GuppyLabs:
Good afternoon Mr. Yap, we see that you have
a set-up made up of mainly tanks; could you
give us some insight into your set-up?
Guppies Centre:
We have about 600 tanks, ranging from 2ft
to 4ft. They are used for breeding, stocking
and sales. We collect rain water via the ponds
in our farm and pre-filter it to use as our
main water source. There aren’t any
filters in our tanks; the tanks are aerated
using air supply lines. For our semi-outdoor
tanks, we do not use any lights; the green
water tells it all! Otherwise, those in the
rooms were lighted using fluorescent tubes.
GuppyLabs: Wow,
with so many tanks, how many different varieties
do you have?
Guppies Centre:
We have over 40 strains, majority are albinos.
Our guppies are from various sources including
hobbyists, importing, exchanging with other
foreign breeders or farmers and also our own
creations. We are very proud of our own creations
as they are really unique.
GuppyLabs:
Could you tell us the maintenance routine
in your farm?
Guppies Centre:
All our tanks have their water levels between
10-12inches. We do a weekly water change between
50%-75%, depending on the situation, the stocking
density and the size of the guppies in the
tank. Generally, we do larger water changes
for older guppies, as they produce more waste
products.
We feed our guppies a mixture
of dry and live foods twice a day, in the
mornings and evenings. The proportion of dry
food fed is higher than live food. Our dry
food is a commercial fish food that resembles
micro-granules and the guppies love it! They
are fed tubifex worms as a supplement
GuppyLabs: you
share with us the brood-stock management method
in your farm?
Guppies Centre:
We sex our fry at 6 weeks of age, this is
the time we can ascertain their sex accurately.
After sexing them, we will place all the females
of the same strain together in their original
tank. The males will be placed with other
males in other tanks. Stocking levels is around
200-300 guppies per tank.
Actual selection of breeding
stock is at 10-12 weeks of age. The selected
breeders will be placed in a breeding net
of 1.5ft. square where the male: female ratio
is 1:5 in general. We have to manage the ratio
of the males carefully as the females tend
to become aggressive when they are about to
give birth. Moreover, the population per breeding
net has to be controlled to prevent in-fighting.
GuppyLabs:
Since we are discussing on breeding guppies,
what is your criteria of selecting breeding
stock?
Guppies Centre:
We follow the selection criteria of most breeders!
We look at the overall appearance of the guppy-
the colour, the size and patterns of the caudal
and dorsal fin. The colour must be intense
and striking; the size of the fins must be
big.
We will gather all the fry from each breeding
net and select the best guppies for breeding.
We tend to backcross to improve a strain and
it had served us well.
GuppyLabs:
Would you like to share your view on the guppy
scene in Singapore?
Guppies Centre:
The climate and the conditions in Singapore
are well suited for guppy keeping. We need
to increase the awareness of the fancy guppy
and to correct certain misconceptions. This
requires much more effort than what one person
could do….
After the flowerhorn bubble
burst, there is a big group of people that
have gained the basic skills of fish keeping
and owned the basic equipment for guppy keeping.
Some of my visitors like to keep guppies in
their tanks but the fishes died in their care.
My opinion is that most aquarium
shops are unable to educate new entrants about
how to rear guppies properly. Moreover, the
quality of guppies sold is not good enough;
varieties are limited too. After the first
few failures in keeping guppies, most will
give up.
For the rest that still have
the interest, they were constrained by the
use of low quality equipment or insufficient
tanks. They got stuck after the first few
drops and struggle to get out of this problem.
The lack of people to exchange
experiences also contributed to the problem;
hence it is the task of the aquarium shops,
the Guppy Club and other guppy lovers to provide
the necessary knowledge, techniques and skills
to new entrants into the hobby.
GuppyLabs:
You are indeed very passionate about the guppy
and the Singapore guppy scene. ;)
Thank you very much Mr. Yap for this interview
and may your business prosper!
Guppies Centre:
Thank you, it is an enjoyable time.
