Endler’s Livebearers Care Guide – The Guppy’s Little Cousin
Livebearers (or fish that bear live young) like guppies and mollies are always popular fish at pet stores because they’re so colorful and quick to make babies. However, lots of inbreeding has been occurred in order to create specialty colors and that can sometimes result in weaker strains that are not as hardy or long-lived. Endler’s Livebearers is a great choice for beginners as it is an entertaining and energetic nano fish.
What is an Endler’s Livebearer?
Poecilia wingei is named after Dr. John Endler who rediscovered this species in Venezuela and introduced them to the pet trade. Males can reach up to one inch (22.5 cm) in length, have a slim profile, and are full of vibrant colors and patterns. Females can reach 1.8 inches (4.5 cm), have a rounder abdomen, and are usually tannish-silver in color.
The male endler is bright and slim, while the female endler is silvery tan and has a round abdomen full of babies.
What are the different types of Endler’s livebearers? In this article, we are focusing primarily on purebred Endler’s livebearers or class N endlers, but the care requirements are somewhat similar for Endler hybrids. Hybrids come from Endlers and guppies that have been bred together to create almost every color of the rainbow. Endler’s hybrids and black bar endlers are common types.
Is Endlers the same thing as guppies? Not at all. They are close relatives and can spawn together to make fertile offspring. Poecilia wingei is an Endler’s livebearer, Poecilia reticulata is a guppy, and a hybrid of the two is an Endler guppy.
Endler’s livingbearer (left), Endler-guppy hybrid (middle), or guppy(right)
Are Endlers good for beginners? Wild Endlers have a lot of color and don’t require much line breeding. They are a great choice for beginners as they are more durable than guppies, and require less care than many other livebearers.
How to Set Up an Aquarium for Endlers
When we say the Endler’s livebearer is a hardy species, we mean that they can live in wide range of water parameters that might be considered nonideal for other aquarium fish. For example, you can keep them at room temperature in an aquarium without a heater. They are tolerant of pH levels ranging from 6.5-8.5 and nearly any water hardness (or GH). However, you should not neglect their care as they can get ill from excessive nitrate or pH changes. If you take care of your fish tank as you would any other fish, they will be very friendly and will give you many babies.
How many Endlers are allowed in a 5-gallon aquarium? We recommend getting larger tanks for the large number of fry they will produce. For a 10-gallon aquarium, start with a trio of one male and two females. For a 20-gallon aquarium, buy six to nine of them. To grow a population, you don’t necessarily need many Endlers. As long as there aren’t too many predators that could eat the young, it is possible to have a variety of Endlers.
How many Endlers are needed? They prefer to be with their own species and feel more at home together. Due to their drive for mating, it is recommended that there be one male for every 2-3 girls.
Males can be tireless in courting women, so try to get more of them.
What fish can live with Endlers? They get along with just about any peaceful community fish that are not big enough to eat them, such as smaller tetras, danios, and cory catfish. If the Endler population grows out of control, add African dwarf fishes or other predatory fish to eat the fry and leave the adults alone.
What Does Endler’s Livebearers Eating?
The good news is that they are not picky eaters and will consume anything small enough to fit in their mouths, such as flakes, pellets, Repashy gel food, and daphnia. They are great at scavenging for food all over the aquarium, both at the water surface and substrate level, and have even been known to pick at algae if they’re hungry enough. Keep in mind that they need to be fed a variety foods to get the nutrients they need to grow strong coloration and boost their immunity system.
How to Breed Endler’s Livebearers
If you have good food and clean water, your babies will start to appear around 23-30 days depending upon the temperature. The parents are not above eating their own offspring, so to increase the fry survival rate, provide lots of cover in the form of aquarium decorations or dense plants such as water sprite, wisteria, Pogostemon stellatus, and guppy grass. Also, make sure to use a sponge filter or cover the intake of your filter with a pre-filter sponge to prevent the babies from getting sucked up. Once they are roughly 0.5-1 inch (1.3-2.5 cm) in length, you can see about selling them to your local fish store or giving them to your friends who are new to fish keeping.
Baby Endler’s livebearers are usually not very bright at first, so they blend in with the surroundings and can escape predation.
Endler’s livebearers make a great pet for novice and experienced hobbyists due to their ease of care, vibrant colors and friendly personalities. For more information on where to buy live fish online, see our list of recommended vendors: