Hi all,

Take a look at these pics of White Dragon Guppies that I once had.

The scales on its sides is in shimmering green. Just love it!

Cheers!

Ishykiel

I attended the Singapore Guppy 2007 competition to check things out and was surprised to see that the competition was carried out together with the National Discus competition and the Betta Competition.I am not complaining here as I was expecting just the Guppy competition but lo and behold, I was greeted with some of the most beautiful Discus and Bettas that I have ever seen. Anyway, in this post,I am just gonna talk about the guppies. I see that the Guppies that were being shown were mainly strains that if I could recognise correctly are of Taiwan origins but of course had been bred by our local Singapore Guppy breeders. As such, most of the strains being shown are the Red laces, Blue Grass, Moscows, Half Black Whites and Full Red Guppies. I might be wrong here as some of these guppies could have been imported from other countries as well, such as the States and countries nearer to Singapore such as Thailand. I think that Singapore breeders are into the above strains at the moment. Here are some of the pictures that I took.

A beautiful Full Red Male Guppy.

It was rare but I did see however some Guppies that were clearly of local origin such as the Half Black Yellow Leopards. But that was also in the pair category. My hope is that Singapore breeders will start breeding and creating new strains of guppies that would continue to mesmerize and appeal to guppy breeders like me. In fact, in the past, Singapore Guppy breeders were well known for their ability to keep on producing new strains. Well,lets just hope that there will be a continuance in that area soon.

Personally, I love doing outcrossings and testing out the various genes by crossing unrelated guppies and also by looking hard for the weird but beautiful mutant guppy that may appear time to time.

Nevertheless, this year’s competition was a success and I enjoyed myself tremendously looking at the Guppies that were on show. I also met Helven Saw from the Malaysian Guppy club and found out that he was a judge for the competition. I would say that he is truly a guppy enthusiast to the core and I feel honoured to have met him.

Not forgetting also Shirley who was there looking after the exhibits. She is always ready to lend a helping hand when it comes to guppies and the club would definitely feel different if she is not around.

Congratulations to all the guppy breeders that got a prize for that competition. I hope to see you guys in the next competition with your new and improved strains.

Till Then,

~Ishykiel~

I have visited a number of Guppy setups done up by Guppy breeders in Singapore. I would say that I enjoyed visiting my fellow Guppy breeders to view their setup and of course to have a close up view of their wonderful guppies. We have some of the most dedicated Guppy breeders here in Singapore. Their fascination with Guppies is so overwhelming that sometimes they spend hours just going on and on about Guppy topics.

Guppy Club Singapore (GCS) has also played a crucial role in the development of Guppy keeping as a leisure activity in Singapore. Do visit the GCS site at www.sgguppy.com for more information.

My own Guppy setup is a simple one that consist of 24 tanks , supported on a 4 tier rod iron stand. This setup is customised and it did cost me a lot of dough to acquire this setup. The picture you see above is my very own guppy breeding setup.

As you can see, I use two pieces of 2 feet fluorascent lamps at each level of my setup. I believe that a Guppy room should be lighted at all times. I will usually leave a few lights on at night as Guppies will usually lay on the floor of their tank if it is pitch dark. This I believe will affect their tails in a negative way. As such, I recommend to all breeders out there to at least have a night light on in your guppy room at night. This will cause the Guppy to stay semi-awake and stay at the top or the middle of the tank.

I put plants in my tanks. This is for aesthetic as well as for biological purpose. The plants take in the carbon dioxide and other harmful elements in the water when exposed to light. It also allows the fishes to be comfortable in the tank and they will often be quite stable and not too jerky even if I suddenly on the lights in my room.

In each of my tanks, I use a corner filter that is filled with filter material and some smooth river stones to weigh the filter down. Aeration is provided by a Hi-Blow 80. A device that I think is a must if you were to have more than 40 tanks. Some of my tanks contain young 6cm Plecos that help to scrub clean the sides of the tank from algae and slime. They are perky fellas but do not just shift Plecos from one tank to another. I have found that this can sometimes upset the ecological balance of a tank and cause some Guppies to fall sick.

I don’t only keep adults in my 1.5ft by 1ft tanks. Fries do well too in a tank of this size too and I usually allow them to grow out in these tanks until time comes for them to be separated or to be pre-selected for various purposes.

As you can see, there are coral chips in the tank above. I use coral chips to stabilize the PH of my tank as it hovers between 6.5 and 6.8. some breeders feel that this is unnecessary. Like most things in life, this is up to your preference and your experience using the various methods and techniques available.

In the next post, I will introduce you to another guppy breeder Derrick. His system is much more complex than mine and it is automated. His Automated Guppy system allows a Guppy enthusiast to save a lot of time from doing manual water changes and is something worth looking at.

Till then.

~Ishykiel~