what makes a good guppy?

[Slightly Blue Dalmation]

what makes a good guppy strain? you see so many amazing looking fish, some sell for $1 and some sell for $20, just a rough general statement, but what makes some more 'special' than others?

[Guest]

I always like the females with full body colour rather than the normal silver body ones.

[cesarz]

A good guppy is one that is of a recognised strain and up to standard for winning awards at shows, be it the American, British, Thai, Malaysian or International shows. It has to breed true, which means at least 95% of its offspring will be the same strain.

Also it has to look stunning and very healthy and resistant to most diseases.

Guppies that sell cheap are what breeders call rejects or feeders, quality guppies will not be offered for less than $10 in NZ or US$20 in the US. Most good guppies cost no less than US$40 for a trio.

I spent $500 for two trios of pure strain Onyx Black Moscows, $90 for a trio Turqoise Blues, $50 for trio of German Yellows...etc... and these are guaranteed pure strains.

Of course in NZ you can still score a high quality cheap guppy if you do your research or contact the right people. There are only a handful of breeders here in NZ that have good guppies.

[Slightly Blue Dalmation]

so basically a nice looking guppy that will produce offspring that all look the same?

[cesarz]

Yup, and it should look nice to you.

[Slightly Blue Dalmation]

sweet, moved a male and a plain female to a separate tank and see how it goes

[johnny]

http://www.guppydesigner.com/sales/sample.pdf

This is a good link