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Guppy

Fish

The colorful, prolific livebearer that turns a starter tank into a thriving colony fast!

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🤓 Did you know? Guppies are livebearers, meaning females give birth to free-swimming fry rather than laying eggs, and a single female can store sperm from one mating to produce several broods of 20 to 50+ fry over the following months. The species is named after Robert John Lechmere Guppy, who submitted specimens from Trinidad to the British Museum in the 1860s.

🗓️ The first week

The numbers a new owner needs in the first week, each from the article it links to. Rows with no link come from the encyclopedia.

Tank size: 5 gallons is a bare minimum for a trio; 10 gallons is the practical start for 5 or 6, and 20 the better long-term choice if males and females share a tank.Setup guide →
Temperature: 76 to 78°F as the target inside 72 to 82°F. A heater unless the room stays warm year-round, at 3 to 5 watts per gallon, so 25 to 50 watts on a 10-gallon.Setup guide →
Water chemistry: pH 7.0 or above and moderately hard water. Soft tap water gets a mineral supplement.Setup guide →
Filtration and substrate: Gentle flow, a sponge filter if fry are wanted, an adjustable hang-on-back if not. Fine gravel or sand, darker for color, nothing sharp near those fins.Setup guide →
Lighting: A basic LED on an 8 to 10 hour cycle.Setup guide →
Sex ratio: Two to three females per male minimum, six or more is common and fine. Or males only, which ends the harassment question and the endless fry, and keeps the color.Enrichment guide →
Feeding schedule: Adults once to three times a day, only what clears in about 1 to 2 minutes. Fry 3 to 5 times a day, juveniles around 3 to 4.Feeding guide →
Diet: A tropical flake or small pellet for community fish, not goldfish food, with live or frozen protein and small blanched vegetable matter in rotation.Feeding guide →
Tankmates: Not bettas, not goldfish. Past the floor, add fish only while nitrate holds under 20 ppm before the weekly change; count every fish at adult size.Aquarium Stocking and Tankmates →
Population plan: Separate the sexes, keep males only, or let it happen and plan to rehome fry or let predation control numbers. Decide before the first brood.Handling guide →
Handling: An observation pet. Guide with a net rather than touching.Handling guide →
Adult size: Males around an inch and a half; females larger and plainer, up to about 2.4 inches.Handling guide →
Budget: $2 to $5 for a wild-type guppy, $10 to $20 a pair for fancy varieties. A basic 10-gallon kit runs $30 to $100.Cost guide →
Lifespan: 2 to 3 years, up to 4 or 5 with excellent care.Cost guide →
Cycling: Four to six weeks fishless, sometimes three weeks to two months. A water change once ammonia or nitrite passes roughly 0.1 to 0.25 ppm.Cycling guide →
Quarantine: At least 30 days in a bare hospital tank, 30 to 60 for a fish you want to be sure about. Thirty is the floor.Quarantine guide →
Power outage: Aerate right away with a battery air pump, or agitate the surface by hand every 10 to 15 minutes in a small tank and every 20 to 30 in a larger one.Power outage guide →
Water changes: 25 to 30% weekly from the substrate, with conditioned water at tank temperature. Test nitrate first: under 20 ppm the routine is right, past 40 ppm the next change is 50%.Aquarium Water Changes →

🚨 Emergency card

Test the water first, then act on these today. Aquatic vets are rare, so nearly all of this is handled at home.

Appetite loss with lethargy, hiding, or erratic swimming
Gasping at the surface
Clamped or discolored fins, or cloudy eyes
White spots: ich, treated by raising the tank toward 82°F with ich medication. Or visible injuries
A swollen, pinecone-like body

Any of these spreading to other fish means test the water immediately and consider a fish-health specialist rather than waiting.

From Guppy Feeding: Schedule, Diet, and Why They Stop Eating →

📰 Where to go next

How Much Does Guppy Ownership Really Cost?

$2 to $5 for a standard fish, $10 to $20 a pair for fancy strains, a modest setup, and the cost nobody budgets for: more guppies than you started with.

Guppy Tank Setup: Warm Water, Gentle Filtration, and a Plan for Fry

Tank size by group, the temperature target and heater math, water chemistry, gentle filtration, and cycling before the fish go in.

Guppy Feeding: Schedule, Diet, and Why They Stop Eating

Frequency by life stage, the 1 to 2 minute portion rule, what to feed and what to skip, and six reasons a guppy stops eating.

Guppies Aren't Handled, But They Do Need a Population Plan

Why this is a watching pet rather than a handling one, how livebearer breeding actually works, and the four ways to manage the population.

Common Guppy Health Issues (Water Quality Is the Root of Almost Everything)

Ich, velvet, fin and tail rot, dropsy, and swim bladder disorder, each with its visible signs and treatment, plus why heavy salting is a bad idea with this species.

Guppy Enrichment: The Sex Ratio Is a Welfare Decision

What the harassment research says about sex ratio, why dense cover is a social tool rather than decor, and the priority order that follows from both.

🛒 What to buy

10 gallon tank, or 20 gallons if you're not separating the sexes

Aquarium heater sized to the tank

Sponge filter, or a hang-on-back filter with adjustable flow

Dense live or silk plants, floating plants included

Fine gravel or sand substrate

Tight-fitting lid

Water conditioner

Water test kit

High-quality tropical flake or micro-pellet food

Frozen or live brine shrimp and daphnia for variety

Prices and the reasoning behind each item are in How Much Does Guppy Ownership Really Cost?.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

What size tank does a guppy need?

5 gallons is the bare minimum for a trio; 10 gallons is the practical starting point for a group of 5 or 6. Guppies breed readily, so a 20-gallon holds up better long term unless you separate males and females.

How do I manage guppy population if I don't want constant breeding?

Keep males and females in separate tanks to avoid breeding entirely, or keep males only for a colorful, breeding-free tank. If you do want controlled breeding, a ratio of roughly one male to two or three females reduces females getting harassed too heavily by mating attempts.

How often should I feed my guppy?

Adults land somewhere between once and three times a day. The portion rule is the part that does not vary: only offer what's fully cleared in about 1 to 2 minutes. Overfeeding, not underfeeding, is the more common real mistake, guppies beg regardless of actual hunger.

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