How Can I Enhance My Guppy Color? (14 Best Ways)

Guppies are known for their attractive color and large flowing tails. They are the most common fish aquarists love to add to their community tank.

There are numerous ways to enhance your guppy fish’s color and ensure their good health and longer lifespan. So, How can I enhance my guppy color? Let us find out.

Below are the best ways to enhance your guppy fish color:

1. Feed your guppy high-quality nutritional food.
2. Ensure adequate and stable water parameters
3. Provide your guppy fish with good water quality.
4. Ensure a stress-free environment for your guppy fish.
5. Avoid overfeeding your guppies.
6. Avoid overcrowding your guppy fish tank.
7. Ensure enough oxygen present in your guppy fish tank.
8. Avoid adding aggressive fish to your guppy fish tank.

This article will discuss the 14 best ways to enhance your guppy fish color and why guppy fish lose their color. So, let us get into it.

How can we enhance our guppy fish color?

Guppies are known for their attractive color and their long flowing tails.

There are various ways to enhance our guppy fish color.

Feeding your guppies color-enhancing food is the primary way to ensure their enhancing color.

Food plays a major role in your guppy fish’s life as it ensures their healthy lifespan and helps them develop attractive colors.

Adequate living conditions and the right parameters are the other ways to enhance your guppy fish color.

There are many things that you should take care of when it comes to guppy color enhancement.

Let us discuss the best ways to enhance your guppy fish color in detail.

14 best ways to enhance guppy fish color.

These are the 14 best ways to enhance your guppy fish color:

1. Provide your guppy fish with good quality water.
2. Ensure adequate water parameters for your guppy fish.
3. Avoid adding aggressive fish to your guppy fish tank.
4. Avoid overcrowding your guppy fish tank.
5. Feed your guppy fish high-quality nutritional food.
6. Avoid overfeeding your guppy fish.
7. Maintain appropriate male to female ratio of guppies.
8. Provide your guppy fish with a stress-free environment.
9. Ensure enough oxygen in your guppy fish tank.
10. Keep an adequate number of guppies in your guppy fish tank.
11. Add an aquarium light to your guppy fish tank.
12. Maintain the gentle water current in your guppy fish tank water.
13. Add a bright background to your guppy fish tank.
14. Other important things regarding the coloration of your guppy fish.

Provide good water quality

Good living conditions ensure your guppy fish’s good health and enhance color.

Perform a weekly water change of at least 35% in a regular manner to ensure good water quality.

Consider adding a good filtration system with biofilter media to keep the water clean and safe from harmful toxins like ammonia and nitrite.

You should also add plenty of live aquatic plants in your guppy fish tank to ensure enough oxygen.

Particular	Guppy Requirement
Ammonia	0ppm
Nitrite	0ppm
Nitrate	Below 25ppm

Make sure that the ammonia and nitrite levels of your guppy fish tank remain at 0ppm and nitrate below 25ppm.

We recommend using the API Ammonia test kit as it tells you the exact result. 

You can purchase it from Amazon API TEST KIT.

We recommend using API TAP WATER CONDITIONER as it eliminates chlorine, chloramine, and other chemicals. 

You can buy this product on amazon: API TAP WATER CONDITIONER.

A high ammonia level can result in your guppy fish burning gills and body.

Also read: Can Guppy Survive In Muddy Water?

Ensure adequate water parameters

Providing your guppy fish with adequate water parameters will help you enhance your guppy fish color.

Inadequate water parameters make your guppy fish come under stress, making them prone to various diseases and infections.

Particulars	Guppy Requirement
Water temperature	72-82 °F
Water pH level	6.7 and 7.8
Water TDS level	400-600ppm

Provide your guppy fish water temperature between 72-82 °F.

Maintain the water pH level between 6.7 and 7.8.

Ensure to keep the water TDS level between 400-600ppm.

You must know that a stable water temperature is also essential for your healthy guppy fish.

Consider adding a heater to your guppy fish tank to stabilize the water temperature.

Also, use a digital thermometer to monitor the water temperature of your guppy fish tank.

Also read: What Is The Ideal Water Temperature For Guppies?

Avoid adding aggressive fish to your guppy fish tank.

Guppies are peaceful fish and do great with other peaceful fish in a community tank.

Adding aggressive fish to your guppy fish tank will make your guppy fish come under constant stress because of being constantly chased by the aggressive fish.

Avoid adding aggressive fish, angelfish, and betta fish to your guppy fish tank.

These are some best tankmates for your guppy fish:

1. Neon tetra
2. Mollies
3. Platies
4. Shrimp
5. Gourami
6. Cory catfish
7. Zebra danios

Also read: Can Guppy Fish Live With Angelfish?

Avoid overcrowding your guppy fish tank.

An overcrowded tank comes with all these problems:

1. Your guppy fish will not be able to live and swim comfortably.
2. Oxygen will be deficient in the overcrowded tank.
3. All your guppy fish will not get able to eat adequately.
4. Your guppy fish tank will get polluted faster than usual.
5. There will be a risk of an ammonia spike in an overcrowded tank.

All these issues can make your guppy fish sick and lose their color.

Ensuring not to overcrowd your guppy fish will help them enhance their color.

Follow the one-inch one-gallon rule to make sure that you are not overcrowding your guppy fish tank.

The one-inch one-gallon rule means one inch of fish per gallon of water.

A guppy fish’s average size is 2 to 2.5 inches, so consider providing 2.5 gallons of water for your one guppy fish.

Also read: How Many Guppies In A 20 Gallon Tank?

Feed your guppy fish high-quality nutritional food.

Feeding your guppy fish high-quality nutritional food is the primary way to ensure their enhancing color.

Feed your guppies food that contains protein and other beneficial nutrients in high content.

Veggie pellets and flake food are the most common food guppy keepers feed to their guppies.

Guppy Food	Link To Buy
Fluval Hagen 35 Gram Color Enhancing flake Food	Fluval Hagen
Fluval Bug Bites Color Enhancing Fish Food	Fluval Bug Bites
Aqueon Tropical Color Enhancing Flake food	Aqueon Flake Food
Hikari Tropical Fancy Guppy Fish Food	Hikari Fish Food

However, we should feed our guppies a variety of food to ensure their longer lifespan and enhance their color.

Feed your guppies live, freeze-dried, and frozen food to enhance their color.

Bloodworms, tubifex worms, mosquito larvae, brine shrimp, and earthworms are some best live and frozen food for your guppies.

Guppy Food	Serving Quantity	No of Times
Mosquito larvae	10-15 pieces	2-3 times a week
Brine shrimp	One small pinch at a time	1-2 times a week
Zucchini (Blanched)	One small slice	2-3 times a week
Boiled peas	Half a pea per guppy	2-3 times a week
Tubifex Worms	One small pinch at a time	1 time a week
Bloodworms	One small pinch at a time	1-2 times a week
Veggie pellets	One small pinch at a time	2-3 times a day

Guppies are omnivore fish and require both plant and meat matter food in their daily diet.

So, consider feeding your guppies vegetables like carrot, peas, cucumber, and zucchini to fulfill their plan-based nutrition.

Consider feeding boiled peas, blanched zucchini, and cucumber to your guppy fish.

Also Read: Best Food For Guppy Fish.

Avoid overfeeding your guppy fish.

Guppies are always hungry and will eat every time you serve food to them, and it doesn’t matter if they are hungry or not.

Such guppy fish behavior can confuse you, and you can end up overfeeding them.

So to ensure that you are not overfeeding your guppy fish, provide them food in a quantity that they can finish eating in one to two minutes.

If your guppy is taking more than one minute to finish eating, you are overfeeding your guppy fish.

If your guppy fish is eating their food in seconds, you are underfeeding your guppy fish.

Also read: How Often Should You Feed Guppies?

Maintain appropriate male to female ratio of guppies.

Keeping an adequate ratio of male and female guppies in a tank is necessary to prevent chasing and aggression in your guppies tank.

Also, the adequate ratio of male and female guppy will help your guppy remain stress-free, which will help enhance their color.

Keeping more males and one female will result in male guppies chasing the female guppy constantly, making the female guppy come under stress and prone to diseases.

Consider keeping male and female guppies in a ratio of 1:2, which means one male guppy and two female guppies.

You can also go by keeping one male guppy and three female guppies.

Keeping guppies in such a ratio will distribute the stress level among all female guppies of male guppy chasing.

Also read: Why Is My Male Guppy Chasing Female Guppy?

Provide a stress-free environment to your guppies.

A stressed guppy will lose its color and can become prone to various diseases and parasites.

Guppies can easily come under stress if something unusual happens around them.

Take care of these things to provide a stress-free environment for your guppy fish:

1. Provide your guppy fish water temperature between 72-82 °F.
2. Perform a weekly water change of 35% regularly.
3. Avoid adding aggressive fish like angelfish in your guppy fish tank.
4. Keep your guppy fish in a large size tank.
5. Create plenty of hiding spots for your guppies.
6. Keep male and female guppies in a ratio of 1:2.
7. Ensure that your guppy fish tank’s ammonia and nitrite level remain at 0ppm and nitrate below 25ppm.
8. Feed your guppy fish good quality food on a regular basis.
9. Avoid overcrowding your guppy fish tank by following the one-inch one-gallon rule.
10. Add a heater to your guppy fish tank to stabilize the water temperature.

Ensuring all these things will help you maintain a stress-free environment for your guppy fish.

Also read: Are My Guppies Stressed?

Ensure enough oxygen in your guppy fish tank.

Guppies require oxygen to breathe through their gills.

In the absence of oxygen, your guppy fish will suffer and can come into critical condition.

Also, you must know that the beneficial bacteria present in our aquarium require oxygen to break down harmful toxins like ammonia and nitrite.

In the absence of oxygen, the beneficial bacteria will not get able to break down such harmful toxins, resulting in ammonia spikes and other various issues.

Consider adding an air pump to your guppy fish tank to ensure enough oxygen in your guppy fish aquarium.

We recommend using the Tetra Whisper air pump as it is very silent and easy to use.

You can buy this product on amazon: Tetra Whisper Air Pump.

Adding plenty of live aquatic plants will also help you keep the water well oxygenated.

Also read: Can Guppy Fish Live Without Oxygen?

Keep an adequate number of guppies in your guppy fish tank.

Guppies like to live in a group. 

Keeping a single or few guppies will make your guppy fish come under stress.

You should consider keeping at least six guppies together in a tank.

Keep four female guppies and two male guppies.

Also read: Can Guppy Fish Live Alone?

Add an aquarium light to your guppy fish tank.

Adding an aquarium light will help you enhance your guppy fish color.

In their natural habitat, guppies get direct sunlight from the sun.

But, providing direct sunlight in captivity will result in algae growth and unstable water temperature.

So, we recommend adding an LED aquarium light to your guppy fish tank as it will not heat the aquarium water and provide enough light to your guppy fish.

Make sure not to keep the lights on at nighttime as guppies are diurnal fish that remain active in the daytime and sleep at night.

And for sleeping, guppies require dark as us humans.

Provide your guppy fish with at least 6 hours of light in a day, and add an aquarium light timer to ensure that your guppy fish is getting enough light in a day.

Also read: Does Guppy Need Light?

Maintain the gentle water current in your guppy fish tank water.

Guppy mish requires a mild water current to live a comfortable life.

If your aquarium water current is strong, you will find your guppy fish hiding behind the filter most of the time. 

Guppy fish lives in ponds and river in their natural habitat.

Ponds and rivers have a mild water current.

So, to mimic the guppy fish’s natural habitat, provide them mild water current rather than a strong water current.

Your guppy fish will have difficulty swimming in water with a strong water current.

Soon, they will lose their appetite, become lethargic, and prone to various diseases and parasites.

Also read: Why Is My Guppy Hiding Behind The Filter?

Add a bright background to your guppy fish tank.

A bright and colorful environment also helps in enhancing your guppy fish color.

In their natural habitat, guppies change their color according to the environment in which they are living.

So, you can try adding a substrate and colorful background to enhance your guppy fish color.

Other essential things regarding the coloration of the guppy fish

There are some other factors that you should be aware of when it comes to the coloration of your guppy fish:

1. Genetics plays an important role in the coloration of your guppies.
2. Male guppies are more colorful than female guppies.
3. The color of your guppy fish will improve during the mating period.
4. Guppy fry and the juvenile will not develop good coloration as the adult guppies.

Genetics

Guppies also get their color as per their genetics.

You will notice some of your guppies have more color than other guppies. This is because of genetics.

You should always prefer to buy guppies with a good breeder who is well known.

Male guppies are more colorful than female guppies.

Male guppies tend to be more colorful and attractive than female guppies.

Male guppies also have a long attractive tail than female guppies.

Male guppies use their attractive color to attract the female guppies for mating.

However, it doesn’t mean that you should go for keeping only male guppies in your guppy fish tank.

Keeping only male guppies will result in aggression and dominancy in your guppy fish tank.

Male guppies will not get able to mate because of the absence of female guppies and will become irritated because of that.

Such irritation will result in aggression, where chasing will happen.

The color of your guppy will improve during the mating period.

Guppies will usually develop their colors during the mating period.

You can notice that when you keep male and female guppies in the same tank.

You should always keep male and female guppies together until and unless you don’t have issues with their out-of-control breeding.

Guppy fry and the juvenile will not develop good coloration as adult guppies.

Guppy fry and the juvenile doesn’t develop many colors as adult guppies.

Guppy fry will have no color and will look pale.

All you have to do in this stage is feed your guppies high-quality nutritional food to ensure their enhancing color.

Also read: Guppy Fish Growth Stages.

Why do guppies lose their color and become pale?

Guppy fish lose their color when they are suffering from illness.

However, there can be various other reasons like inadequate water parameters, poor water quality, old age, low-grade food, and high stress levels.

Providing your guppy fish with good water conditions and adequate water parameters will prevent such issues.

Also, feeding high-quality nutritional food is essential to keep your guppy fish away from such issues.

Keep a regular check on your guppy fish’s health, and if you notice any issue, take action immediately by treating your guppy fish.

Also read: Why Do Guppies Lose Their Color?

Conclusion:

There are numerous ways to enhance your guppy fish color, of which feeding high-quality nutritional food is the primary way to ensure your guppy fish enhancing color.

Other essential things to take care of are adequate water parameters, good water quality, stable water temperature, and a stress-free environment.

However, genetics also plays a major role in your guppy fish coloration.

Consider buying guppies from a well-known breeder.

Feed your guppy fish regularly and provide them with good living conditions to enhance their color and ensure good health and a longer lifespan.

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Reference: ResearchGate, ResearchGate, Scientific Research, ScienceDirect