Tiger Mosaic Guppy – Is It Hard To Handle Tank With Them?

We all know guppies. They are wonderful and colorful fish that can be the diamonds of every fish tank. If you are an aquarist, you will understand that guppies are one of the best fish species to have in your aquarium. We know many reasons why. Today, we’ll mainly talk about Tiger Mosaic Guppies – the special type of fish with an absolutely astonishing appearance.

You probably know that guppies differ much the way their tail fins look like. You may find guppies in all possible colors. But the tiger mosaic ones are unique. They have black-yellow-white stripes on their tails which makes them absolutely special and extremely noticeable in your aquarium. This fish will be the center of attention in your tank.

Today, we are going to tell you the following:

1. Main features of the tiger mosaic guppies.
2. What do these fish eat and how long do they live?
3. What are the main problems with tiger mosaic guppies?
4. Is it hard to maintain a tank with a lot of guppies?

Let’s get started!

Some facts about tiger mosaic guppies

Firstly, we want to say that we put this fish into the category that is easy to care about. Guppies of this kind don’t need much maintenance and care. They can live in all kinds of freshwater and brackish water, they can even survive in dirty water for some time.

Also, these guppies are very friendly to nearly all kinds of fish in your aquarium. Unfortunately, some big predators will see them as a snack, so you have to learn a little about neighboring different kinds and species of fish before putting tiger mosaic guppies into your tank with some other inhabitants there.

Here are some facts you should know:

1. The lifespan of tiger guppies is around 2 years, but some aquarists say that they can live much longer if the conditions in your aquarium are much better than average.
2. Female guppies are nearly 2 times bigger than male ones. They also look brighter and sometimes they bully male guppies if there is not enough space in the tank.
3. These guppies are omnivores, they can eat basically any food. But of course, some fish food is better for them, and we’ll tell you about it today.
4. If you want a lot of tiger mosaic guppies, you will need a big aquarium. 1.5 gallons of water per 1 fish is thought to be optimal.
5. Guppies love hiding when they feel danger. So, you should prepare some decorations in your tank like water plants so that your guppies could hide if they want.
6. Putting guppies into the tank with predators will mean the soon death of your guppies. They are very bright and some predators will attack them just because of curiosity.
7. Some guppies of this kind will have orange-black stripes, the others will have yellow-black stripes. This depends on genes rather than on water conditions.

As you see, tiger mosaic guppies are pretty friendly animals that don’t need much care and will make your aquarium lively and beautiful. You will not have to spend a lot of time on aquarium maintenance or other procedures. Just stick to the plan of cleaning and maintaining all the systems to make sure that your guppies feel really good.

One more interesting fact is that these guppies are not expensive at all. A tiger mosaic guppy fish will cost approximately 5 USD in the US. They originate from South America, but now they can be found all over the world. So, these guppies are quite widespread in the wild and they don’t cost very much.

What do tiger mosaic guppies eat?

These guys are omnivores which means you can feed them any food. They can fight for food with other fish if you don’t feed them often. They can also bully each other sometimes for domination in the aquarium. But in most cases, they are quite friendly with each other and with various fish species in the tank.

In the wild, they usually eat worms, tiny insects, and larvae. You will also need to think about protein food for them. If you want your guppies to live a long and happy life, you should think about buying specially prepared flake food for them. Be careful, not all flakes are OK for these fish. They are very small so big pieces of food can kill them or injure their digestive system easily.

Nearly all kinds of worms are OK for your guppy. They may eat all kinds of protein food, including frozen food and dry food. The best choice is a specialized type of food you can find in pet shops. Please make sure that the package says “optimal for guppies” or something like that. If the food wasn’t tested well with guppies, you can never say if it’s safe or not.

Aquarium setup you should know about

So, these fish can live in freshwater and in brackish water (the mixture of fresh- and saltwater). The salinity level is not very important, but it shouldn’t be as high as in the sea and as low as in RO/DI freshwater. Brackish water aquariums are OK.

Also, these fish don’t like any artificial moves in the water. If you have any equipment that produces water flow, this is a very bad idea to put tiger guppies there because they are small and weak. They will not survive in moving water for a long time. Their tail fins are very big and heavy, so they hate flows.

Tiger mosaic guppies are tropical fish, so the water should be warmer than the room temperature. No hot water, please. Just a little warmer than your average room temperature will be OK.

They don’t care much about pH levels, so the standard 7 to 8 pH will be appropriate for these fish.

Now, some very important things about maintaining a tank with these guppies:

1. Feed them 2 or 3 times a day with small portions. And always clean the aquarium of leftovers because they will influence the nitrates level.
2. The optimal quantity of food is that they can eat for about 2 to 3 minutes. Don’t overfeed your tiger guppies.
3. You may use flakes because it’s really convenient, but from time to time you should give them live food like bloodworms, brine shrimps, etc.
4. Don’t use pellets. This food may be very big for your tiger mosaic guppies and they can just suffocate. Better use guppy-approved food.
5. Be careful with predators. Even small predator fish may be very dangerous for guppies. Tiger mosaic guppies draw a lot of attention, so any aggressive fish can attack your little friend.
6. Don’t stress your guppies. This is the most important factor. These fish don’t live long if they are always under stress. Make sure your guppies feel comfortable.

How to breed your guppies?

Tiger mosaic guppies will breed without your help. These fish are easy to breed. You will just make sure that there are both female and male guppies in your aquarium. After that, ensure that they are OK, not stressed, satisfied with the quantity and quality of food. After some time, you will see that the female guppies already have some eggs.

But be careful – don’t overcrowd your tank. Otherwise, you will have your guppies get aggressive and fight with each other. They need quite a lot of space to live happily and not try to dominate over other inhabitants.

Popular problems with tiger mosaic guppies

1. Guppies keep dying. In most cases, your tank will have problems with water quality. Guppies are fish that can happily live up to 5 years if the water parameters are OK. But as nitrates and nitrites go up, these fish may die in just hours.
2. Tiger mosaic guppies don’t breed. One possible problem is that you have only females in your aquarium or maybe only males. Males are smaller and they are more colorful, so many people choose them subconsciously ignoring the females. Some other people choose bigger females and ignore males. This may be the source of your problem.
3. My guppies fight each other. This may happen when you add new guppies and they feel some problems with food. Then your older guppies may start fighting your younger ones and building their authority in the aquarium.
4. Tiger guppies eat food that is given to other fish. This problem is popular because tiger mosaic guppies can eat literally everything. If you don’t give them enough food, they will eat the food you want to give to other fish in your tank.

Final words

The tiger mosaic guppy fish are not the rarest guppies in the world. But we bet you will love them. They look beautiful and they can be the decoration of your aquarium. If you want to have these guppies in your tank, keep an eye on water quality. Also, be careful with breeding them because they are easy to breed and you can have hundreds of guppies in a couple of months.