These fish are small, usually they are 2.5 inches, and have teeth in their upper and lower jaws. They are extremely colorful and there are many different coloration patterns, actually, there are no two individuals alike, their colors are like their fingerprint. Wild specimens are gray with a few tints of color, however, years of captive breeding and the fact that they reproduce quickly and have many offspring led to strains of intense coloration. There are also 12 tail fin varieties: round tail, pintail, pointed or spear tail, swordtail, lyretail, spade tail, flagtail, veil tail, fantail and triangle tail. The color of the tail is what defines the fish’s name even if the body is of a different coloration, for example, if the body is red and the tail is blue than it is called a blue Guppy.  It is very rare to find wild specimens for sale, in most stores there are only inbred guppies, usually these have a more fragile health.  Regarding the Lyretail Guppies, these are silver, green and red with a white tail fin.

To keep these fish in captivity, water pH should be between 7.0 and 8.0 and water temperature should range from 68ºF to 82ºF . The tank should have a bit of salt, 1 to 1.25 teaspoons of aquarium salt per gallon is recommended. When performing water changes, which should occur 2 to 3 times per month, salt water should be replaced with salted water, however, when replacing water that has evaporated there is no need to use salt water since the salt remains in the tank and only the water evaporates. The tank should have a gravel substrate, rooted plants and floating vegetation. They can be kept in a community tank although fin nipping species, fry and long finned species should be avoided as tankmates, good tankmates are Corydoras or Tetras. They can also be kept in groups, for a group of 3 a 5 gallon aquarium is enough.

This species is omnivorous. In the wild they are mainly insectivorous. In an aquarium, they can be fed with dried, live and frozen foods, their diet should be complemented with vegetable matter.