Guppies are one of the easiest fish to breed and keep in the entire aquarium hobby. Their tiny little bodies are fluorescent in colour and jam-packed with energy. Guppies are commonly kept in freshwater aquarists of all levels and create a stunning display the all people can enjoy.
Today we're gonna cover six things that you might not know about guppies!
- Guppy is named after Robert John Lechmere Guppy who discovered this fish in Trinidad in 1866.
- In the old days, guppies where a lot more hardy, but nowadays since they are bred for their tails they have began to lose a lot of their hardiness.
- No two guppies are the same.
- Guppies have two common nicknames that you might recognise, according to Williamson: the millions fish and the rainbow fish. Why? They are known as millions fish because they breed at an incredible rate, with females often having around 50 fries (baby fish) per month, he said. They get the name rainbow fish from the wide range of colours in which they can be found.
- Like humans, guppies give birth to live young, which makes the birth process fascinating to watch, Williamson said. “If you look closely enough, you can often see the eyes of the babies through the translucent skin of the mother before she gives birth.”
- Guppies have been deliberately set free in Asian waters to fight the spread of malaria. In 2014, an anti-malaria “guppy movement” in a city of southern India aimed to control malaria using the fish, who feed on mosquito larvae.
