First Colorful Male, now what?

[TwoFish]

As an experiment I tossed a female guppy in with some male endler's live bearers.

One of the males born is just, well, he's really special! He's got a very neat fringy end to his tail that, combined with the orange-red coloring, looks a bit like he's on fire.

I'd very much like to try and isolate him and see if I can't successfully produce a few more like him (just for myself, really, he's just so beautiful!).

I have a few females born at about the same time as him that have, what I think, look like similar markings as his. Should I isolate him with those females and see what happens or....?

Also, I've noticed that both my guppies and my endlers produce far more female fry than male, is this an environmental factor (IE water temperature?) or just a coincidence?

Thanks!

My little Phoenix, you can clearly see the "fringe" in the second photo (sorry the photos are so blurry, he was doing the "love me" dance):

 

[SpaceFish42]

He's beautiful!

 

[DeeLee2013]

Gorgeous coloration! I would recommend "line" breeding to try to create more colorations like his. Line breeding would basically be done by pairing him off with a female from the previous generation. Just keep in mind that females can store sperm for 6 months or more, so be patient if you don't see more like him right away.

As far as ratio male to female, I find a happy balance of fry gender around the 77*F mark. I don't believe there is any conclusive evidence that external factors influence gender, but there are a lot of studies on the matter. The two biggest factors I've read about are temperature and pH.


? Diana Lee ?
? the St. Augustine Redhead ?
http://floridaorchidendlers.com

 

[SpaceFish42]

Could you post pictures of the parents if you know which ones they are?

 

[TwoFish]

Could you post pictures of the parents if you know which ones they are?

Sure!

I don't know the exact father, because I have four males. So, father would look like this:

I only had the one female in there and it was this lucky lady (now in with the guppy tank and as prolific as ever):

 

[TwoFish]

Gorgeous coloration! I would recommend "line" breeding to try to create more colorations like his. Line breeding would basically be done by pairing him off with a female from the previous generation. Just keep in mind that females can store sperm for 6 months or more, so be patient if you don't see more like him right away.

As far as ratio male to female, I find a happy balance of fry gender around the 77*F mark. I don't believe there is any conclusive evidence that external factors influence gender, but there are a lot of studies on the matter. The two biggest factors I've read about are temperature and pH.


? Diana Lee ?
? the St. Augustine Redhead ?
Florida Orchid Endler's | Documented Class N Orchid Endler's Livebearer Fish

Thanks for the advice! I'll lower the temp on the tanks and see if maybe that doesn't encourage a few more males to show up (although I will say these endler-mix females are quite beautiful in their own way. Some of them have lovely spots on their tails).

 

[livefishguy124]

that mama looks really bad, her spine is real out of whack. but i would breed your special boy with its mother (if her back gets better) or a sibling if you want a lot of young get all your females (mothers and sisters only) in there own tank, at least a 10 gallon and if you want to save most of the fry get a separate fry tank. and i would try and go to your lfs and get some female endelers that look like him to mix the genes because if you line breed you will get some fish that aren't as healthy after a few generations or even mutations like multiple heads so mix in some other fish every now and them

 

[TwoFish]

that mama looks really bad, her spine is real out of whack.

All my female guppies eventually develop that sway. I assumed it had something to do with all the pregnancies.

The males never develop any sway, but the older females who have been pregnant a lot always do.

I take it that is not normal?

 

[Toad]

The spine bend is a deformity and sounds hereditary, I wouldn't breed the ones that have it. You may need to get new females.


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