Assorted Male Fancy Guppies
Guppies are a classic aquarium fish. Males are smaller in size than the females, have an anal fin that is rod like, and are not as brightly colored as the males. They have been bred for a variety of colors, patterns and fin shapes and are generally named for the color of their tail, tail shape, and body coloration. A schooling fish, it does best when housed in groups of five or more of the same species. Does best in a planted community tank with no fin nippers. Guppies come in a wide variety of patterns or strains as well as a multitude of tail shapes. The following list is not a complete listing of guppy varieties, but is more of an overview.
Common Tail Types
- Delta - form of a triangle
- Fan - spreads out like a fan
- Spade - a shorter tail that tapers like a spade
Common Body Colors - Anterior or front half
- Gray - genetically, the most dominant color
- Golden or Blond
- White
- Metallic or Neon
- Tiger - similar to an actual tiger, black edges on each scale
Common Body Colors - Posterior or rear half
- Tuxedo - has the appearance of a black tuxedo
- Cobra - also known as Snakeskin, having a snake like pattern
Common Tail Patterns
- Solid - single colors such as red, blue, black, green, yellow
- Leopard - has large dots similar to an actual Leopard pattern across the tail, all interconnected
- Mosaic - slightly smaller dots, similar to Leopard, but more maze like
- Grass - even smaller than Leopard, with tiny seed like dots
Other variations
- Sunrise, Tequila Sunrise, or Micariffe - where orange coloration changes from dark to light from front to back
- Varigated - two-toned, bordered with a lighter color or vice versa