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~