Guppies are active fish and are often brightly colored, which makes them popular aquarium pets. Feeding your guppies isn't complicated, but you need to learn about your guppies' needs so you don't overfeed them. Young guppies require a special diet, although food is easily available at fish stores, and even adult guppies will be healthier if you supplement their flakes with more nutritious foods.
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Method 1 of 2: Feeding Adult Guppies
Step 1. Buy flake fish food for tropical fish
You can buy flakes at a pet store or fish store to use in your basic daily food needs. While guppies will eat any type of flake food, a high-quality fish meal that contains protein and vegetable nutrients is best. Flake foods specifically for tropical fish often contain natural substances to enhance color, so the guppies will be lighter in color and more colorful. Don't buy fish food in pellets as it will be difficult or impossible for your guppies to eat with their small mouths.
If you buy more flakes than you can use in a month, then freeze the excess to preserve the nutrients. Thaw food for the next month a few days before you start using it
Step 2. Feed one pinch of flake food once or twice a day
Sprinkle a small pinch of flaky fish food into the water and watch your fish eat it. The guppies should finish their food in 30-60 seconds, and definitely no more than a few minutes. You can choose to feed your guppies once or twice a day, as long as you're feeding them a decent amount. It's easy to give your guppies too much food, and hard to give them too little.
Guppies will continue to eat or forage for food even if they don't need it. Don't give him any more food just because the fish look hungry. In fact, guppies that are actively looking for food will prevent the accumulation of food debris that will contaminate the water
Step 3. Replace the usual flakes with more nutritious foods
While guppies can survive on flakes alone, there are plants and animals that contain more nutrients in live or frozen conditions that are ideal for supplementing a flake diet. Replace flakes with other foods every 2-7 days for an amount that can be finished in less than 60 seconds. Here are some foods that are suitable for guppies, and most can be found in fish stores:
- Artemia is high in protein, and is an ideal complementary food if the flakes you are using are high in vegetable nutrients and low in protein (40% or less). Artemia is available live, frozen, or flakes.
- Bloodworms and coke are good food that you can catch yourself by netting puddles of water. Take only a small amount at a time to prevent the choke from hatching into mosquitoes. Earthworms are also suitable, but must be sliced and rinsed before feeding them to guppies.
- Give your guppies peeled pods, sliced lettuce, or cucumbers, especially if the flakes are high in protein but low in vegetables.
Step 4. Avoid silk worms and live water fleas
There are many other types of fish food, and a fish shop employee or other guppy keeper might suggest a different type of food to you. However, you should try to avoid silk worms and water fleas, although it is recommended that you use them. Although guppies will eat them voraciously, silkworms sometimes contain deadly bacteria. Live water fleas are only dangerous if fed in large quantities as they can deplete the oxygen levels in the tank, and water fleas in general are also more expensive and difficult to maintain than other live foods.
Step 5. Watch for signs of overfeeding
Since guppies have small stomachs but still eat large amounts of food, satiety is common. If you notice any of the following signs, then reduce the amount of food given or the frequency of feeding. Some guppy keepers only feed 6 days a week and leave the fish hungry on the seventh day to maintain their health.
- Stool hanging behind the fish is a sign that the intestines are congested because the fish has eaten too much.
- Adult male guppies will have a "bulky" belly or protruding chest if their diet contains too much fat. Reduce the amount of food given and replace fatty foods such as blood worms and beef heart with crumbs or lean ham.
- If the water in the tank is often cloudy or dirty, this could be due to food residue or dirt. As a general rule, you should change 20-30% of the water in the tank approximately every 1-2 weeks, or more often for crowded tanks.
Step 6. Consider how to feed when you go on vacation for more than a week
Healthy adult guppies can go a week without food without any long-term effects, so if you're only going to be away for a few days, then consider not feeding your guppies at all. For longer vacations, one of these methods is recommended:
- Use the automatic feeding dispenser at regular intervals. Make sure that you have enough food to give while you're away, and set the dispenser to dispense food once or twice a day.
- Try using a feeding block or gel before leaving. Blocked food that is dry or coated with gel is left in the tank and eaten slowly. However, dry blocks can cause harmful chemical changes, and on the other hand, types of food that are gelled are usually neglected. Try both types for a few days before you leave to make sure that everything works without problems.
- Ask a friend or neighbor to give the fish the usual flake food every two or three days. Since inexperienced feeders often overfeed, it is best to put each pinch of fish food in a pillbox or other container and also remember to mark the container with the day of feeding. Explain to the feeder that overfeeding can kill your guppies.
Method 2 of 2: Caring for and Feeding Young Guppies
Step 1. Prepare the breeding tank
Young guppies, also known as "flings", require separate feeding from adult guppies, and should also be separated for safety reasons. Prepare a 20 L tank carefully and make sure it has everything your guppies need to survive. As with all aquariums, a good way to prepare a tank before adding fish to it is to run a fishless aquarium cycle first.
Step 2. Divide the breeding tank into two parts with a breeding net
Purchase breeding nets or wire netting from a fishing shop to separate the tank into two sections. Newly hatched guppy fry can swim through gaps in the net and escape from mothers who try to eat them.
If you don't want to buy a net or are unsure that the gaps in the net are the right size, you can protect your fry by planting some aquarium plants for the fry to hide
Step 3. Transfer the pregnant female guppies to the breeding tank until they give birth
The female guppy has a black spot on her belly, also known as the pregnant spot, which becomes darker when the egg inside her stomach has been fertilized. The eggs will grow for 21-30 days inside the female guppies, and her belly will get bigger and darker when this happens. Move the female guppy back to the original tank as soon as you notice that the guppies have given birth, so that they won't fight over the fry for food or try to eat the fry.
If you are breeding guppies for sale or are passing on certain traits, then transfer the pair of fish you wish to breed to the breeding tank before the female guppies become pregnant. Move the male guppies back to the starting tank when you notice a darker pregnancy spot on the female guppies. Keep in mind that female guppies can store sperm for months, so the adult fish you buy may contain eggs fertilized by male guppies that have not been in your tank for a while
Step 4. Prepare special food for fry
Guppy fry have small mouths and high protein requirements, so they must be fed separately from adult guppies. Prepare special food for fry before they are born, and use protein sources and vegetable substances in making them. High-quality protein can be obtained from baby Artemia (not adult Artemia), microworms, finely sliced beef heart, and/or a mixture of crushed egg yolks and water. Vegetables can be used in smaller amounts, and you can use infusoria (the microscopic organisms that make pool water green), finely chopped fresh dark green lettuce, or small pieces of boiled spinach.
Do not give adult artemia to fry before the fry grow into juveniles; if the artemia is not eaten, then it means the artemia is too big for the fry to eat
Step 5. Feed the fry several times a day
Growing guppy fry have more energy requirements than adult guppies and also smaller stomachs, so feed them very small amounts of about 6 times a day. If the water becomes dirty or cloudy even though the water has been changed frequently, then reduce the amount of food given and make sure that the food is small enough for the fry to eat.
Step 6. Change a little water frequently
When the fry are born, change 10% or less of the water every 2 days. This is better than changing your water more every 1-2 weeks which will also make you more stressed. Young fish are very susceptible to changes in water, and high feeding frequency can cause debris in the tank to build up quickly.
Step 7. Reduce feeding frequency gradually
After about 2 months, the fry should have grown bigger and only need to be fed 3-4 times a day. You can change the diet of the fry after they are 4-5 months old and are fed 1-2 times a day. Make a slow diet change, by replacing some of their food with flakes, so that the fry are more likely to want to eat flakes. Each guppies and different types of guppies grow at different rates, so remember not to mix fry into the tank where the adult fish are kept before they reach more or less adult size.
You can switch to larger foods such as adult artemia more quickly if your guppies are growing fast. Continue to provide juvenile fish with high quality food, and watch the fish to make sure they are eating new foods
Tips
- Male guppies are easily recognized by their sharp lower fins near the anus. The female guppies have the same fins but are more rounded in shape, and will show a black dot on their abdomen when they contain eggs, especially fertilized eggs.
- Try not to make the fry swim to and fro in search of food! Drop the food right on top of them. This is not necessary for the adult guppies, which will swim actively in search of nearby food.
