Just wondering who out there has the wild variation of the guppy if not can you tell me where in the waikato river to catch them as i know there in wild.

pic below is pretty similar what im after

There are a few wild populations around the Rotorua area.I will try and find out exactly where.We also have wild populations of mosquito fish around here that arn't supposed to be caught that look similar without any colour.There are also wild populations of mollies around Taupo and apparently swordtails in the Waikete area.

Just out of curiosity, why wild.

ye peter i already knew all that but was wondering if anyone had them or actually knew where to catch them and i believe the populations are in the lower waikato

why wild?

Shae 250

i have some that have that kind of look to them, they just came out of random guppy breeding, i will go have a look, mine do not have the white spot i don't think.

BECAUSE IF YOU CROSS WILD WITH non wild you apparently get awsome colours and patterns

hmm........that sinteresting i have heard of stories, such as......

.....there was two type of platy both the normal wild green viraiety, both lived in absolutle trancualty, but 100's of miles apart, then scientists found these untouched fish, and put a male and female of each type into the same tank. from this we have all the different coloured platy today.

evadenatlly, if this is true, i would assume be the same for guppy.

however i doubt you will find such a guppy in nz, because of adaptation to our waters, so there colour shape finaige etc might have changed.

Shae 250

This may work and I have thought about trying it out myself.I would only use the wild females as a clean slate to work with against a nice male you have found somewhere.This does not mean you won't have problems with linebreeding but if your working with clear tailed females it could make setting up a strain easier if your working mainly with the males colour.

Wild females are generally clear and don't don't carry any noticable colour.

The main problem you could encounter are single and double swordtails after a few generations, depends on when the fish were dumped there if they carry this gene.You may not come accross it at all.This gene is carried on the X chromosome or female genes.I actually like the swordtail guppies but they don't seem to sell well.

Gambusia (Gambusia affinis) are wild guppies and you find them around the waikato area

Slightly off the topic, but a couple of years ago I was down in the winter/covered gardens in the Wellington Botanic Gardens, and I stopped to take a look at their pond.

They had swarms almost of the most beautiful guppies I have ever seen! The females were at least 2 to 3 times the size of the males, and a solid gold/bronze colour. The males were all a metallic purple with flashes of green and orange.

I had to exercise some serious restraint! Thankfully I live in Auckland, otherwise I just don't know!

Has anyone else seen them? It was a few years ago, so I'm not sure if they are even there anymore!

yup ive seen them and so has tim(newtman) and yes people do take them

Gambusia is illegal to have, and taking the livebearers they have in all the different pools is also illegal, if your cought your going to be paying out more than it was worth. However if they give you there permission then it is obviously aloud.

Shae

wild guppy

http://www.zierfischverzeichnis.de/ordn ... culata.htm

mosquitofish Gambusia affins

http://www.iisgcp.org/EXOTICSP/Mosquitofish.htm

http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/good-bad/gambusia.html

Gambusia affins are closely related to guppies.Like I have said in other posts I don't know if they will cross and don't want to find out.Mosquitifish are very aggressive compared to guppies and much hardier even in temperatures close to freezing for short periods.One reason MAF don't take too kindley to them being taken.I have seen Gamusia on and around the edges of lake Rotorua near thermal runoffs.I doubt if guppies could maintain a healthy popullation bellow 16 degrees.

Notice the difference in colour between the wild guppies and the gambusia.

Slightly off the topic, but a couple of years ago I was down in the winter/covered gardens in the Wellington Botanic Gardens, and I stopped to take a look at their pond.

They had swarms almost of the most beautiful guppies I have ever seen! The females were at least 2 to 3 times the size of the males, and a solid gold/bronze colour. The males were all a metallic purple with flashes of green and orange.

I had to exercise some serious restraint! Thankfully I live in Auckland, otherwise I just don't know!

Has anyone else seen them? It was a few years ago, so I'm not sure if they are even there anymore!.

yup...ive have seen them in the pond. they have these amazing breed there.

Speaking of which, the pic of guppies and swordtails that ballistic showed us from his tank looked a lot like the ones in the botanic gardens. just out of curiosity Steve, did you take them from pond?

I would love to say I did, but alas no, I could not get any.

The guppies I inherited from an old guy who died and the swords were dad's and he had them for years

B

There are extreme differences between the wild picture that Kyle, posted and Steves old guppys.

Shae

im saying dont they look like the ones in the botanic gardens? wellingtonians should go and check it out.

Jensen’s in Glenfield are selling the wild type guppies! I saw them just yesterday and they are far nicer then how people describe them. It's also nice to see them how they are from the wild before they have under gone selective breeding.

They aren't really wild guppies.

They are the result of degenerative breeding.

With of course the degeneration of the special fins, colours, size, etc

Alan 104

Are you sure about that?

They carry the same markings that I have seen in pictures of true wild guppies.

I do understand that they can head towards looking like their wild form by loss of body and fin size as well as colour. But is it possible for degenerative breeding to result with a fish that looks completely like a true wild guppy?