J. Lechmere Guppy.

Guppies are popular aquarium fish because of the brilliant coloration of the male, which is about 3 cm (about 1 in) long, tinted with combinations of yellow, red, orange, green, blue, and purple, and spotted with black. No two individuals show the same color pattern. The female, which is about 5 cm (about 2 in) long, is dull in color. Male guppies go through an elaborate courtship ceremony, spreading their fins before the female much in the manner of certain birds.

After mating the sperm is stored inside the female for later use. The female bears live young, and produces 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 native surroundings by staying in the bottom vegetation. Guppies are valued in the West Indies because they destroy the larvae of mosquitoes that carry malaria.

In aquariums, separate tanks or thick vegetation must be provided to ensure segregation of the young from other guppies. The aquariums must be kept at about 24° to 29° C (about 75° to 85° F) for the fish to thrive.

"guppy." Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica 2007 Ultimate Reference Suite. (2007).