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Endler's/feral Guppies

Biulu

Fish Aficionado
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Jan 27, 2007
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Commuting between Oaxaca, Mexico and Montreal, Can
I have been livebearer hunting at the fishmarket among the bags of feeder fish and boy, did I get a nice bunch of fish! Wild mollies (sphenops and mexicana), wild platies (variatus and milleri), some yet to be determined species and 'guppies del rio' as they call them here.

Now I have never understood the difference between guppies and endlers. I know that guppies come from Venezuela, so it can't be wild guppies that I buy in Mexico.

Research in internet makes things only more confusing; I am getting the impression that guppies and endlers are the same?!

Can anybody explain me the difference between the 2 names/fish?
 
I have been livebearer hunting at the fishmarket among the bags of feeder fish and boy, did I get a nice bunch of fish! Wild mollies (sphenops and mexicana), wild platies (variatus and milleri), some yet to be determined species and 'guppies del rio' as they call them here.

Now I have never understood the difference between guppies and endlers. I know that guppies come from Venezuela, so it can't be wild guppies that I buy in Mexico.

Research in internet makes things only more confusing; I am getting the impression that guppies and endlers are the same?!

Can anybody explain me the difference between the 2 names/fish?

Endlers and guppies are different, but people crossbreed them so much that there are almost no pure endlers.
 
A bit of light reading on Endlers and Guppies
http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2009/f/zt02266p050.pdf
http://www.fao.org/fishery/introsp/2147/en
 
If you are getting "guppies del Rio", they are feral guppies from the local river. They may be as short finned as an endler but will not show the striking colors of a true endler. Wild guppies and wild endlers are very different in their habits and genetics. Research has shown a significant difference between guppies and endlers even when they have rather similar appearances. It is one of the things that has allowed the endlers to become known as P. wingeii and retained the ID of guppies as P. reticulata.
 
If you are getting "guppies del Rio", they are feral guppies from the local river. They may be as short finned as an endler but will not show the striking colors of a true endler. Wild guppies and wild endlers are very different in their habits and genetics. Research has shown a significant difference between guppies and endlers even when they have rather similar appearances. It is one of the things that has allowed the endlers to become known as P. wingeii and retained the ID of guppies as P. reticulata.

Regarding the names, I don't trust the Mexicans very much. They call all feeder fish 'charales', and a typical bag consists of porthole livebearers, h. bimaculatus, small mollies, an odd mexican tetra or tilapia and other poeciliadae. Anything but charales (this is a fish that is eaten here, it looks a bit like a sardine). If you want to have a bag of large P. mexicanas and sphenops, they call them 'burros' (donkeys). I have no clue why....
 

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