The term rare is used when an event, situation, or condition doesn’t occur very often. Merriam-Webster dictionary says that something is considered rare when it is uncommon or, “marked by unusual quality, merit, or appeal.”
Some people make it their life’s work to collect rare objects, such as antiques, baseball cards, or artifacts. Other people dedicate their time to studying and collecting rare specimens, like gems, plants, and animals.
Believe it or not, the world of guppies is no different. Most people may not realize there is a population of guppy enthusiasts who spend tremendous amounts of time finding, breeding, and entering competitions with some of the rarest guppies on Earth.
And to think that guppy enthusiasm began with the breeding of a small South American fish that had only a touch of vibrant fin coloration. Now there are well over 300 different varieties of guppies that are sometimes so uniquely gorgeous they’re akin to an aquatic character in a fairy tale.
These guppies aren’t your typical pet shop fish. They’re incredibly rare in the eyes of a novice and to some advanced breeders.
So, what are the rarest guppy types? Honestly, there is no easy answer as the strategies for creating the most unusual and beautiful guppy is continuously evolving. It’s easy to become mesmerized by these flowing creatures, but there is a whole science and specific standards involved in making them this way.
Here, we’ll take a peek into the basics and business of rare guppies.
The Basics and Business of Rare Guppies
A Little Guppy Background
Guppies are said to have been originally “found” in Trinidad by a conchologist and geologist by the name of Rev. Robert John Lechmere Guppy. When he sent the small fish to London, a German-English ichthyologist gave it the official name guppy as a tip-of-the-hat to the reverend.
Unbeknownst to them, the same fish but female had already been found in Barbados and Venezuela several years earlier. It had been described and catalogued as what we now know as Poecilia reticula. Poecilia means variegated, while reticula is in reference to the lacy, network-like patterns on the body.
While guppies were eventually exported and used as mosquito control, other people were slowly becoming guppy hobbyists, especially after seeing how impressive the reproductive rate is (hence, its second name, the million fish) and how specific breeding methods provide a beautifully desirable result (hence, its third name the rainbow fish).
This was the beginning of the fancy guppy enthusiasm. Leading the way at the first International Guppy Show in 1954 was the Veil Tail guppy and later the Coffer Tail guppy. These names may not mean much to a novice, but to past, current, and future guppy aficionados, they paved the way for the ongoing evolution of rare guppy breeds.
Types of Guppies
As mentioned before, there are around 300 different types of guppies, and some experts may boast even more. When figuring a type of guppy, breeders classify them by color, body and tail patterns, and fin type.
Fin and Tail Types
There are around 12 types of tails that are recognized by guppy associations listed in the next section. The most common are:
- Fan
- Delta
- Lyre
- Veil
- Flared
- Round
- Sword tail (single or double sword)
- Spear tail
Patterns
The body and tail pattern on a guppy is one of its most admirable and distinguishing features.
- Body: The most common body patterns are cobra (horizontal stripes), snakeskin (vertical chain-links or tiger stripes), and tuxedo (divided into two colors).
- Tail: The most common tail patterns are leopard tail (un-uniform round spots), grass tail (small uniform spots), lace (sheer, web-like mostly on snakeskin guppies), and mosaic (erratic network of spots, lines and stripes).
Color
Guppy’s coloration is the first main attraction. The three main types of colors are metal, solid, and albino, but also includes two others used by guppy associations. The colors are awe-inspiring, especially when coupled with body and tail patterns.
- Metal: Iridescence and transparency are notoriously enjoyable consequences of reflecting the environment’s colors, caused by iridophores (special pigment cells). It’s these same cells that allow guppies to change colors so they can hide from predators by blending into their surroundings.
- Solid-color: Guppies that are one solid color are the most common types of guppies and include blues, reds, greens, and yellows. Blacks were once a rarity. A relatively new category is the Moscow and includes guppies that are solid, like green or purple, and have bodies that are abnormally larger and sturdier.
- Albino: Most of an albino’s body is white, the eyes are red, and it often has a subtle pink hue around the face. Sometimes albinos can appear in many other color combinations but are predominantly pale.
- AOC (any other color): This term is used by the International Fancy Guppy Association (IFGA) for establishing a guppy when it’s coloring does not fit in with any other class of guppy. The gold pastel guppy is an example.
- AOC BiColor: According to Guppy Associates International of Chicago (GAIC), “A bicolor must have a base color, and the secondary color must be at least 25% of the tail color. Both colors must be distinct. No other third color that is more than 15% should be present, or it would be considered a multi-colored guppy.” The dorsal fin and tail colors and patterns should also match.
Rare Guppies and What Makes a Guppy Rare
Scientists affectionately refer to features of different types of guppies as strains, which is a genetic variant or subtype of the organism.
Strains are important to breeders because it helps them use successive selective breeding, which involves breeding guppy parents with specific traits so they can produce offspring with uniquely desirable results.
Guppy associations set specific standards for breeding and developing unique, quality guppies. There are a plethora of guppy associations, including the Rocky Mountain Guppy Association (RMGA), Guppy Associates International Chicago (GAIC), World Guppy Association (WGA), and the New England Fancy Guppy Association (NEFGA). The International Fancy Guppy Association (IFGA) seems to “take the flake” for being the most authoritative in determining show quality fancy guppies.
If one were to peruse the competitions or archive photos of IFGA registered guppies, you would think that every guppy listed was an anomaly, but in fact, it’s a trivial example of Einstein’s theory of relativity. This means, to a novice, these guppies are extremely rare because they are so uncommon and never seen in a typical pet shop.
To a breeder, however, many – but not all – of the show guppies are reasonably common. For them, it seems to be more about the product of meticulous breeding strategies.
For example, the coloration of a guppy is taken into high account when the breeder is entering it into a show. The True Green guppy is said to be a very desirable strain because it is challenging to develop. They must be mixed with blue and green iridescence for the angle of the light to reflect it a certain way, or it can be disqualified. Green guppies are in high demand and are often very expensive.
Another difficult strain to develop and maintain is a Half Black Green, which is a green guppy with what’s called a “half-black” body trait. To be considered, the Half Black Green must have a dark half black body with fins maintaining a beautiful, shimmering green coloration.
When considering body patterns with colors, the Solid Blue Tail Snakeskin can be a rarity, as can the Yellow guppy that is genetically gold with gunmetal head traits. The blue variegated cobra is also known as the Galaxy Blue Glass guppy and is a fourth-place rarity in the World Guppy Contest.
Less rare but hard-to-find guppies are the Platinum Dumbo Red Mosaic Guppy and the Dwarf Blue Panda. Red Eye guppies are difficult to come by because not only do they have red eyes, but they’re not considered albino.
As one guppy forum member states, when a new variety of guppy is made, they’re automatically considered rare. Once they’re released to the public, however, they become more mainstream, and the price decreases dramatically, depending on their location.
So if you want to dive into the world of guppy collecting, check out the list of the top 11 weirdest and coolest looking guppies below.
1. Electric Blue Guppy
Electric blue guppies are some of the easier, rare guppies to find. They also are a little more affordable, being priced at around $15-20 each.
Native to Asia, Central America, and Brazil, these guppies are known for their striking shades of blue. They also have become popular due to their docile temperament and the fact that they mature quickly, making them easy to own and breed.
2. Metal Lace Guppy
Metal guppies feature a unique pigment that is called iridophores, which can allow them to change their color and hide from predators. Essentially, their cells reflect the guppies surrounding environment, allowing them to blend in. It also creates a beautiful iridescent effect.
Metal guppies are pretty easy to find and will add a bit of shine to any aquarium setup.
3. Bronze Guppy
Bronze guppies are categorized as being a minimum of 25% gold in color, but with the very cool addition of black scales, creating a bronze effect.
Bronze guppies are hard to come by, and have a vibrant color that will add a little bit of shine to any guppy collection.
4. Albino Guppies
An interesting fact about albino guppies is that much like other animals with albinism, their eyes are often red. They will also often have a subtle pink hue that stands out around their face.
They can sometimes be slightly colored, but are predominantly pale. Some albino guppies are also glass belly guppies, meaning that they have a genetic mutation that prevents them from producing guanine. This causes their scales not to shimmer under light, so they are more opaque.
5. Cobra Guppy
Cobra guppies are guppies that feature a spotted pattern across their bodies, that look a lot like the skin of a cobra snake.
This pattern can range from vertical patterns to rosettes, which can help in making each cobra guppy as unique as a snowflake. They also can vary greatly in color, featuring an orange, blue, green, or red color underneath the pattern.
6. Half-Black Green Guppy
Half-Black guppies are often referred to as HB’s and are fish that have what is called the Tuxedo trait, meaning they look as if they are wearing a fancy outfit and headed to a party.
Half-Blacks with the green color are an extremely rare form of this type of fish, with 3/4ths of their body being black while the rest is colored.
To check out some videos of this rare breed of guppy, be sure to click on the video below.
7. Grass Tail Guppy
Much like the cobra guppy or the leopard tail guppy, the grass tail guppy has a fine pattern and in some cases finer than those named after animals.
They are named as such because they have tiny dots on their tales that are said to resemble grass seeds. They don’t always have to be green, though, as grass tail guppies come in a stunning array of colors.
These particular guppies are hard to track down, but if you can find them, they are the perfect addition to your collection. Breed them with other mosaic-style guppies to create even more complex patterns.
8. Dragon Mosaic Guppy
The dragon mosaic guppies are said to be some of the most colorful, and interesting guppies in the fish world.
Various shades of red, orange, blue, yellow, and even violet are said to pop up on dragon mosaic tails, even on females who normally tend to be less vibrant than their male counterparts.
To see examples of the dragon mosaic guppy, be sure to click on the video below:
9. Dumbo Ear Guppy
Dumbo guppies are named after the beloved Disney elephant whose ears were deemed too big. This is because they look as if they are swimming with their ears.
In the guppy world, large fins (or ears) are a feature highly sought after, as these types of guppies are larger than average. Their extra fins, and often a larger tail, also allow these guppies to swim faster.
10. Real Red Eye Guppy
While Albinos are known for carrying the gene that causes them to have red eyes, there are also non-albino guppies that carry that gene as well.
A Real Red Eye (RRE) is a fish that has full color throughout its body but also features a vivid red eye. This breed of fish is very uncommon, and it’s hard to track them down. They also feature shorter tails and are generally just smaller than other guppy breeds.
If you are into breeding, this is a guppy you want to have.
11. Purple Moscow Guppy
The Purple Moscow guppy is the most expensive guppy on this list, as they can cost anywhere from $50-$100 for a single fish for a rare strain of the Purple Moscow guppy.
It’s said that only experienced aquarists should own this type of guppy, as only so many of them exist and they are hard to recreate. But they are well worth the money and the perfect aquarium setup needed to host them, as you’ll be the envy of all of your fish-loving friends.
If you can’t get enough of the weird world of guppies, be sure to watch the video below:
