I see several possible reasons why we don't see as many great female guppies as great males in some (not all) shops. A non-inclusive gripe list would include:
1. "They" don't want hobbyists breeding them. If you think finding female guppies is tough, try finding a female dwarf gourami in many parts of the US..! :(
2. Some shops get pressed for space and mix females and males, of different strains, together because they are limited number of tanks. I would guess most businesses have a sales per square feet of floor space goal.
3. Some shops just get sloppy and mix them. Maybe their owners are very savey in terms of some business methods, but they may not be "fish people" and just don't know any better.
4. It's a "big box store". If they don't have a genuine aquarist in charge of their aquarium department to oversee and retrain the revolving door of employees. One big box employee I know shared his surprise over how many people in their particular place came from grocery stores. An honorable line of work, but maybe not immersed in aquarium care. Every now and then though one hears refreshing stories of managers who do care and do know what to do when marketing their stock.
5. Some owners are bluntly realistic business people who realize that 95+ % of their customers just want some pretty fish swimming around in a colorful, animated, community tank. Females are a financial burden taking up tank space in a narrow margin business. (I fear they are short sighted.)
6 There aren't so many of the old "Ma & Pa" pet shops. When the big boxes move into a state usually 1/3 to 2/3s of the little shops will fold.
The more sophisticated of the "Ma & Pa" operations would often (and still do) trade store credit for locally raised fish. They were smart enough to understand how much heartier guppies and other fish would be if raised in local waters and not traumatized by shipping across the globe.
Females of a strain, by the way, do usually reflect the colors of the males. The better shops are wise enought to leave the appropriate males and females together. The courting and chasing makes those fish just that much more robust, active and desirable. With a light planting, those tanks can become shrines. ;)
For a couple of examples take a look at the female with the AOC BICOLOR & BLUE/GREEN BICOLOR COBRAS
http://members.tripod.com/~ppga/lukesales2b.html
or the male and female blacks at
http://members.tripod.com/~ppga/lukesales2.html
A number of those shop owners, time permitting, are good instructors in the craft. The really good ones are also willing to learn from the customers. (I had a 15% off book deal with a guy if I would let him skim the books - sometimes too specialized to economically stock on the shop's shelves - when they came in).
If the truth was known about many of the small outfits, too many of them have been only marginally profitable for a long time. About three decades ago a guy with one of the Chicago area wholesalers mentioned that a third of the local shops were in danger of declaring bankrupsy. He complained that too many shop keepers were either hobbyists without enough business training or merchants without enough of a feel for the animals and their customers.
In the '80s I helped the widow of one of Chicago's legendary shop keepers go over some of his stuff. (This is being typed on top of his old lab table.) Having seen his books, one could assume that if he wasn't supported by some investments and a modest pension, I don't know how they would have kept their place open. They were generous to a fault (kids liked to ask George for a dozen feeder guppies because they knew that a dozen was 16 or 18.) The most famous canary keeping (her)/ fish article writing (him) couple in an area of 7,000,000 essentially ran their place as a hobby and fish nut social center.
7. In one case there was a guppy guy in a far away corner of our metropolitan region who seemed just plain uncooperative. He bred for competition. So edgy was he, according to my informant, about letting others take his guppy culls and compete against him that he would never give or sell any of his guppies to another person and he destroyed his extras rather than give them/ sell them to shops.
Actually he sounds like a sad and lonely person.
What a tragic waste of talent and effort!
Wow! It must be Monday, cloudy, gloomy, increasingly cold, rainy and pessimistic! ;)
The good news is that there are still a lot of general clubs and several good guppy clubs with skilled guppy people willing to share their knowledge and fish with others.
There still are shops to be treasured. Carloads of fish nuts will set up Saturday drives to get to and from their favorite shops. (Michiana Aquarium Society rents a bus and runs a tour tjrough Northern Indiana to Chicago to Milwaukee and back.)
There are probably more guppy books and publications for sale than ever before.
There are guppies available which can really show up the best that the hobby had to offer a few decades ago.
If one cruises the Net they will find a number of site such as this with people willing to palaver and share.
Maybe a column or sidebar could be affixed in this site listing guppy and guppy related events in the U.S. and around the world. That way denizons of Guppylog could sometimes get to such an event (bring checkbook, fishbox, flashlight, estra bags and make sure there are empty, seasoned tanks at home). Or.... sometimes a fish friend can do some proxy bidding on one's behalf. (I had a buddy at a show this last weekend, blank signed check in hand. He may have done me a favor by having to leave early .)
I'm sorry if this response sounds too grumpy. There are a lot of terrific fish heads out there. I'm honored to call some of them friends.
Got a very gracious note from a livebearer enthusiast this morning offering a pair of fish which couldn't have been purchased at Kalamazoo without a small mortgage. "just show up at the meeting Friday." ;)
Aquatic specialties which take competition too seriously or offer a chance to make a little to a lot of money off of the fish raised encourage people to try harder to produce better fish.
Sometimes though we, just like the shops, take the competition and hope for financial remuneration a tad too seriously. It may be a passion, but it for us it is a hobby. :)
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