Guppy breeding are an activity that many people are attracted to due to the rapidity with which the breeding of guppies will show their results. The spawn of guppies will reveal to you the success of your color selections for the breed, and the next generation of guppies will exhibit the impact that your color choices had upon there genetic composition. The visual chart that is provided with this text is an essential visual aid for those who wish to make breeding decisions regarding guppies, and that visual aid makes it easier for breeder to make such decisions about the guppies they wish to breed.
Such decisions can be made based off the information that the chart provides about the sources of the colors of guppies and how the tail shapes of those guppies may combine with the color of their bodies. Male guppies contains the genes for the most obvious colors of guppies. The chart for the colors of guppies starts with an illustration of the color genes of male guppies.
Guppy Color Chart and Breeding Tips
For instance, male guppies pass red strains of guppies to son almost entirely. Thus, if a red male guppy is bred with a silver female, the sons will be red. The color of blue metallic guppies travels through the female guppies.
The metallic color of blue metallic guppies only emerges in female guppies if the owner knows which females contain the blue metallic gene for their color. These separate routes for each color gene are displayed on the chart for ease of understanding for the guppy breeder. The color of female guppies is, in fact, more important than the color of the males, but is often hidden from view.
Plain silver female guppies may appear colorless to the viewer, but may have genes for colors like black tuxedo tails or genes for mosaic tails in their bodies. If female guppies with these traits are bred with males that have black tuxedo or mosaic tails, the sons will reveal these hidden genes. The chart displays each of the common body types of female guppies, as well as the types of color traits that the male guppies express whose body types often pair with the female types.
The tail types of guppies are another separate set of rules that are separate from those that relate to the color of the guppies. For instance, both delta and lyretail guppies can have any color traits. However, the genes that widen the tails of guppies do not necessarily contain the same genes as those that deepen the color of the guppies.
The types of tails is another separate feature of guppies that the chart explains and lists in a separate section of the chart. Thus, if a male guppy with a wide tail is bred with a colorful female guppy, the offspring may have narrow fin. The separate chart of tail types makes it easier for the breeder to account for this separate variable of guppy breeding.
The color traits of guppies are actualy not that complicated to understand. Father passes genes for colors that are present on the Y chromosome to son. Genes for colors that are present on the X chromosome are passed to daughter guppies, but the daughters may not express those colors themselves.
Genes for colors that are located on the autosomal chromosomes are only expressed if the female guppy contains the same recessive gene as the male guppy with that color. The chart breaks down these three types of inheritance into separate columns to show what type of guppy stock will achieve the breeding goal. This chart will help people avoid depending on the results of each spawn.
When people try to fix too many traits at once, it usually creates problems for the guppies. For example, it is challenging to find a guppy that has all of the traits of a mosaic pattern, a delta tail, and having deep red coloration in their guppies. The more traits that you decide to breed for, the more guppies need to be bred before the correct combination of traits will be found.
If a guppy has a solid color line, that makes it easier to add one more desired trait to their coloration. The proven pairings of guppies with specific colorations will produce the desired results for breeders. For example, crossing full red males with silver females will produce red sons quickly.
Additionally, crossing blue metallic males with golden females will produce iridescent bi-color guppies. Lastly, crossing black tuxedo males with red-spotted females will create guppies with a specific pattern that will be expressed consistantly over generations of breeding. The rare colors of the guppies, such as violet or full black, require more patience from the breeder.
These colors usually require the interaction of two or more pigment layers to produce. However, these interactions break down when breeding using the outcrossing process. The color chart for guppies shows these colors will be more difficult to breed, which is helpful information for breeders before they commit the tank space to breeding these colors.
A grade for the guppies is another requirement for breeders. For example, an A-grade guppy must have coloration and structural balance to the fin features of the guppy. A brightly colored guppy with poor fins will receive a lower grade than a guppy with less vivid coloration but a better structural design of their fins.
The color chart for guppies includes a grading scale so that owners and breeders can decide if a guppy should be bred or displayed. The lighting in the breeding tank, the diet of the guppies, and the water quality will impact the color of the guppies, even with the correct genes for the color. For example, breeding the guppies in a dim light or giving them only the basic flake food will produce guppies with less vivid colors.
Regardless of the genes of the guppies, their color will appear this way. Although the genes of the guppy are the part of breeding that you control, the other factors impact the guppies’ peak genes. The value of having this color chart for guppies nearby is that each spawn of guppies provides people with a lesson.
By observing the guppies’ offspring, the breeder can adjust which guppies to pair together for the next spawn. Additionally, the breeder will have a record of which guppies produce the best results for the colorations that they desire to breed.
