i got this guys as "feeder guppies" but after seeing some pictures, i have started to wonder what's the difference between feeder guppies and Endler's Livebearer??? i'm sorry for the bad pictures.
feeder guppies or Endler's Livebearer??
- Thread starter chrisinha
- Start date
Almost definately endlers or endlers/ guppy cross. I have found that almost all feeder guppies in my area are endlers. They are (believe it or not) more prolific and faster to reproduce than guppies. The greatest likelihood is that they are cross bred fish between the two, but cool little guys either way.
dave
dave
Definately not a pure endler. More likely than not a guppy-endler hybrid as daveedka pointed out.
I'm gonna go with hybrid too, but you can see a lot of Endler's Livebearer in it. Cute fish and those colors are just awesome. I'm in the throes of setting up a low tech 20 long with Endler's.
thanks! it is good to know what i have. unfortunately i lost two of them yesterday. two males. and i am guessing they were fighting. now, i have only 10.
i just lost another male. i found 2 dead yesterday. one did not have part of his belly. only males! what's going on?
ammonia is a little high: .25 but believe me they had been in a much worse situation before and did not die.
nitrItes: 0
nitrAtes: 20
ph: 7.2
now i have 5 males and 4 females
ammonia is a little high: .25 but believe me they had been in a much worse situation before and did not die.
nitrItes: 0
nitrAtes: 20
ph: 7.2
now i have 5 males and 4 females
they are mixed. dying probably because feeders dont last too long due to breeding procedures, stress, dirty water, diseases etc.
I would say guppies, nothing I've seen about the availability of endlers has made me think that they are common enough yet to be in the feeder fish of that type unless some local person is supplying them to that particular store.
endlers have the potential of being just as colorful as guppies, and I have seen some lines that have documentation as to where the original fish came from that show some movement that way.
but I have my doubts that any endlers would be disposed of by putting them in to the stock feeders are breed from if only to prevent the possibilitie of those fish with a supposed small percentage of endler being labled as full.
endlers have the potential of being just as colorful as guppies, and I have seen some lines that have documentation as to where the original fish came from that show some movement that way.
but I have my doubts that any endlers would be disposed of by putting them in to the stock feeders are breed from if only to prevent the possibilitie of those fish with a supposed small percentage of endler being labled as full.
My understanding is that it is only the "pure" endlers that are hard to come by. The endlers crosses are common a lot of places. part of the problem with endlers is they weren't recognozed as being a seperate fish for a long time, and therefore were crossed into Guppy strains quite often. The result was a lot of cross bred fish but a lack of good strains for breeding pure fish. It is close to impossible to tell the difference between female endlers and female common guppies, the males are distinctive, but also similar enough to be readily mistaken. Their breeding and activity habits are also very much the same, so mixing is extremely common while at the same time, endlers purists can't find good stock when they want it. In the old days I just thought common guppies looked like that, as I've learned more and paid more attention, I've found that feeder gupies are quite often endlers cross fish. Almost all guppies in captivity are reproductions of tank raised fish, and the Common guppies used for feeders are repetative often cross bred fish.
My own experience has found what seem to be some minor differences, none of which have I tried to document fully or researched for accuracy yet.
Endlers seem to reach maturity faster, and reproduce faster. when compared to fancy guppies, my feeders gestate in about half the time. also the males pick up color and start exibiting courting activity in 3-4 weeks while guppies seem to take 5-7 weeks for the same.
the most pronounced difference is size, especially with the females. most guppies I have grow to fully twice the size of the endlers crosses i get. I used to attribute this solely to the larger size of fancy guppies, but I tend to see far more size seperation whenever the endlers colors are heavily present. The endlers are not as good for feeders IMO solely because of their size limitations. but I still keep a few around because they are more prolific and fun to watch. As said, these are just my observations and have not been tested properly so they me be partially or even completely off.
dave
My own experience has found what seem to be some minor differences, none of which have I tried to document fully or researched for accuracy yet.
Endlers seem to reach maturity faster, and reproduce faster. when compared to fancy guppies, my feeders gestate in about half the time. also the males pick up color and start exibiting courting activity in 3-4 weeks while guppies seem to take 5-7 weeks for the same.
the most pronounced difference is size, especially with the females. most guppies I have grow to fully twice the size of the endlers crosses i get. I used to attribute this solely to the larger size of fancy guppies, but I tend to see far more size seperation whenever the endlers colors are heavily present. The endlers are not as good for feeders IMO solely because of their size limitations. but I still keep a few around because they are more prolific and fun to watch. As said, these are just my observations and have not been tested properly so they me be partially or even completely off.
dave
