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Post by tidus97 on Jun 2, 2006 18:18:14 GMT 10
i want to make my aquarium look like my guppies natural habitat. but i dont know where they come from.can someone tell me what kind of plants, water condition etc guppys live in in the wild?
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Post by Bumblebee on Jun 14, 2006 0:29:19 GMT 10
I know they were first collected and described in Trinidad, a Island in the caribbean. They have since been spread worldwide. It would be best to start your reseach into what grows in the streams ther. An interesting project, let us know how you go! Sorry I didnt reply earlier!. The water there is fairly alkaline and hard. not sure about the plants that grow there though. will post more If I find something.
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Post by tidus97 on Jun 18, 2006 2:30:52 GMT 10
havent been on for a while. thanks for the tip. if i find something. this site will be the first to know.
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Post by tidus97 on Jun 18, 2006 2:45:12 GMT 10
harder then i thoought ;D
the internet is huge yet i cant find anything on trinidad waterlife
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Post by tidus97 on Jun 18, 2006 2:53:06 GMT 10
so far i learnt that guppies naturally inhabit slow moving streams and shallow lakes in the waterways of Northern Brazil, Guyana, Venezuela, Barbados and Trinidad. but i think most of us already knew that . no?  |
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Post by sammigold on Jun 18, 2006 15:56:59 GMT 10
OK! I used to buy this fish mag every month that would provide you with infor re: different fish every month.... where they are from, what they require, how to set up a natural habitat etc... so here is an excerpt of its info.. re: guppies.....
GUPPY - Poecilia reticulata
The guppys natural habitat comprises the whole of the north of South America (in particular, Brazil, Guyana and Venezuela). It is found in a variety of waters from very soft, to brackish or even polluted. This explains why this fish, which was brought to every continent to combat the mosquito (it eats the larvae), adapts so easily and is so hardy.]
When setting up an aquarium for guppies this is the decor/plants that this mag.. recommended... it didnt say whether this is because it is similar to its natural habitat but I suppose it is a suggestion anyway.....]
Fine white sand, and a few red rocks or lava rocks.... hard water, ph between 7-8, temp between 23-26celcius , plants- Microsorum pteropus 'tropica' (an aquatic fern), Cyperus helferi, and Ceratophyllum demersum ( a free floating aquarium plant)
I will see if I can find out the "layman" names for those plants....
HTH
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Post by sammigold on Jun 18, 2006 16:29:04 GMT 10
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Post by tidus97 on Jun 18, 2006 19:36:01 GMT 10
you cheated! you used a magazine  anyway. i was wondering: if the lps guppies have been breed in captivty then how do they know that these plants belonged to there natiral environment? hmmm. maybe there moms showed them some pictures, ;D |
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Post by Bumblebee on Jun 19, 2006 0:33:49 GMT 10
Its a very interesting topic. I have never herd of anyone trying to set up a guppy 'biotype' tank. will be interesting to see what everyone comes up with. got me very interested to find out too!.
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Post by tidus97 on Jun 19, 2006 1:25:17 GMT 10
hmmm. by looking at picutures of rivers the water looks like that tea colour and most of the rivers have trees overha meaning dead twigs branches etc should be in there tank. we can a get this effect with some bogwood.
so we know to have an aquarium consiting of bogwood, tea-colour-water(can someone tell me what you call this ?)
we could have some hornwort java fern (the other plant ive never heard of) the gravel should be fine. the white gravel that was mentioned earlier cost a fair bit, but you can get gravel slightly larger for less, but they are not white. i still think we should use hard water 8.0ph because thats the ph they where probably bred, so they are more used to that.
the only thing im worried about is the tea-colour water will not show my guppies true colour. hmmm. maybe people like me could leave out this one?
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Post by Bumblebee on Jun 19, 2006 12:27:21 GMT 10
tea coloured water is 'blackwater'. it comes from the tannins released by dead wood, peat, tree roots and other plant matter. you can buy it as 'blackwater extract'. I find it makes metallic colour stand out a lot more. Very beneficial to fish.
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Post by Bumblebee on Jun 19, 2006 12:31:16 GMT 10
have found two plants that would be found in guppy habitat. the 'water hyacinth' and the brasillian sword plant.
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Post by sammigold on Jun 19, 2006 14:25:09 GMT 10
You can buy white pool filter sand cheaply.... lots of people use this in discus tanks to create the amazonian "look".... apparently they get it at clark rubber... cheaper than gravel and if it can be used for discus it will certainly be able to be used for guppies. :-)
Ps. one of my guppies habitats consists of lime green and fluoro pink gravel... do you think that would pass??? LOL
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Post by tidus97 on Jun 19, 2006 16:47:57 GMT 10
lol. not sure on that one.
anyway i heavnt found anything new but i am still looking around.
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Post by Bumblebee on Jun 19, 2006 23:47:27 GMT 10
Another is the 'amazon sword'. apparently it lives in quite a few of the streams in that area. I wonder what fish they come in contact with. the only one I can come up with is the origional 'hypostamus plecostumus' or common pleco.
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