When do guppy fry get their color?

I bought a male guppy at a local pet store and noticed that in one of the female tanks, they had babies, so i asked if i could buy the babies. i have a 5 year old and thought it would be neat to watch them grow. Anyway, they gave me 4 fry. 3 of them are still alive, and TINY!!! I think one is about 2-3 weeks old and the other 2 i think are about 5-7 days old. They are all almost translucent except for their eyes. When can i tell what color they will be and what gender?

 

It's been forever since I bred guppies, but I believe color starts showing up on the males somewhere around 4 - 5 weeks.

-Chelle

 

3 guppies became over 150 in less then 6 months

The first signs of colour are in their tails. The family of guppies I have are from the one set of parents. So they all have a similar trait, which is the males got the stronger orange and black colour from their mother and the females have a green & black colour from their father. I have also observed that the older ones, (about 8 months old now) have much more vivid colours thant the parents. Generally, the females are bigger and rounder and the males are long and slim. They tend to follow the females around. I have had to separate the older females from males to stop in breeding. If you give them a well balanced diet, lots of fileterd light, and lots of room to swim they will grow healthy and colourful. I have some with some zebra danios and other with some panda catfish, and they all seem to get along. The snails help to keep the tank clean and there is lots of plants for them to nibble on and for the babies to hide in if they need to.

 

Thanks so much, i don't know exactly how old they are, or what color their parents were,but they are doing good, and growing, hopefully soon we will get some color. I think my females are pregnant now. The orange one is acting weird, hiding in the house alot, and moving slow. One side of her belly is bigger than the other it's kinda funny. She has a pinkish orange spot instead of black or brown. Anyway, she's really fat. So, i've been watching her very close.

 

I'm right there with you. I bought 5 guppies about a month ago and now I have at least 30 babies in my nursery tank. It's been a long while since I've had them either so this is a relearning experience for me also.