Guppy male Flame - Poecilia reticulata

The Flame Guppy belongs to the species Poecilia reticulata from South America. In aquaristics, the million fish is incredibly well known and popular, and virtually every aquarist has kept guppies. They are downright notorious for their high propensity to reproduce, so you can order a pure male group here in the store. For those who wish to breed, appropriate females of the Flame color scheme are also available for purchase here. The sociable Guppies don't mind being kept in single-sex groups, so you can enjoy the beautiful group fish and don't have to think about where to put the offspring.

Flame Guppies are characterized by their fiery colors. While this beautiful color variety is silvery colored in the middle lower head area typical of a guppy, the rest is intense red and yellow. Especially the dorsal fin and the caudal fin with yellow core and red edge look like a real flame. Males are slightly more intensely colored than females. They grow to about 7-8 cm in length. In them the anal fin is transformed into the mating organ, the gonopodium.

Guppies belong to the live-bearing toothcarps. They can interbreed with the very closely related Endler Guppies, and the matings produce fertile hybrids. Therefore, Endler and Guppies should not be kept together. Socialization with other aquarium fish with similar requirements is not problematic. Especially with mixed-sex groups of guppies, a predator for the young (such as a tetra species) is not necessarily a bad idea to avoid an invasion of the million fish.

Guppies also eat their own offspring, which also prevents mass reproduction. An elegant way to avoid this problem is to keep only males or only females. With well reproducing dwarf shrimps, Amano shrimps and fan shrimps with comparable requirements the socialization succeeds. Crayfish may pinch the sensitive fins of the guppies or even regard them as prey.

The females of Poecilia reticulata give birth to 20 live fry per litter. In well planted aquariums more fry through.

Guppies are surface-oriented fish that in the wild like to eat approach foods and eat algae coverings and decaying plant material. They are also happy in the aquarium with a commercial dry food in flake form or granulated food, or of course a special guppy food. They also like to pick at algae coverings in the aquarium and they are happy with soft, scalded vegetables and greens. Also live food and frozen food is gladly taken.

Poecilia reticulata occurs in nature in biotopes with medium to hard water and also in coastal waters with brackish water with a low salinity. An aquarium temperature of 22-28 °C or room temperature is optimal for guppies, a heater is not absolutely necessary in the guppy aquarium

Our food recommendation: The fragrant NatureHolic Guppyfeed was tailor-made for the requirements of guppies and other viviparous fish in the aquarium. In addition to high-quality animal ingredients, it also contains vegetable components that benefit guppies & co. The soft granules protect the sensitive mouth of viviparous from injuries caused by hard food grains and provide the fish with a natural feeding experience.

Our plant recommendation: For planting, use NatureHolic InVitros. These are free of snails, planarians and other unwanted co-inhabitants. Also free of algae spores, bacteria and fungi.

Expert Tip: We recommend for fish keeping the NatureHolic 3 Phase Liquid. The care set offers the best all-round protection for your animals. It ensures optimal conditions for successful breeding and keeping.