Endler Livebearers

[Caseyface]

I have a pair of endlers that seem to be courting. The female is quite plump and the male is VERY interested in her, following her wherever she goes.


I was wondering if anyone had experience with endlers and could tell me what to expect. This will also be my first experience with breeding/spawning.

 

[BBradbury]

Your Endlers

I have a pair of endlers that seem to be courting. The female is quite plump and the male is VERY interested in her, following her wherever she goes.


I was wondering if anyone had experience with endlers and could tell me what to expect. This will also be my first experience with breeding/spawning.

Hello Casey...

These are a type of Guppy. Livebearers prefer heavily planted tanks especially a lot of floating plants like Anacharis and Pennywort since they spend a great deal of time at the top of the tank. The female will have a dozen or so live fry, but 30 or even more is possible in good water conditions.

Keep the tank water very clean with large, weekly water changes and the temperature between 76 and 80 degrees. Livebearers also do well with a little standard aquarium salt added to the tank water. A teaspoon for every 5 gallons of new water is about right.

These fish are very fast breeders, so a larger tank is needed.

B

 

[wildroseofky]

Endlers are related to guppies. It was once thought they were a type of guppy but it has now been decided, after gene checking, that they are their own species with close ties to guppies. Most on the market are crossbred with regular guppies so are actually endler/guppy crosses. There are very few pure endlers out there. They are now extinct in the wild because their lake was polluted. Okay enough rambling. LOL They breed like regular guppies. The males will breed with mollies or guppies. So, if you want them to stay somewhat pure, you need to keep them away from those fish. Just put male and females together and in 23-24 days you will have fry. Provide plenty of hiding places for the fry or they will get eaten. Keep the water a little warmer, around 78 degrees. They like a little warmer water and it encourages more breeding. Salt is not necessary. They are freshwater fish. Salt is useful to treat illness but not needed for healthy endlers. They also like a little higher PH, around 7.6 or even a little higher. Make sure to have some very fine grain food for the fry. I like Hakari First Bites because I have good results using it for my fry and shrimp babies. Endlers and guppies are usually really easy to breed. Good luck with yours.

 

[wildroseofky]

I forgot to add you need to get a few more females. If your girl is already big bellied she is probably already pregnant. The male will still try to breed with her and stress her out. This could kill her or cause her to abort the fry. It is recommended to have three females for each male to give the females a little rest away from the males attempts at breeding. If you are not worried about mixed fry, a female guppy or molly would work to distract him some. I have three female mollies in with my male guppies and one endler guppy males and no fry have resulted because the male molly chases them away and the guppy endlers are just too small to get the job done.

 

[Fishfur]

Generally speaking, if you have livebearers, you should have at least 3 females to one male, so that the females won't be harassed endlessly by sex crazed male fish. This is true of Endlers, guppies, platies, swords, mollies, etc.

Endlers may have fair size broods, but most of them tend to be female. A friend of mine has been breeding Black Bar endlers for a year or so and says he gets 9-1 females to males overall.

I quite like Endlers.. the males can be extremely pretty, even though the females are very plain.