Could someone explain what the differences are between the different guppy varieties. Pictures would be great. I've seen grass, snakeskin, cobra, etc but I don't know what makes them that variety.

Hello Leopard. These are all referred to as Fancy Guppies. If the scientific name is important to you, then it's "Poecilia reticulata". The different colors and tail fin shapes are the same fish, just different strains some fishkeeper came up with by crossing different colors and fin shapes of the same kind of fish. None of these small differences make a different fish.

Hope this info. clears things up for you.

B

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Low Tech Water Building Keeper

Yep, its a very complicated set of genes. If you google the different variety names and look under google images you will get pictures, but there's no way anybody could name all the varieties and supply pictures, it'd be like asking someone to show you a list of all the varieties of rose. If you look at enough pictures though, you begin to see some themes. There's a set of base colors, a group of colors that layer on top of that, a bunch of zones that are inherited differently, so you see a lot of "half black" varieties, or varieties that have fronts one color and back halves another, and there are dorsals that come in a variety of specific shapes, a bunch of specific shapes and margins for the caudal, etc. and these elements are what tend to combine to produce a variety - and they're what tends to come apart if you get a specific show variety and breed it to a guppy of another variety - you'll get some elements of one fish, the caudal shape say, or the top fin shape, but maybe the colors of the other, or even the colors or fin shapes of a grandparent (dominant and recessive are funny that way)

Thanks for the help you two. Didn't realize that there were that many different strains.

This is very complex. THere is so much information out there on breeding, and varieties. Here are a couple of my fave sites
GuppyLog || The place to talk about Guppies, and other Livebearers!
guppies - Your DIRECT INFORMATION SOURCE about show quality guppies, guppy food, guppy supplies
American Livebearer Association : American Livebearer Association

do some searches on google find some sites and forums. Guppies are loads of fun to discover. Ask question and enjoy the hobby

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Tank: 29g:guppies, balloon mollies, swordtail, 2 mollies
Hex: opaline gourami
10g 1F. betta

I think I'm starting to get it. Is this right:

Grass = tiny black dots (few overlap)
Leopard = big block dots (few overlap)

Snakeskin = bold chain-link pattern
Lace = fine chain-link pattern
Cobra = zebra type stripes

Mosaic = lots of interconnecting dots/lines

Galaxy + Medusa = very similar (controversial differences); both have to be metallic snakeskins

Difference may be that Medusas have red on their caudal fins.



Full Platinum and True Platinum are different?

Full Platinum = a leucophore (reflects white in the light)
Platinum = shiny



Ribbon fin = extra long anal fin (males cannot naturally reproduce)


Metal = shinny?


What's the difference between a moscow and a full color (blue or green etc)?
Do moscows have to have metal heads?


Did I miss any common varieties?


These are the links I've used:
Difference between 'grass', 'lace', 'snakeskin' and 'mosaic' - Page 2

Guppy Designer - The Problem of Names in the Guppy Hobby

Moscow?

What's the characteristic of the Moscow line of guppy??? - Arofanatics Fish Talk Forums

Moscow are hard to photograph, but the color shifts as the fish moves and the light hits it differently. Metalheads have moscow coloring, but just on the head is the way I understand it, but I haven't seen a metalhead in person, so I don't know for sure.