Guppies are freshwater tropical fish that are ideally suited for aquariums. They are known as Millions Fish as they breed prolifically. There is no consistent standard for breed classification of guppies. Thus the same guppy might be known by different names in different countries. New breeds are introduced every day, according to Guppies.com. Generally, guppies are classified based on shape, color and pattern of tail.
Shape
Guppies are generally classified based on shape. Features like the shape of the forehead, head, dorsal and tail fin are considered for this categorization. The forehead should be sharp and straight looking for a nicely shaped guppy. A good fancy guppy is identified by the size of its tail. According to IFGA (International Fancy Guppy Association) standard, in the case of fan tail guppies, the ratio of the length from the angular point of the tail to the end of the tail and the length from the angular point of the tail to the end of the head should be the same.
Color
The color of the upper body, lower body and tail changes based on melanin changes. So, different guppy categories are defined based on this color. Generally they are classified as bicolor, multicolor and any other color (AOC). Some of the breed names based on the upper body classifications are gray, golden, tiger, white, albino and real red eye albino (RREA) guppies. Guppies classified by lower body color include cobra, snakeskin and tuxedo.
Pattern of Tail
Guppies are also classified based on the pattern of their tails. There are 10 different types of tails commonly accepted. They are wild, pin, spade, top sword, bottom sword, double sword, lyre tail, delta, fan and long fin type. In long fin type, there are two subtypes named ribbon and swallow. Grass, mosaic, leopard, solid and others are in the same category based on the tail pattern.
Gender
Guppies are also categorized by gender. They can be easily identified because the female guppy has a small and patterned tail, whereas the male guppy has a longer tail with fewer markings. Female guppies are larger in size than male guppies.
Tags: classified based, angular point, angular point tail, based shape, classified based shape