Pretty Pink Guppies

In this post, I am going to talk about some pink guppies that I manage to get hold of from a local fish shop in Singapore. They have been appearing in the fish shops on a consistent basis and I think the breeder is a Guppy farmer here in Singapore.

In my opinio, the above guppies are a cross between Japanese Blue Guppies and the the Red Grass strain. I might be wrong but if I have my reasons to actually state the above.

One is the observation that if you look closely at the Caudal fins of the pink guppy, you will see scattered black spots that are very characteristic of the Grass strains and reminiscence of the Red Grass guppy strain.

Another possible cross is a strain which I would just refer to as the Red Delta strain that is a common sight here in Singapore and is bred in big numbers here in Singapore Guppy farms.

The above is just some speculation and observation. I might be wrong, really wrong and I would really appreciate it if anyone who has had some experiences with these guppies help to enlighten us a bit on the genetic makeup of this fish and how it was developed.

-Ardy Ishykiel-

I wonder why they call a strain of guppies “Old Fashion”? I mean, is it because they have been around for too long, looked out of fashion when compared to the latest of strains that has appeared in the guppy world and as such be termed as “old”?
I try to make sense of the term Old Fashion Guppies and I feel that these beauties still have a place in the guppy world and are much prized all over the world. Call them old fashion or New Age guppies, they are still guppies that pack a punch in terms of coloration and vivacity.

The picture that I have posted above is of a pair of Old Fashion Albino Mosaic guppies. The picture above was taken at the 2008 guppy competition. Don’t gag on the name as these guppies do contain within themselves a myriad of genes and to produce these guppies from scratch would clearly need an individual with patience of steel.

I really am not too sure why the Old fashion guppies are named as such but from reading various sources of guppy information, I found out that they are believed to be of Southeast Asian and Japanese origin. Most believe that these guppies are called “Old Fashion” because they have a body pattern which is more typical of the wild guppy than todays lines.

However, according to one breeder, this guppy strain have tail patterns that tend to stay within the green, red and black colors. I believe however, that the “Old Fashion” guppies is distinctive than the rest of the strains not due to their tail patterns but rather because of their body patterns. It is in their body patterns that you see close resemblance to the wild type. The wild type guppies have so called “patches” of colour and some of these patches show more sheen than the other patches. These “irregular” shaped patches is distinctive in the wild as well as the delta tailed Old Fashioned guppies.

Some guppy enthusiasts believe that the term “Old-Fashion” is a name given by Japanese breeders and they believe that the strain has direct relations to the Viennese Emerald Green Double sword and the more typical pattern is closer to the wild guppy in its polychromatic variability than most modern strains. The term Polychromatic is used to described “light that exhibits more than one color “and when we use the term in relation to guppies, I hold the view that it used to relate to the guppies body that contains more than one color. This is especially observed in the wild color types and the Old Fashion guppies. It is interesting to note also that the old-fashioned gene is strongly Y-linked. You could then in theory develop all kinds of Guppy strains with the Old Fashion gene when you take into account that the tail color can be X and Y linked.

To me, the Old Fashion guppy is an interesting strain and is a strain that has a huge potential for development. If you are someone willing to take the challenge, I am always interested to interview you on your experience keeping and breeding the Old Fashion guppy.

Happy guppy keeping!

Ishykiel

Planted Tank of mine

I started this Blog so that I can share with all who are interested in Guppies the exploits in my the Guppy hobby and now people, I have a Guppy room. It is something which I had always wanted since young, a Guppy Room to keep my guppies and breed them for traits that would make them special.

I have been breeding guppies for as long as I can remember. It was way back in 1992 actually. My first tank was a plastic Guppy brand tank and guess where I got my first guppies? From the local fish shop of course. Nope…not the longkang (Malay word for small drains or monsoon drains) as I believe that the longkang guppies are far from the sophisticated Fancy Guppies that swim with the grace of angels.

Anyway, to keep the long story short. I hope that you enjoy the stuff that I have uploaded here. Please leave your comments whenever possible and don’t forget to email me here. Also, if you want to know more about guppies or would want to get in touch with me. I will share with you whatever information that I have learned and gathered over the years. It never fails to make me happy when I have more people becoming friends from something as simple as Guppies.

Just if you were wondering on the picture above, it is a 5 feet planted tank that I have right smack between my kitchen and living room. I have spent countless hours doing that tank and had started trying to setup a planted tank way back when I couldn’t find a simple CO2 canister and fertilizers for the plants. I never gave up and the industry actually caught up with me and now you can actually do up a planted tank fast once you know what to do, what to get and where to get it. I am quite “blessed’ to be a hobbyist in Singapore as the local fish shop here in Singapore do stock up the equipment needed for me to be successful in this hobby.

Happy Guppy Keeping
-Ishykiel-