Do I have a "Spectrum Guppy"?

Hello, I have a 40 gallon guppy tank and all the guppies in there were born in the tank. I do have a divider, these guppies started in a 10 gallon and one had babies and it just snowballed from there. Anyway, now they are all settled in a 40 gallon tank with a divider happy and healthy. The majority of them are females and the male side was looking kind of bare. There was only 4 male guppies and because they were born together, they have no territorial problems but all look mostly the same. So I was looking to add some fish and saw some beautiful male guppies at my pet store so I decided to give it a try and see how it went. I anticipated they would not all survive and so I got 3. As I expected, only one lived past a couple of days, mostly because even with a 2 hour acclamation period, the stress can still be deadly. The one that did survive had a bit of a rough start but that's a long story. He is improving, and though fighting for rank has broke out, he is starting to come out of his shell and has really started to eat. I have noticed something strange to do with his coloring though and that's what leads me to believe he might be a spectrum guppy. First of all, his eyes seemed to be two- toned at times. I am not sure if it is common, but the top half of both his eyes seem to be silver, while the bottom half is brown. I don't know if I have ever seen his eyes all brown, but I have defiantly seen them all silver. Also, he is a lyretail guppy, so the edges of his tail fin is blue while the middle is clear, so it looks like his tail fin is made up of two strips. His tail seems to always have a different shade of blue, ranging from almost white or clear, to vivid sky blue. He sometimes also has a strip of green in his tail as well. Also, he has two spots on his body, they are natural coloring, not a disease. Sometimes these spots are just pinpricks and are a royal blue, and other times they are black, and much larger. When I first saw this I thought he was injured or sick, but I have inspected him closely and I don't think so. Also, though most of the time his dorsal fin is clear, I have seen a black spot there too. I was curious to find put if this was normal but after researching it, I am still unsure. I have read that guppies loose color when stressed, which is very possible, but he seems to be gaining colors too. I have also come across a type of guppy called a "spectrum guppy" but I have no idea how to know if he is one. Any ideas/theories? Could it just be the lighting? I'm super curious to hear what you guys think! Sorry I couldn't get very good pictures, he kept moving and the others were swimming in front of him.

 

I have no idea what a spectrum guppy is but it looks like that it's a endler/guppy mix.

 

Looks like an endler of of some sort. Maybe a cross breed with a guppy. Pretty.

 

I was expecting a very different post lol, not about colors... hope you get someone who knows the answer.

 

I was expecting a very different post lol, not about colors... hope you get someone who knows the answer.

I was thinking the same thing haha.

 

Yes, fish can temporarily lose color when stressed.
Could you describe a spectrum guppy? And why did you think they would not survive when you bought them? Guppys get shipped via mail in little boxes and survive fine. Not sure why a trip home from the LFS would be so much more stressful. I assume your water parameters are way different than the LFS if your taking 2 hours to acclimate.

 

Even I don't know what you mean by a spectrum guppy... Please, explain?

Your male is just a normal lyretail guppy (also called a broad double sword guppy). No endler influence. This version is offered frequently in Europe.

Not just guppies but most fish can change color depending on their mood. That's quite normal. About the rings on their eyes, it depends on how much iridophores (iridescent color cells) and how much melanophores (dark color cells) are present. And depending on how the light hits the eye, more dark or iridescent color cells will pop up. There's nothing weird or rare about this. But that goes also for the color cells present on the body or in the finnage of what color cells will pop up more depending on the angle of the light that hits the body.

Looks like an endler of of some sort. Maybe a cross breed with a guppy. Pretty.

Nope, it's just a lyretail guppy with no endler influence. This type of guppy is offered pretty often in the commercial trade.

 

Thank You all so much! I haven't noticed this much change in color in any of my other guppies so I decided to research it to see what strand it was... The only thing I could find that fit his case was a couple posts on forums about a "spectrum guppy". The description of it was that they could change color and are apparently rare. I couldn't really find any further info on it but I was nevertheless exited to think that my new friend might be something so unique. I decided to ask the forum in case you guys new anything else about this strand or how to identify it. Again, thanks for the input. Basing on how I couldn't find much info online and no one here seems to know what it is, I am pretty sure that he is either a lyretail or maybe endler guppy. Again thanks so much for your input, my little guy might not be rare, but he sure is special to me!

P.S. Sorry it has taken so long to reply to this post. A lot of things have come up recently in quick succession and I just couldn't find the time until now. Thanks for your patience!

 

I am pretty sure that he is either a lyretail or maybe endler guppy

He's a pure guppy and no endler influence. He's a regular broad double sword guppy.

my little guy might not be rare, but he sure is special to me!

Well, that's the most important thing. It's about what you think is great...