Advice On Live Bearers

[liamb]

hi all
this is my first of probably many question.
hope its not daft but how can you pick out a good guppy from a bad guppy? i plan on geting most of my guppies and live bearers from viscum water gardens as thats the only place that really sells them close to me i think and i want to no how to beable to pick out a good guppy from a bad guppy as i no they wont tell you at the lfs as they are rubbish for advice.

 

[creeker]

Look for active, full finned fish with good colors. If you put your hand up by the top edge of the tank they should rush up there, looking to feed. If there are mixed sex fish in the tank, the males should be chasing the females. Avoid tanks that have fish with clamped fins, fish that are shimmying side to side, are droopy looking, hanging at the surface, hanging near the bottom, or have any white spotting on the fins or body.

 

[chickennuggets123]

Clear pretty colours
No fin tears
Make sure its feeding properly.
No whitespots on the fish
Not bent or droopy

 

[OldMan47]

Let's add to creeker's list. Avoid any tank with a dead fish in it. Although many new fish die shortly after a shipment arrives, about 10% actually, if you see a dead fish in a tank that points to the staff not paying attention and taking care of things right away. Any shop that does not stay on top of things makes me wonder what else they may be neglecting to do.
If you get the chance, buy your fish the day before a new shipment arrives. Those fish that are still in a tank have been there at least a week and any poor specimens, from a health standpoint, have already died off.

If you are interested in the "best" fish from the standpoint of genetics, avoid the LFS completely. They never see good quality fish in terms of being close to show quality. You can only get quality show type fish from private breeders who regularly show their own fish (I no way am one of those breeders).