Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re talking about guppies. Guppies, who are also known as million fish and rainbow fish, are some of the most well known aquarium fish. They are a specific species of fish, which was somewhat surprising to us since they come in so many varieties in the pet trade - kind of like betta fish. There is one other fish species from the same genus that is is sometimes referred to as the “endler’s guppy” and they are known to be hybridized with guppies in the pet trade, but today we’re specifically focusing on the species commonly known as guppies.

Guppies are originally thought to be from parts of South America, but they’ve now been introduced to Africa, Europe, Australia, Asia, North America, and other parts of South America where they may not have originally been found. Some introductions of guppies to other parts of the world were done intentionally as a means of controlling mosquito populations, but these were vastly unsuccessful. Other guppy introductions have likely occurred through release of them in non-native waterways by misguided pet owners. Considering guppies have been in the aquarium trade since the early 1900s, this has allowed plenty of time for these fish to spread.

Guppies are able to survive in a variety of habitats, which has likely contributed to their spread around the world, however they are limited in where they can live by water temperature. Generally speaking, guppies need warm water to survive. Anything from 60 to 100 degrees F (15-40 degrees C) is acceptable for them, but outside of that they’re typically unable to survive in the wild. If areas maintain an appropriate water temperature, guppies may be found in fresh or brackish water and can be seen living in ponds, streams, ditches, lakes and more, though usually they prefer waterways with lots of vegetation in which they can hide. Guppies can also occur from sea level to mountainous areas.

While guppies do eat mosquito larvae, they don’t eat enough to warrant their introduction to non-native habitats; a guppy’s diet mostly consists of algae. They’ll also eat larvae of other fish, such as killifish, and amphibians, which is why they’re considered a pest in some places - they are actually harmful to the local fauna in some of the areas they’re been introduced. Guppies consume mostly small food because they’re mostly small fish. Female guppies max out at just over two inches in length, though males barely reach half this size. We’ll explain this discrepancy later on in the video.

Guppies may be small, but they’re still enough for predators to want to chomp them up. Guppy predators include other fish, like catfish, birds, like kingfishers, and mammals, like bats - heck, they may even eat their own babies! Guppies give birth to live young, and in areas that are predator dense they have even more babies than guppies living in areas with fewer predators - probably because if they didn’t the guppies in high predator density areas would all get eaten. Guppies may give birth from anywhere to 20 to more than 100 babies depending on the size of the mother - and this is likely why females are larger than males: they have to be able to support all those babies while they develop inside them!

When guppies are born they aren’t given any parental support, and they may be snatched up as snacks by their parents. It takes about two to three months for guppies to reach maturity. Males will chase females to try and mate with them. Like the swordtail and platies we’ve discussed previously, male guppies are identifiable by their pointy anal fins. They may also come in more ostentatious colors than the females. Throughout their lifetimes, guppies will have many partners and females are able to store sperm for upwards of eight months in order to continue producing offspring. Guppies give birth year round and have babies on almost a monthly basis! And they’ll do this without slowing down until they reach almost three years of age!

For more facts on guppies, check out the links in the description. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files.