Endler's Livebearer (ELB): Hobby and Trade

Endlers.nl - Endler's livebearer in the aquarium hobby and trade

Almost every aquariumhobbiest has had, or still has, some fishes refered to as :"Endlers"....the variety of sizes, tailforms and colors does seem infinite, but no matter what...its still called an Endler by the owners or LFS..
Its impossible to trace the original fishes that went into the hobby..years and years of linebreeding, inbreeding and whatever more produced a fish thats often proudly presented as a REAL Endler.

Although its possible to have offspring from the original fish that John Endler pointed at, its more likely that you have a undoubtfully very beautiful fish, but not the probably ( relatively) extinct "pure" Poecilia sp.endler....

Meanwhile a lot of hobbiest and traders claim to have to only and true one...so be it...the criterium of what should be called an "Endler" is very subjective; its definition is continuously changing.
How inconvenient it may be....meanwhile there is strong evidence that John Endlers original fish may be a separate species with eventual sub-species; it is stated several times on congresses, meetings etc. : it is NO guppy, so also not the Campoma guppy !!

If that all is no problem for you..there is an abundance of fantastic looking fish on the "market" that is available on very reasonable prices.
No matter what you call them; its great fun to see the variations and colors when you have your own "breeding-facility"

There will be only ONE problem ( that is also for many other livebearers..): "where to get rid of all the offspring".:-)

For adresses where you can possibly get a "decent" ELB in your country: TAKE LOOK AT THE LINKPAGE !

Care - The Endler's Livebearer is a very easy to care for fish. Their care is almost identical to that of the guppy. Endler's will accept regular tropical flake foods, but only really like livebearer foods, all live and once-live foods. They like quite hard (high kH and/or dH) water, as well as slightly basic water, which works well in high-kH conditions.

Endler's Livebearers are very adaptable to the water conditions provided to them. Most of these will be very much like those required for other tropical aquarium fish. .

Endler's will live for up to 2-3 years if well cared for.

Tankmates - Corydoras species: Cory catfish (any of the species) Otocinclus cf. affinis: Oto; Dwarf Algae Eater (any of the small 'affinis-type' species)
Kryptopterus Bicirrhis: Glass Catfish
Heterandia formosa: Dwarf Topminnow; Dwarf Mosquito Fish
Aplocheilichthys Normani: Norman's lampeye
Hemigrammus Erythrozonus: Glowlight Tetra (any small Hemigrammus species) Paracheirodon species: Neon Tetra, Cardinal Tetra (all Paracheirodon species) Hyphessobrycon Herbertaxelrodi: Black Neon Tetra
Carnegiella Strigata: Marbled Hatchetfishes, Carnegiella Marthae: Blackwing Hatchetfish
Gasteropelecus Levis: Common Hatchedfish, Gasteropelecus Sternicla: Silver Hatchetfish
Pangio (Acanthophthalmus) kuhlii: Kuhli Loach
Poecilia reticulata: Common guppy, Poecilia obscura: Oropuche guppy, (but remember) P. reticulata and P. obscura are from the same subgenus: Aacnthophacelus, so they will cross-breed, if brought together, you will get a "Hybrid" Guppy)

Invertebrates that can be safely kept with ELB:
Caridina japonica: Amano Shrimp, Neocaridina denticulata sinensis: Cherry Shrimp
Snails: All of the commonly-kept freshwater species.

Breeding - They will breed like mad as long as there are males and females present, and usually do not eat their fry. Many variations in color and pattern may show up, if a large, phenotypcially varied sample is bred; . Just watching the results of a large breeding population can be a fascinating lesson in genetic probability. Acquiring a fairly narrow selection will end up with near uniform color patterns after several generations. The males get their coloration in about 3-5 weeks, the females stay looking nearly the same.