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Center for Research Libraries Scan Date: January 15, 2013 Identifier: m-w-000312 All About Guppies & LEON 1'Y WIMTNEY, D.V.M. and PAUt, HAHNEL Illustrated By ERNEST H. HART A Practical Science Book PRACTICAL SCIENCE PUBLISHING CO., Inc. Orange Connecticut DISTRIBUTED TO THE BOOK TRADE BY GARDEN CITY BOOKS, GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK Copyright, 1952, 1955, by LEON F. WHITNEY All Rights Reserved. This book, or any parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form, without written permission from, the author and the publisher. Designed and produced in the U.S.A. To our wives, who have so patiently tolerated our mutual hobby, and, to their great credit, actually encouraged us in it. 4 1 GM Foreword This is the first popular book about guppies. It is meant to help the great majority of young and old guppy fanciers. It is not a scientific treatise. We hope it is not unscientific. A large technical literature about guppies has accumulated throughout the world. Most of the important reports can be found in the bibliography on pages 119 to 128 by anyone interested in strictly scientific aspects of our little fish. This is the first time in which all of the bibliography of the guppy has been brought together into a single book and none of it has been disregarded in preparing the text, but the scientific terms have been changed into language of the layman and free research results applied to useful, work- able plans. Sometimes this has been difficult. There are a few spots where you may find a little study or re-reading necessary to interpret the facts, but this small effort should be worthwhile. Nine hundred ninety-nine out of every one thousand guppy breeders are striving to produce more beautiful speci- mens. If we use what scientific knowledge we can glean along with practical wisdom, our aims can be accomplished ever so much quicker. And so we hope this book helps you to breed the most beautiful guppies in the world. Orange, Connecticut LEON F. WHITNEY, D.Y.M. PAUL HAHNEL Table of Contents CHAPTER I The Guppy 7 CHAPTER II The Gupp-fs Anatomy 15 CHAPTER III Physical Equipment needed 27 CHAPTER iv Food for Guppies 49 CHAPTER v Heredity . 72 CHAPTER VI Practical Guppy Breeding H9 CHAPTER VII Guppy Diseases and Ailments 95 CHAPTER VIII Exhibiting Guppies .... 112 BIBLIOGRAPHY 119 C H A P T ER I The Guppy THE SUBJECT OF THIS BOOK IS A SMALL FRESH water fish, which in the wild state reaches a length, in females, of from one and a half to three inches; in males, two thirds of these lengths. The wild females are olive- grey, unattractively colored, each scale having a dark-lined edge; the males are highly, variously and brilliantly hued. The guppy is one of the several kinds of fishes which gives birth to living young, a fact which makes it partic- ularly interesting. Many a fish hobbyist has tried keeping and breeding several of the exotic species of aquarium fishes but in the end has abandoned all of the others and taken up the breeding of guppies because of their beauty, adaptability and other values. Guppies are omnivorous surface feeders. The upturned mouth is sufficient evidence of that fact. It performs most useful services for mankind by eating the larval form of mosquitoes, adding materially to our comfort. HISTORY AND HABITAT The scientific name for the guppy is Lebistes reticulatus (Peters). Lebistes is the name of the genus; reticulatus is •8 ALL ABOUT GUPPIES the name of the species. Peters stands for the European discoverer. Wilhelm C. H. Peters found the fish in a collec- tion brought to Germany from Venezuela in 1859. He de- scribed it as Poccilia reticulata, thinking, because of its resemblance to the other fishes of the Poccilia genus, it properly belonged there. In 1861, Filippi, a Spaniard, de- scribed the same species he found in a shipment of fishes from Barbados. Although he too noticed the resemblance to the Poccilia genus, he decided that they were a wholly new type and named them Lcbistes Poccilia. From Trinidad, an island off the coast of South America, came a slightly different guppy, sent to the British Museum in 1866 by the Rev. Robert John Lechmere Guppy, an Englishman by birth but of distant French ancestry. Those Trinidad guppies were at first thought to be a new species and were named by Albert K. Gunther, the Museum di- rector, Giradinus guppi/i. To avoid this confusion of names, ichthyologists, in the interests of scientific accuracy, finally called it Lebistes reticulatus. According to Fraser-Brunner, the first person to keep and breed the species in tanks was Captain J. A. M. Vipan, a collector for the British Museum. In a paper in the Zoo- logical Societies Proceedings, Captain Vipan emphasized the value of the fish in destroying larvae. In 1909 Vipan interbred guppies from Barbados, Trinidad and Venezuela, thus demonstrating the inter-fertility of the several sub- species. In Germany where tropical-fish keeping as a hobby flourished more than anywhere, the fish gained great pop- ularity. Aquarists dropped the "i" from guppyi, and called it guppy (pronounced gup-pee, not goo-pee). Everywhere today it is known popularly by this name. Anyone watching his guppies devouring mosquito larvae realizes why the British Colonial Office and agencies of other governments* upon learning its value, set about distributing THE GUPPY 9 large numbers of the little fishes here and there. At first the guppy was called the "million fish", probably because of its habit of reproducing so rapidly when food was abundant. Shipment after shipment reached inhospitable environ- ments where they perished, but guppies have now been established in a wild state in numerous parts of the world. There are claims from many areas of the tropics that the guppy always was a native. Mexican ichthyologists, finding the species wild, disclaim the theory of artificial introduc- tion. It is unfortunate that a study was not made of the original habitat before distribution by man made this im- possible. In the tropics the guppy is like Mark Twain's Yankee—ubiquitous. Efforts have been made to populate areas where only the summer environment is equable for the guppy, usually with- out success. As a mosquito larvae destroyer, the Gambusia has been found to be more efficient in warmer areas of the world and minnows in the colder parts, so the guppy is no longer transferred in numbers as it once was. Men of many nationalities have been concerned with the diminutive object of our interest. This fact exemplifies its appeal. Today, wherever fishes are kept, in far-flung lands over the whole earth's surface, by all of the races and nation- alities of man, the guppy generally occupies an important, if not the most important position among the fishes which are fancied. FASCINATION OF GUPPIES AS A HOBBY Beauty. There is no more beautiful male fish extant than this living geni. At best, the males of any other species show but a few colors and great uniformity, every male being like every other. In a tank of guppies there are all shades of color, vivid, clear, pleasing, delicate. But you must use imagination and as you look at them imagine each is magni- fied. The beauty of the guppy, as contrasted with many species of aquarium fishes, is the beauty of a lovely piece of •10 ALL ABOUT GUPPIES jewelry—a modern delicate wrist watch in contrast to an old-fashioned alarm clock. The female is not considered beautiful by many. True, the wild type lacks attractiveness, but today guppists are rapidly improving her until in some strains her tail and fins are luminously colored with gold, blue and purple. In these variations from the wild type— the gold, the albino—the females are beautiful fishes. As in the case with all tropicals, proper lighting is re- quired to bring out their beauty. Good eyesight enhances the appreciation of the delicate tones, yet even color-blind persons, who see reds and greens as shades of gray, can find in guppies all of the other colors and shades. Possibilities of Improvement. There are, fortunately, many persons who possess a talent which others unfortu- nately lack, the talent which drives them to want to improve living creatures. There are others who have an innate love of nature. For those with either one or a combination of these fortunate talents, the guppy offers a unique opportun- ity. Because of the great variety, a person, by selective breeding, can establish strains ad infinitum. There could be a separate, distinct strain for every guppy breeder in the world; but this we shall consider in greater detail when we observe some of the variations. No fish offers the possibility of fun and satisfaction which this little fellow presents. Education. What could afford finer lessons in nature than watching, day after day, the development of a whole genera- tion within a few months: courtship, fertilization, gestation, birth, feeding, disease, enemies, life and death? There it is in all its beauty. But the education does not end with the aquarium's inhabitants. Before long you find yourself study- ing. Many who have never known what study was, have learned how greatly life can be enriched by that process. What are daphnia? Couldn't I grow my own? Where can I learn how? Where do tubefex worms live? One turns to books for the answers to innumerable questions. And thus one learns and learning opens additional avenues of life. For THE GUPPY 11 youngsters, the guppy furnishes lessons in life that they can comprehend. Small Expense Involved. The guppy hobby is available to everyone, young or old, rich or poor, elevator man or elec- trical engineer. A quart preserve jar, a goldfish bowl, a 2, 10, or 100 gallon tank. One of us who breeds exotic guppies uses only nineteen 10-gallon tanks, and another master breeder has approximately the same equipment. Yet another has four 20-gallon tanks in one room of his o home and eight 3-gallon tanks which he maintains in his cellar. Thousands of breeders are happy with even one tank and a few auxiliary jars to use for maternity wards. Nor does the equipment need to be expensive. Nearly everybody knows of someone who has an old aquarium in the attic or cellar which they will be glad to see in use. An advertisement in a newspaper will bring answers from those with equipment to sell. Both new and used tanks and accessories can be purchased from tropical fish stores. All things considered, few hobbies cost so little unless one wants to spend a great deal and even, in that event, the cost of extra fine fishes will be the most expensive item. Time Required. The hobbiest can spend hours every day, or minutes. We demonstrated, that 80 tanks can be cared for by using system, in fifteen minutes a day for six days, and four hours one day a week. If one does not use live algae cleaners, if one worries overly about keeping his glass sparkling, picks out snails by hand instead of using two little Cumberland turtles to eat them, watched each and every fish, one could spend half a day every day. Many, with leisure, prefer to do so, and find endless delight in the hobby. Feeding-—A Simple Matter. With the introduction of com- plete rations in the form of dry or paste foods, feeding need take no more than a fraction of the time it formerly did when live food was used. Those who take great pleasure in watching fish eat may devote as much time to feeding as