CHAMPIONSHIP SHOW GUPPIES
by Stephen Kwartler
A GUIDE TO FANCY GUPPY KEEPING by Stephen
Kwartler
As of February 12, 2006 all orders shipped will include my new Guide to Fancy Guppy Keeping. To obtain a copy without purchasing my guide send payment of $6..00 via PayPal to guppyman@showguppies.com. or send $5.00 with money order or personal check to:
Stephen Kwartler
2266 Woods and Water Ct
Sebring, Fl 33872
"ALL ABOUT MAIL ORDER"
Purchasing show quality guppies sight unseen can be a roll of the dice. I have been supplying breeders with top quality guppies for many years. I suggest using reputation, past performance, as well as show results to determine which breeders have the best fish available. All my strains are backed by my guarantee to be disease free and alive when they arrive. I also assure you that the offspring will be of equal quality as the parents that were purchased. Each fish is shipped in individual heat sealed plastic tube bags. If fish do arrive in bad shape or dead (this rarely happens), DO NOT open bags. Notify me immediately and send unopened bags in original carton for free replacement.
PRICES / PAYMENT
Effective 2/10/06
All trios ( 1 male & 2 females ) are $45.00 plus overnight shipping and box charges. Due to certain events as well as the increase in shipping cost we are forced to raise our shipping charges.
U.S. Express Mail Overnight shipping of 1 to 3 trios will be $30.00 anywhere in the continental United States. Add $5.00 for every additional trio. Shipping cost for foreign orders are higher and will be determined by shipping weight and country or destination. Some countries require Health Certificates so please check with your Customs Office for regulations for importing tropical fish.
PayPal PAYMENTS
We now accept payments with PayPal. Click here to go to the section for Prices & Payments for details
CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL DELIVERY RATES
LIVE DELIVERY GUARANTEED YEAR ROUND
I SHIP MY GUPPIES ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD
UPON ARRIVAL
The first thing to do is place your newly acquired breeding stock into a clean (do not use soap) container that is large enough to hold each trio, plus large enough so you can add an equal amount of water from their new tank. DO NOT FLOAT SEALED BAGS. After placing your trio into this container, let them settle down for a short time. After a short time (app. 15 minutes) start adding about 3 - 4 ounces of water slowly into the container. Do this slowly over a period of about one hour, until you have almost doubled the volume of water. Do not rush this important acclimation process. Make sure the fish cannot jump out of container. When you are done and they fish have settled down, carefully pour them into their new tank. DO NOT FEED THEM. Observe them and be patient. After about an hour you may feed them ever so slightly, a little baby brine shrimp or a pinch of dry food is plenty. Do not feed again until the following day. In about a month you should start having fry. Be prepared to have tank space available to raise each drop of babies. After 3 - 4 weeks you must begin to separate virgin females from among the fry for your future breeders.
OUR GUARANTEE
We do our best to prepare our breeding stock prior to being shipped to you. All our trios are young and in good health. If there is a problem when your fish arrive notify us immediately. We will replace any fish that arrive dead. The only cost to the customer is for the Express Mail Shipping & Handling of $25.00 for the replacement fish. The reason we must charge for the return shipping is simply economics. We seldom have had to replace fish and try to arrange replacements with future orders to avoid the expense of the Express Mail. We will always do our best to satisfy our customers as our reputation is very important to us.
WATER QUALITY
My water is drawn from a 70 foot deep well and is loaded with iron and other minerals and is relatively hard. It then enters my water softener where most metals are removed and the water is made softer. The pH is stable at about 7. My aged water is stored in five 100 gallon vats that I keep filtered and constantly circulated as well as heated to 82 degrees. Guppies will easily acclimate to wide ranges in water chemistry as long as they are slowly and patiently acclimated. Water that is between 6.4 pH to 8.7 pH can support guppies. It is important to monitor your water and to understand its properties. simple water test kits are available and are a must for the novice to the serious breeder. Water hardness is rarely critical and water bufferers like dolomite or crushed coral will keep most aquarium water in a safe range. We do not advocate the use of chemicals to alter the water chemistry as they are often misused or fail to do what they claim. There is the rare occurance of one's well water being lacking the range to maintain tropical fish. In all my years in this hobby I have always been able to help rectify this problem. Sometimes the need to oxygenate the water and or use different buffers to help condition the water are all that is required. If you feel your water is a problem, before seeking a solution make sure to test the pH and Hardness when the water is first drawn from your tap and again several hours later. Write down your findings from your test kit and contact us to discuss a solution.
TANKS / FILTERS
All my tanks are all glass and are kept bare and the outside bottoms are all painted black. I use 5 1/2 gallon tanks for all my breeders. Fry are raised in 5 1/2 & 10 gallon tanks for the first three to four weeks when they are separated by sex. At this time they are put into clean and sometimes larger tanks. I use inside box filters in all my tanks. Other breeders use sponge filters with success. I suggest using whatever works well for your particular setup. I put a small layer of dolomite gravel and some polyester cotton in every filter. I have found that the dolomite acts as a buffer and helps maintain the pH. A good air supply to produce a steady flow of bubbles is important. This will allow you to keep enough oxygen in the water to sustain your guppies.
WATER CHANGES & MAINTENANCE
At my old hatchery in New York I would siphon about 30% - 40% from the bottom of every tank once a week. Fry tanks were siphoned down about 80%. Water changes are a must if you want to raise show quality guppies. In my new hatchery all my tanks are connected to an automated overflow system where every few hours fresh water from my aged water vats enters each tank from above for 30 minutes. The excess water is drawn from the bottom and overflows out a standpipe which every tank is fitted with. This does not eliminate siphoning the bottom of each tank every week to remove excess debris. Every two to three months I move an entire brood into a completely new tank. I have found this helps promote good health as well as larger fish. When females are ready to drop young I place them into a 2 gallon plastic tank with some floating plastic mesh. After she has had her young I place her back into the breeding tank. I put the fry into a clean 5 1/2 or 10 gallon tank the following day.
FOODS & FEEDING
There are many foods available for tropical fish. However, with guppies there are several that are preferred and one that is essential. First and most important is newly hatched baby brine shrimp. I feed all my guppies brine shrimp twice each day. The other foods are commercially prepared dry and flake foods. I use a shredded shrimp dry food. The flake foods I use are earthworm, plankton, and shrimp. Recently I have added a conditioning food as well as an egg flake. I crush all the flakes until it becomes a fine powder. I feed only a pinch of food to each tank every hour or so. Never over feed to compensate for being away from your fish. When feeding pay attention to each tank and observe to see that the fish are active before you feed them. When a tank of guppies are not attacking the glass when you approach the tank, do not feed them. Adding food to that tank can create a problem. Uneaten food or improper feeding or overfeeding is to me the number one killer of tropical fish. Try to be consistent and follow some sort of feeding timetable each day. If I can assist you with any questions or problems, please feel free to call me any weekday evening. This applies to everyone whether you purchase fish from me or someone else.