Endlers

[guppymonkey]

I have been looking everywhere for these fish! I saw them on the website for the Livebearers Association and fell in love with the picture I saw. I know they look very much like guppies but they are different right? I can't find them in any stores though! Are they a very rare species?

 

[aernympha]

yup very rare ... the only place i know u can get tem is online in auctions.. i know place for peeps in britain but not for US soz

 

[ramesses]

Go to Aquabid.com,under livebearers and you should find a few breeders offering them.
You might be lucky and find a few males at your LFS but,never the females to go along w/them.Its a business strategy,you know.
they are guppies indead,just a different variety,only found in a few places in Venezuela and other places.they are very rare and almost extint in the wild.

 

[guppymonkey]

I saw someone (can't remember who) on this board who lived in Venezuala that found guppies near where they live that looked exactly the same as Endlers. I am pretty sure that endlers are the same species as guppies, like swordtails are the same as platies but are a different variety. Isn't any animal that can breed with another and have viable offspring the same species? I wish they weren't so rare. I don't like paying a lot for my fish!

 

[ramesses]

I am pretty sure that endlers are the same species as guppies, like swordtails are the same as platies but are a different variety. Isn't any animal that can breed with another and have viable offspring the same species?

Hi Guppymonkey,I have to correct you on a couple of things

Certain animals are so closed when it comes to genetics that they might have offsprings;It doesnt necesarily make them of the same species.I give you an example......A mule is the product of a dunkey and a horse,and we all know the parents are two different species.Same goes with a patty and a swortail,they might even look alike and capable of producing babies but,the reality is they are different species.This is what we commonly call a hybrid.
I read someplace not too long ago about endlers being guppies,just a variation;The article claimed that scientific info.based on DNA allows them to call endlers guppies.I also heard about other people opposing to this idea.
Going back to you wanting endlers but not wanting to pay a lot of money.All of these auction places have a forum just like this one,ask around if any breeder lives close to you,I am sure that if you buy th efish directly from a breeder they will charge just a few dollars.

 

[plecoguy]

i got endlers from a guy named clint who runs an online fish stock shop. Petfish.net he doesnt always have endlers in his stock shop, but you may want to watch for them, they are really good. I ordered 2 females from him, they came pregnant, and i have 15-20 of them now, i absolutely love them, the males are sooooo bright, no picture can even begin to show you how their colors really shine.

 

[guppymonkey]

I have to correct you on a couple of things

Certain animals are so closed when it comes to genetics that they might have offsprings;It doesnt necesarily make them of the same species.I give you an example......A mule is the product of a dunkey and a horse,and we all know the parents are two different species.Same goes with a patty and a swortail,they might even look alike and capable of producing babies but,the reality is they are different species.This is what we commonly call a hybrid.

A mule is not viable offspring though. Mules are created when horses and donkeys are mated and their offspring (the mule) is a combination of the two species but CAN NOT reproduce. All mules are born from coupling horse and donkey. Some fish can be crossbred and will have offspring that are like mules (by which I mean that they are sterile). In the case of platies and swordtails, they can be bred and their offspring are able to reproduce. This indicates that they are actually the same species but swordtails have developed differently probably due to isolation from platies in the wild. Its like different "races" of people, caucasian, african, or asian or even pigmies are all members of the same species but look very different.

I looked up a little on endlers and read that the place where they were originally found was destroyed. The article said that was the only confirmed place that they have been found though there have been claims from other areas of Venzuala. That would probably be why they are so expensive. I will have to see if there are any good breeders near me. Though I kind of doubt it I live pretty far from any major cities.

 

[plecoguy]

if i remember right, when i bought my female endlers from clints website, www.petfish.net , they were about 5 bucks each, plus shipping. Very good deal, and they are pure bred, absolutely wonderful. Its worth checking out his site, and waiting for him to get them back in the stock shop (shop closed till the 12th, hes on vacation)

 

[Lateral Line]

>>>
A mule is not viable offspring though. Mules are created when horses and donkeys are mated and their offspring (the mule) is a combination of the two species but CAN NOT reproduce.
<<<

When I read this, a little light went on and I remembered a story I'd read about a mule giving birth - "scientifically confirmed".

Story here.

 

[Mamaschild]

Ok, this article strikes me odd??? I was under the impression that "Mules" offspring of Donkey and Horse, were all born MALE and sterile?

The article states the "FEMALE MULE" gave birth........I could be wrong, but I studied them a little when I was younger, do to a story called "Hemmy, the Mule". HE was a male and unable to ever have children.....remember, it's a childrens book.

 

[MAM]

strange, i just looked up endlers. they are very cool looking, like they were splattered with paint or something. anywho, i've seen fish like them at my lfs, but they weren't selling them as endlers, or as pets, but rather as feeder guppies...... maybe these are different than endlers, but looked a whole heck of lot like them (like a guppy that had been in a nuclear disaster or something). you should call around to some of your lfs and even go to some and look in their feeder fish tanks......................

 

[plecoguy]

the problem with the feeder fish is that most the time they are NOT true endlers, so...if you want them, go for it, but dont breed them and sell them as endlers, keep the endler strain as pure as possible.

 

[MAM]

so, out of curiosity, what makes them different? (not a guppy expert by any means, like to learn)

 

[ramesses]

so, out of curiosity, what makes them different? (not a guppy expert by any means, like to learn)

Ok here we go.Endlers are way brighter than a wild guppy.They might be shaped and even the same size as a wild gup but a thousand times prettier.
-----Wild gups show all kind of colors and patterns and like they say"no two guppies look alike"at least the wild ones.
-----Endlers dont show diff.shaped tails like a wild gup.Swords ,double swords,lyre,crown,long finned plus the ones you may find on the fancy varieties like veils,deltas etc.
------Going back to coloration,endlers look pretty much alike.Through selective breeding there have been a few patterns stablished.I have to say that along with the neon tetra/cardinal tetra,endlers are among the brightest little fish in a fesh water tank.
------females are dull just like wild female guppies,and like them, they are also bigger than the males.

I had posted before that I read some article where some people were calling the endlers a variety of guppy after checking their DNA.Other people opposed to this idea and preffer to think of endlers as diff.species,closely related to the guppies.

 

[ramesses]

Remember guys that just because they are hybrids,like in the case of mules,it doesnt necessarily means they are sterile,which is regularly the rule.As someone proved by piblishing an article about the mule having an offspring.I also read about a "liger" the hybrid of a lion and a tiger,having some babies.I thought it was impossible but this was from a serious publication.

In the case of a platti and a swordfish,they are closely related.As a matter of fact the mollies,gups,swords and plattis are all "cousins" and some have been known to mate and having babies.Yes,the swords and platties may have babies and these may have their own offsprings but,this doesnt indicate they are of the same species.I will give you two examples...........The flowerhorn fish is a hybrid created in Asia.I dont know exactly what two(although Ive been told there are more than two fish involved in all this)fish are the pure species.The flowerhorn can have offsprings.The second example is the most hated fish in the world(well.....Maybe after the shark and piraghnas)The blood parrots.These are created by crossing a regular parrot fish with a red devil.They come in diff.colors and people seem to like them because of their "weird appareance".They look like mutants.Cant close their mouth properly and I have been told they cant pick up food from a flat surface,like the bottom of a bare fish tank.Until not to long ago they were belived to be sterile but,some have reported having babies off these hybrids.

I hope I have not offended anyone,and if I did ,I appologize it wasnt my intention whatsoever.