What Do Guppies Eat? (Diet Guide & Feeding Tips)
Guppies are tropical freshwater fishes. They are also known as million fish and rainbow fish. They are lovely in nature. Feeding Guppy fish is a responsible duty you should have done properly.
The guppies generally feed on a variety of foods present in the water, like algae, larvae, and small insects present on the surface of water or inside deep of the water.
What Do Guppies Eat In The wild
The guppies are one of the most beautiful parts of nature. The wild guppies eat plants, algae, and other various foods present in the water. They also like to eat live foods like brine shrimp, invertebrates, and larvae.
The guppies are also used for the natural control of the mosquito population, and they also control the spread of malaria in many regions of the world.
The live foods help to grow the guppy fish. Also, give energy and nutrition to their bodies. The guppies do not eat live foods every day, but they only eat twice a week because more energy and nutrition can harm their bodies.
Mostly, guppies eat vegetables matters in their diet because this type of food gives an essential protein, which can help to grow fish and nutrition to the body.
The wild guppies also feed on the mosquito present in the small water and slow stream river. On the surface of the water, all small size insects can be eaten by guppy fish. But mostly, they depend on the plant algae, which is healthy for them.
Feeding Guppies In The Captivity
The guppies are very beautiful. Their food matter is very complicated. It includes mixed meat and various plants present in the water as algae, fungi, etc.
Their eating habit is different from others they eat other live foods that are small in size and easily fit in the mouth and easily swallow.
They depend upon algae, fungi, and other sea plants. Because their diet is prolonged as compared to the other fish.
They eat live foods only two times a week because they do not require much energy and nutrients. Guppies only required sea plants. Guppies eat algae and other foods that are under the sea, lake, or river.
They eat algae and sea plants twice a day. They also eat small invertebrates that are present in the water. The guppy fish does not require much amount of food because of their size and length.
Also, the high amount of energy and vitamins can cause harm to the guppy fish intestine and their body.
What Vegetables Can Guppies Eat?
The guppy fish can also be fed with various vegetables, which are healthy for them and give them essential nutrients.
The vegetables which can be fed to the guppies fish are mentioned below.
- Spinach
- Lettuce
- Romaine
- Sweet potato
- Carrots
- Pumpkins
You can feed guppies lettuce, spinach, and other leafy vegetables. You can serve leafy vegetables that go inside the water, and guppies fish can eat.
The peas, potato, and carrots should be boiled before feeding them to the guppies. So, the guppies fish can easily eat all the boiled vegetables and give them the proper nutrients.
The peas should also be boiled and also removed the peas cover so the guppies can eat the peas and also enjoy their diet.
The pumpkins should be given raw, but they should be in small and long pieces. So, the guppies fish can eat and taste the pumpkins.
The guppy fish also eat different varieties of food, which can give essential nutrients and boost growth. The guppies can eat a variety of vegetables as compared to the other fishes.
What Do Baby Guppies Eat?
The Baby guppies are very adorable and very attractive, but it is not easy to feed them due to their tiny size, and they only consume tiny pieces of vegetables.
You can also feed them with small pieces of meat, which is made homemade, their mouth is small, so it is tough to swallow. So, they do not eat the large live foods which the adult guppies easily swallow.
The baby guppies need more attention because they are small in size. So they can be fed five times a day and remove the uneaten parts from the tanks and aquarium.
So they depend upon the vegetables and store-made food available in the online shop and the offline fish market.
Guppy Food List
You can feed the guppies with a variety of food and different variety of Water foods, which are specified below.
- Sea plant
- Algae
- Fungi
- Sea Mushroom
- Spirulina
They eat water food in the wild because of their small size and growth, which is necessary, and these water foods give vitamins and nutrients.
Vegetable Foods Eaten by Guppies
- Spinach
- Lettuce
- Romaine lettuce
- Peas
- Zucchini
- Cucumber
- Sweet potato
- Carrots
- Pumpkin
The guppy fish also eat a variety of vegetables, which gives them essential nutrients and vitamins for their growth. It is easily digestible in the stomach and does not harm the body.
The Live Foods Which Guppies Do Eat
- Brine
- Shrimp
- Diatoms
- Invertebrates
- Aquatic insect
- Larvae
- Mosquitoes
The guppy fish also eat live foods, especially the adult guppy fish, because they are
enough to swallow the live insects.
They do not eat live foods in large quantities because they can harm the body. They eat only 2 times a week, which gives proper and important vitamins that are not present in vegetables and water foods.
The other foods for the guppy fish are available in offline and online stores. The popular online sites are given below.
- Guppyfood.com
How Often Do Guppies Need To Eat?
The feeding limits should be 2 times per day to feed the adult guppy because they eat whenever you give them food. To avoid harm to guppies, you should feed them 2 times a day, which is necessary for the fish’s growth.
The adult guppy fish does not require to be fed many times. The reasons behind this are already discussed above.
The baby guppy fish eat very carefully because they are tiny and cannot swallow the large bite compared to the other adult guppy fish.
So the food for the guppy fish can be made at home, or you can go to the online store or any offline store. The baby guppy fish should be fed 5 times a day with a small amount of food. So, they can eat all the food which is present in the tank.
Before feeding them, remove the uneaten food, which is not healthy for the baby guppy fish. Do not provide a large amount of food to both the guppy fish adult and baby.
Because it can make the environment of the tank and water dirty, which may cause the parasite in the water, which is harmful to them.
For baby guppies, you can make their food at home by mixing meats, vegetables, and fish oil and making a paste, and keeping it in the oven.
Keep it for some time, when it is ready to feed, then take it out from the oven, crush it into small pieces, and give it to the baby guppy.
It is a very healthy food for your baby guppy. It also provides the necessary vitamins and nutrients which are required for the growth of baby guppies fish.
Know About The Types Of Guppies
They are commonly found in small lakes, slow-flowing water, and also in small streams. The male guppies are smaller than the female guppies, and they have ornamental and beautiful caudal and dorsal fins.
The scientific classification of the guppies.
| 1 | Kingdom | Animalia |
| 2 | Phylum | Chordata |
| 3 | Class | Actinopterygii |
| 4 | Order | Cyprinodontformes |
| 5 | Family | Poeciliidae |
| 6 | Genus | Poecilia |
| 7 | Species | P.Reticulata |
The guppies’ binomial name is Poecilia reticulata, which is discovered by the w.peters in the year 1859.
The guppies are also used as model organisms or volunteers in ecology, evolution, and even behavioral study.
The Popular Types of Guppies
The different species are available globally, and their variety is more than 50, and all are different from each other, in their characterization, and their different colors and patterns.
Poecilia reticulate: They are common and fancy guppies distributed in a wide range of the world. They are also called rainbow fish and a million fish.
Poecilia wingei: They are endler guppy. They are similar to the common guppy, and they have easily crossbred themself. They are straightforward to care for, and they are very rare species. It can be found in very few pet stores.
Micropoecilia picta: This type of guppy is not found in streamflow water or river, or freshwater like the other two guppy types. They are known as swamp guppies as they are mostly found in the coastal swamp.
The swamp guppies are also called scarlet livebearers due to their small size. They are native to central and South America, and they are not found in the home aquarium because they are very rare.
The guppies also have a type by their tail and there are more than 20 types of tails. This variety is a result of years of breeding. The new varieties of guppy fish are given below.
- Veiltail
- Triangle tail
- Scarftail
- Bottom swordtail
They are distinguished from each other they are different from each other.
Guppies can be used for house decoration and give a perfect and peaceful house. They do not require a large portion of the house because they can be set into a small size due to their small size.
They do not require special treatment, and their foods are also easily available in the market. Guppies are very intelligent, peaceful, and attractive to nature.
FAQs
Can guppies eat goldfish food?
Yes, the guppies can eat the goldfish food but should remember the goldfish food like flakes should be crushed into small pieces to swallow by the guppy fish.
The goldfish do not require a high amount of nutrients, but the goldfish required a large amount when needed, so they can also eat the flakes of goldfish for some time.
It does not harm the guppy’s food if you feed the goldfish food, but it will not affect the growth and proper nutrients required for the guppy fish.
Do guppies eat algae?
Yes, guppy fish eat algae. The algae are the snacks for the guppy fish because the guppy fish is searching for the foods in the tanks and aquarium, so if the foods are not there, they eat the algae that give them power and energy for searching.
They always depend upon the algae. In the wild, the guppy does not get their food to eat the algae and fungi present in the water and sea. They create energy from the algae, and their growth will also not be affected.
Can guppies eat bread?
No, don’t feed the bread to the guppy fish because the bread contains many harmful ingredients. It can cause the bursting of the stomach because bread soaks the water. It may lead to the death of guppy fish.
