Description
The Full Gold guppy is covered in warm metallic gold from just behind the head all the way to the base of the tail, with every scale edged so finely that the body looks almost like beaten metal. The face and throat are a soft peach, the pectoral area pales toward white, and behind the gold body the tail opens into a clean, pale fan of ice white with a faint blue tint.
That full gold body is the whole point of this strain. Many guppies carry gold only as a wash or a patch, but here it runs the full length of the fish, finishing in a band of richer yellow gold right where the tail begins. Set against the pale tail and white dorsal, it gives a bright, clean, two tone look that reads clearly from across the room.
Body shape stays close to a standard guppy, slim and balanced, with fine, even scaling over the whole flank. The caudal opens into a broad rounded fan with soft rays, the dorsal is long and pale, running back over the body like a white flag, and the pelvic and pectoral fins are small and nearly white.
Males carry the brightest gold and the widest, whitest tail. Females are softer in tone, peach gold rather than bright gold, with a blue green flash at the gill, but they carry the same yellow band at the base of the tail, and their fins are pale ice blue with fine bright rays running through the tail, dorsal and pelvics, which makes them unusually attractive for a female.
This is a generally easy strain to keep, needing standard guppy care rather than anything unusual. A pale tail shows cloudiness, fraying and any early fin problem more plainly than a dark one, so clean, stable water and a tank free of sharp decor are what keep the fins looking bright and even.
Good tankmates include other peaceful livebearers, small tetras, corydoras and similar calm community fish, with fin nippers best avoided as with any guppy strain. A dark background or darker substrate suits this strain especially well, since it makes both the gold body and the pale tail stand out far more than a white or bright setting does.
As livebearers, a settled pair will produce broods of fully formed, free swimming fry roughly every four weeks, with no egg laying stage involved. The gold body colour usually shows early as the fry grow, while the pale tail and the full size of the fan come in more gradually, so young fish are best judged at around two to three months old.
Sold as a breeding pair.
The Full Gold guppy varies between individuals in how deep the gold sits on the body and how much blue tint shows in the tail, with some fish carrying a rich yellow gold and others a paler, more golden cream, both being normal for this strain. Stable, well maintained water supports the brightest gold and the cleanest white fins, and a routine of weekly partial water changes combined with steady filtration keeps the tail edge intact rather than ragged. A varied diet with occasional live or frozen food added to the usual flake and pellets also supports steady growth and helps the colour reach its fullest expression as the fish matures.
Under warm light the Full Gold guppy looks almost orange gold, and under cool white light it reads as pale lemon, so it is worth judging the colour in your own tank rather than by a photo alone.
