White Tuxedo Guppy

🔹 Scientific Name: Poecilia reticulata

🔹 Common Name: White Tuxedo Guppy

🔹 Type: Freshwater Livebearer

🔹 Coloration: Typically features a white or pale-colored body with tuxedo-style dark or contrasting rear coloration, often including a shimmering or metallic effect.

---

📏 Size

• Maximum Size:

  • Males: Up to 1.5 inches (3.5–4 cm)

  • Females: Up to 2.5 inches (6 cm)

• Males are smaller, more colorful, and have larger, flowier tails than females.

---

🌍 Native Habitat

• Origin: The wild guppy is native to northeastern South America, including Venezuela, Guyana, Trinidad, and Barbados.

• The White Tuxedo Guppy is a selectively bred aquarium strain and does not exist in the wild.

---

⏳ Lifespan

• Average Lifespan: 1.5 to 3 years

• Can live longer with proper care, including clean water, balanced diet, and a low-stress environment.

---

🍽️ Diet

• Diet Type: Omnivorous

• In the wild, guppies eat a mix of algae, plant matter, small insects, and larvae.

• In captivity, they thrive on a varied diet, including:

  • High-quality flake or micro-pellet food

  • Live or frozen foods (baby brine shrimp, daphnia, bloodworms)

  • Vegetable matter (blanched spinach, peas, or spirulina-based flakes)

---

🧬 Breeding

• Breeding Behavior: Livebearer—females give birth to free-swimming fry

• Breeding Season: Year-round in captivity

• Gestation Period: About 21 to 30 days

• A female can give birth to 20–50 fry (sometimes more) per cycle and may store sperm to fertilize multiple future batches without re-mating.

• Note: Fry are often eaten by adult guppies, so providing dense plants or breeder boxes helps ensure their survival.

---

🐟 Best Tank Mates

White Tuxedo Guppies are peaceful and social, ideal for community aquariums.

• Good tank mates:

  • Other guppies

  • Platies, mollies, swordtails

  • Corydoras catfish

  • Otocinclus

  • Small peaceful tetras (like neon, ember, or rummy-nose)

  • Shrimp and snails

• Avoid:

  • Fin-nippers (e.g., tiger barbs, serpae tetras)

  • Aggressive fish (e.g., cichlids, some bettas)

  • Overcrowded tanks or species with large size differences

---

🏡 Aquarium Requirements

• Minimum Tank Size: 10 gallons (larger for community setups)

• Water Parameters:

  • Temperature: 72–82°F (22–28°C)

  • pH: 6.8–7.8

  • Hardness: 8–12 dGH (moderately hard water preferred)

• Tank Setup:

  • Gentle filter (sponge filters are ideal)

  • Plenty of live or artificial plants for hiding spots and fry protection

  • Regular water changes (25–30% weekly)