Question 1

How much do guppy fish cost in the UK?

Accepted Answer

Standard fancy guppy males and females start at about £2.40, with most single fish under £4. Show-quality strains and breeding pairs or trios — platinum blue dragon, albino sky blue, snakeskin koi ribbon — run £18-£21. Prices on this page are live: what you see is what's in stock today.

Question 2

How long do guppies live?

Accepted Answer

Around 2 years is realistic for modern fancy guppies, with excellent water quality and a varied diet stretching that to 3. Wild-type strains often reach 3-4 years — heavy selective breeding for finnage has shortened fancy lifespans. Females tend to outlive males, and stable, heated water is the single biggest factor.

Question 3

Are guppies tropical or coldwater fish?

Accepted Answer

Tropical — guppies want a heated tank at 22-28°C year-round. A 50 W heater covers a typical 60 L setup in a UK home. Fish marketed online as 'coldwater guppies' are the same species kept at risky low temperatures, which stresses them and significantly shortens their lifespan.

Question 4

Should I buy male or female guppies?

Accepted Answer

Males carry the big tails and intense colour most people picture; females are larger, plainer and essential if you want to breed. Keep 1 male to every 2 females so no single female is harassed — or run a male-only group for maximum colour with zero fry. Mixed groups will breed constantly.

Question 5

Do guppies breed easily?

Accepted Answer

Extremely — guppies are livebearers, and a mature female can drop 20-60 free-swimming fry roughly every 4 weeks without any help from you. If you don't want an ever-growing colony, buy males only. If you do want fry, add dense plants like java moss so some survive the adults' appetite.

Question 6

What guppy strains do you stock?

Accepted Answer

The range rotates with weekly imports, but regulars include Moscow, Cobra, Tuxedo, Elephant Ear (Dumbo), Koi, Snakeskin, Leopard, Platinum, Japan Blue and Albino lines, plus mixed-colour males and females for community tanks. Everything listed below is live stock — if a strain shows on the page, it's in the fish house now.

Question 7

Is it safe to buy guppy fish online?

Accepted Answer

Yes — guppies are hardy travellers. Each order ships in oxygen-charged bags inside a polystyrene-insulated box with a heat pack in winter, handed to a licensed live-animal courier, dispatched Tuesday-Wednesday so it never sits over a weekend. Every delivery is covered by our photo-proof live arrival guarantee.

Question 8

Where do guppy fish come from?

Accepted Answer

The guppy (Poecilia reticulata) is a livebearer from the fresh and brackish waters of north-east South America and the Caribbean, now the most widely kept aquarium fish in the world. Females give birth to free-swimming fry rather than laying eggs, and can store sperm to produce several broods from one mating — which is why a mixed group breeds endlessly. Generations of selective breeding from that hardy wild stock created the Moscow, cobra, tuxedo and other fancy strains you see on this page.

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