# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Livebearers >  Endler's Livebearers

## Cacatuoides

Hi Folks....

I think quite a number of you know that I've sort of stopped keeping the beloved apistos and switched to endlers.....its been some time since the endlers have been in my tank...

Just want to share some horrible pics....  :Blah:  


New Mint, Top Yellow Sword


Solid Red Line peacock, still in the bag


Half Tuxedo, Center Peacock


A beautiful Tiger hybrid which DOA


Fry Pics


A typical female

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## SCOPE

nice endler....keep up on this hobby

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## Cacatuoides

Thanks jo !!!  :Smile:

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## mickthefish

have you ever had an albino form cacatuoides?, as a freak i started getting the odd one earlier this year, they look good too.
mick

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## sonique

what do you feed your fries with..???
my endlers just given birth and i'm afraid the fries will die of hunger...heheee..

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## Wackytpt

baby brime shirmps..

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## Cacatuoides

for the 1st few days, you can feed with sera's micron for fry....its protein-rich powder....

Mick: I started off with 3 pure strains and 1 tiger hybrid....I don't really fancy albino fishes of any kind...hmm.... you seem to have your hands wet with lots of different types of fish!! hehe  :Grin:

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## SCOPE

> have you ever had an albino form cacatuoides?, as a freak i started getting the odd one earlier this year, they look good too.
> mick



Yes, there are albino form...especially they can bred out from the hybrid endlers.
It happens to me from few batches of fries of the snake ...found a few albino type fries that look totally different from the rest....

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## Cacatuoides

Hi bros,

Reviving an old thread here....like to share that I've just received endlers from US this morning, these are wild caught specimens which are to be used in research studies....all arrived safely in a styrofoam box, will try my best to take decent photos later  :Wink:

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## Justikanz

Wow... Not bad, your interest in Endlers still around.  :Smile: 

By the way, what happened to the picture links in post #1?

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## Quixotic

Directly from US? That must have cost a hole in your pocket.

What strains are they? Same strains?

Do try to keep the line if possible and not hybridise them. I am sure many would be very interested in the offsprings.

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## Cacatuoides

I've removed the earlier pics to free up space to upload new pics...hehe :Opps:  

Here are the fellows who just arrived:

Wild Caught Specimens, assorted peacocks


Top Green Sword


By the way, I'm still keeping and breeding my most beloved Tuxedo endler in my tank  :Blah:

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## Quixotic

Alamaks... assorted? Then you will probably get "chapalang" offsprings. What a pity.

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## Cacatuoides

Quixotic: These are wild caught specimens, they are not line-bred therefore each of them are different from one another....the ones you see in the market now are line-bred, meaning the breeders develop a certain strain and line breed it to produce same offsprings.....wild specimen no good meh???  :Crying:

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## Quixotic

Maybe I got confused, but aren't different strains collected at different locations? Got to go re-read some of the stuff...  :Knockout:

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## Cacatuoides

Nope, strains are developed by breeders not by locations....endlers are unlike other fishes like apistos.....the color strains are selectively bred by man and the line continues in order to produce offsprings which takes after their parents.... these are called line-bred endlers....different from wild caught endlers...

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## Justikanz

Wild caught Endlers will also have strains. Just less obvious. The females are the ones who will decide the strain for a locality as they will have preference what coloured males to mate... The only thing is, Endlers are not really found in as many localities as, say, an apistogramma species... Thus, there are not many local strains and thus far, such 'strains' look similar. I remember reading an article on a collection trip and seeing the pictures of the different 'strains'...

Man 'made' strains are usually so in-bred, there is a consistant pattern and colour...

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## Cacatuoides

yup, i would agree on that. :Smile:

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## stormhawk

Eman, there are differing populations of Endlers that exist in the lake where they are coming from now. A recent collection in Venezuela yielded nine or more different strains with unique colour and pattern to each of them.

Oh yes, the collector's name was Armando Pou. I'm not sure where you got yours, but I think they came from a seller on Aquabid..  :Razz:  

By the way, when it comes to livebearers, only the really wild stuff interest me. Like _Xiphophorus montezumae_, and the Limia species. Too bad these wild-type livebearers don't have much colours, or flashy traits to make them interesting to Singapore importers.  :Sad:

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## Justikanz

JY, the colour strains have very little difference leh, especially for those who are not really looking hard...  :Smile: 

Xiphophorus montezumae ah? The olive green looks ok, what... I love the tail... Can find here? Hee... Going OT liao...

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## stormhawk

Well that's unfortunate then. I recall at least 9 distinct strains with a specific trait to each of them.

Yes, never saw any true Montys here. They're usually confused with _X. birchmanni_, and even then the true Montys seldom appear for sale.

There are a number of very nice and interesting livebearers, but they're not for me at the moment. Endlers however, provide that interesting colour scheme that makes them somewhat nice to look at. A refresher on the usual view that these buggers are just guppies. :P

Apart from that, I'd definitely like to see some _Poecilia picta_ appear here. They seem to be really more colourful than any wild guppy type.

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## Justikanz

I would need to check up the article I had read for the pictures again...  :Opps:

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## Memnoch

I'm getting into endlers too.

So far i managed to get my yellowish endlers from C328 to breed.

How do we know if the endlers are pure bred or hybridised with guppies? Theres really no way to tell right?

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## Quixotic

There isn't a sure way to tell but their markings may provide some clues.

C328? Hmm... I *think* most of the Endlers there are hybrids. Their markings look a lot like guppies. Endlers do not have very elaborate markings on their caudal fins or body. Post a picture here if unsure.

I use the Endler’s Livebearers Association of America website as a guide. Have a look here, http://www.endlersr.us/viewforum.php...4a2e1300d0438c. Class N are the known pure breds, Class K are the known hybrids.

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## Cacatuoides

Some differences between pure endlers and hybrids can be seen on their color markings and their fins....

Pure endlers have very brightly, distinguised color markings while hybrids often have faint pastel colors.

Hybrids often have longer dorsal and caudal fins, pure endlers have short dorsal and a round caudal fin, hybrids sometimes have swallow tails....

Like what Quixotic have mentioned, a picture would be good  :Wink:

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## Memnoch

They are too fast to catch hold of with my regular camera, and always hiding. 

Theres so much talk of pure strains, like where can i get hold of one? and how much on average do they cost? If price is sensitive, can pm me

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