Guppies are also known as million fish because they can get pregnant right after giving birth. With this natural lifestyle, it is essential to know about the growth stages of guppies and how to take care of your guppies at different growth stages. So, let us discuss guppy fish growth stages.
There are four growth stages of guppy fish, guppy fry, juvenile, young guppy, and adult guppy. Male guppies can get 0.6-1.4 inches, and females can reach 1.4-2.4 inches long at the adult stage. Ensure providing a variety of nutritional food to ensure your guppy’s healthy and long lifespan.
This article will also discuss knowing if a female guppy is pregnant and can guppy fry live in a community tank. So let us get into it.
Contents
Guppy growth stages.
There are four guppy growth stages:
- Guppy fry
- Juvenile
- Young guppy
- Adult guppy
Fry
Guppies are livebearers and give birth to fry rather than laying eggs.
When they get born, they are 1/4 inches long in size.
Guppy fry will be deformed for some hours after being born.
But, after a couple of hours, they will take shape and be able to eat.
If you want to keep your guppy fry alive, you must separate the pregnant female guppy from other tankmates.
When the mother guppy releases fry, immediately separate the mother guppy from the guppy fry, as the mother guppy will try to feed on their guppy fry.
Guppies don’t carry parental instincts and will happily feed on their fry.
Another way of keeping your guppy fry alive is to create plenty of hiding places for your guppy fry to hide from adult tankmates.
Guppy fry will feed on the same food you provide to adult guppies.
Baby brine shrimp is best to feed your guppy fry.
Make sure to crush the flake food and make powder to feed it to your guppy fry if you want to provide flake food.
Perform regular water changes if you are feeding your guppy fry multiple times in one day.
When the guppy fry is one month old, it will become juvenile.
Juvenile
When your guppy fry becomes one month old, it will change into juvenile.
In this growth stage, you will be able to differentiate between male and female guppies.
Guppies will start having some color.
The gravid spot will be visible to you in female guppies.
Male guppies will start forming gonopodium.
A female guppy will be larger than a male guppy. Male guppy will have a small tail which will start coloring up.
In the juvenile stage, you must take good care of your guppies by feeding them good quality nutritional food.
The juvenile stage is the most crucial in guppy growth.
You can feed your guppy blood worms, brine shrimp, veggie pellets, and good-quality flakes.
In the juvenile stage, the guppy will take a length of 1/4-3/4 inches.
When your guppy fish is two months old, it will start maturing sexually and become a young guppy.
Young guppy
When the guppy gets two months old, it will become a young guppy.
At this stage, guppy will become sexually mature.
If you keep male and female guppies together in the same tank, they will breed out of control.
Make sure to separate male and female guppies if you don’t want your guppies to breed and make your tank overcrowded.
Separating male and female guppies will also make them focus on eating rather than mating.
In this stage, you should make some changes in their diet.
Cut fat and introduce more greens and protein in their diet in this stage.
Plankton pellets and spirulina will be great and develop more beautiful colors in your guppies.
Baby brine shrimp should remain as their food in this stage.
Guppy will become adults when will be six months old.
Adult guppy
At six months of age, guppy will become an adult.
Female guppies will be 1.2-2.4 inches long, whereas male guppies will stretch 0.6-1.4 inches, depending on their genetics and health.
At this stage, guppies, growth will become slow, but the tail and fins of male guppies can grow over time.
Feed them a variety of food to ensure their happy and long lifespan.
Cut fat on their diet and focus on high-quality protein food.
| Food | Serving Quantity | No of Times |
| Veggie pellets | One pinch at a time | 2-3 times a day |
| Brine shrimp | One pinch at a time | 1-2 times a week |
| Tubifex Worms | One pinch at a time | 1 time a week |
| Bloodworm | One pinch at a time | 1-2 times a week |
| Mosquito larvae | 10-15 pieces | 2-3 times a week |
Guppies can live for an average of 2-5 years. However, this lifespan can be affected by various issues:
- Genetics of a guppy.
- Food
- Water conditions
- Stress
Guppies become infertile when they reach 1.5-2 years of age. At this age, they will not be able to reproduce.
How to detect pregnant female guppy?
These are the signs which will indicate to you that your female guppy is pregnant:
- There will be a large dark spot (gravid spot) behind the anal fin.
- Your female guppy will have a big round belly.
- Your female guppy will lose its appetite.
- A pregnant guppy will sit at the bottom of the tank.
- Pregnant guppy will show hiding and aggressive behavior.
- Your guppy will mate.
Also read: Is My Guppy Pregnant?
Can guppy fry survive in a community tank?
Many tankmates and the mother guppy will try to feed on guppy fry if present in the same aquarium.
Keep your guppy fry in a breeder box or a separate tank until they get big enough to get fit on your tankmates mouth.
If you don’t want to overpopulate your aquarium with guppies, then you can leave your guppy fry in your home aquarium.
Adult guppies and tankmates will feed on guppy fry by thinking of them as food.
Also read: Can Guppy Fry Survive In A Community Tank?
Conclusion:
There are four stages of guppy growth, guppy fry, juvenile, young guppy, and adult guppy.
Juvenile is the most crucial stage in guppies growth. Therefore, take good care of your guppies in this stage by feeding them adequately.
Keep your tank clean as a dirty tank can attract various diseases and infections.
Feed your guppies a variety of food like brine shrimp, veggie pellets, mosquito larvae, tubifex worms, and blood worms.
Separate male and female guppies when they become two months old if you don’t want to make them mate and overcrowd your guppies aquarium.
Reference: ResearchGate, NCBI, Wikipedia