Neon Endler

[fluffiebuggie]

Hi all, I've found something rather odd in my small tank of Endlers, and I wanted to get some opinions on it.

I've had this tank for about six years now, Endlers are the only fish in there, as it was intended to be an aquascape primarily.

A few days ago I noticed one young male who appeared to be different from all the other males. I'm used to seeing all the colorful males looking pretty much the same, with slight variations in fin length and pattern occasionally.

But this little guy looks completely different.

He only has orange markings, and I mean they are bright orange. When I first saw him he looked a lot like a Neon Tetra, but this is impossible as no new fish have been added to the tank since I stocked it with them.

The orange markings are segmented into three distinct bars along his side, with no other colorings on him at all. He really does look more like a Neon than all the other fish in there.

Obviously, I would have to assume that this is down to breeding, and that perhaps other people have seen the same. But after a little searching I have failed to find any other examples of him.

I do plan to try to get a picture of him so you can see for yourself, I think you'll be surprised at how similar to a Neon he looks.

In the meantime I wanted to get your opinions on what I should do with him. Would you isolate him with a couple of females and see if you can breed more like him? Would you just leave them alone and see if he produces any others like him in the community?

I'd really like to see more of him in there, and trying to breed on that coloring would be interesting.

Has anyone else seen this happen in a one-fish community?

Cheers!

 

[fluttermoth]

I would definitely have a go at breeding him.

The normal way of 'fixing' a trait that has spontaneously appeared is to breed that fish with some females, virgin ones preferably, and then breed those daughters back to your original male. That gives you the best chance of having the colour reappear.

You would definitely need a separate breeding tank, but that only needs to be a very basic set up and would be well worth it if the fish is as interesting as it sounds.

I'd love to see a pic, if you can get one. It could be a completely new mutation, they do happen; it's where all new colours ultimately come from.

 

[fluffiebuggie]

Well, I tried to get a pic, but unfortunately I only have my phone, and it's impossible to get them to sit still obviously. I might try again after a lights-out period when they're sleeping.

In the meantime I hope this photo might give you an idea at least of the color of him, and how bright he is. He really is glowing like a Neon, and in comparison to all the other males he is totally unique.

I'll try and get something else together so I can portray how clear and bright he is, maybe I can find another image out there and shop it a little to really give you a good idea.

 

[fluffiebuggie]

Okay, I've had a little play in photoshop and adjusted a pretty plain female to the best of my ability to give you a little better idea of what he looks like... I chose a female because he really doesn't have any other markings on him, he almost looks like a female but for that long line of neon color along his side.

Although I can't get the luminosity of him right, it kind of shows the sections of color. If you can imagine those bars of color glowing like a Tetra, orange, with no other markings on him, then you'll probably understand why I want to try and breed some more

I'm definitely going to have a think about breeding him. They're in a cube at the moment but I might be able to squeeze a breeding box in there and hook him up with some of the young females too.