Nothing is more beautiful than a thriving community tank full of colorful fish. But finding the right combination of species can be tricky. If you’re looking for a freshwater species that will light up your tank with color and activity without overloading your biological filtration, Endler fish might be the perfect pick.
Species Snapshot
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Species Name: Poecilia wingei
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Common Names: Endler’s livebearer, Endler fish
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Size: 1-2 inches
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Lifespan: 2-3 years
Endler’s livebearers (Poecilia wingei) are sometimes known as Endler fish or simply Endlers. They’re a small species of freshwater livebearer that often gets confused with guppies. In this guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know about keeping them in your home aquarium (and why you should).
Anatomy and Appearance
As members of the Poecilia genus, Endler fish are closely related to guppies and mollies. In fact, they’re genetically very similar to common guppies and capable of hybridizing with them. Like guppies, Endlers are small and colorful—males of the species in particular.Â
Endler’s livebearers have long, narrow bodies and pointed noses with the mouth upturned to feed at the water’s surface. Females are fairly plain, exhibiting pale colors ranging from silver to yellow-gold. Male coloration is highly variable and starts to develop around 3-4 weeks of age, intensifying as the fish matures. Many male Endlers also develop dark coloring along the upper edge of the caudal fin that creates the appearance of a sword-like tail.
While Endler fish have been bred in as many colors and patterns as fancy guppies, the classic color combinations feature bright hues of orange, yellow, and green. Male Endler fish also have an iridescent sheen overall and dark spots, stripes, or patches on the body and fins.
Ideal Aquarium Setup
Not only are Endler fish vibrantly colored, but they’re hardy and adaptable. This makes them the perfect addition to an existing community tank. It’s always important to acclimate new fish properly, but Endlers can handle a range of different conditions.
Let’s talk about the ideal tank setup for Endler fish.
Tank Size
While Endler’s livebearers remain pretty small, they do like to be kept in groups so a minimum tank size of 10 gallons is recommended. If you want to keep 5 or more Endler fish, or include other stock in your tank, start with a 20-gallon tank or larger. Keep in mind that Endlers will breed prolifically if both males and females are present, so opt for a larger tank when possible.
Water Parameters
What makes Endlers particularly attractive to beginner aquarium hobbyists is their uncomplicated water chemistry requirements. Basically, they just need clean water and parameters that remain fairly steady. The details don’t matter so much as long as water quality remains high and the chemistry isn’t constantly fluctuating.
Endler fish don’t even require a heated tank as long as the temperature in your house stays somewhere in the high 60s to mid-70s °F. Of course, installing a tank heater will help prevent potentially stressful fluctuations in water temperature (which are more likely to be a problem in small tanks). Endlers can tolerate pH levels ranging from 6.5 to 8.5 and seem to do just as well in soft as hard water.
Tank DĂ©cor
Again, Endlers are an adaptable species so they will do well in a variety of tank setups. The thing to keep in mind is that Endler fish tend to occupy the upper level of the tank, so make sure your décor doesn’t take up too much space near the surface. If you want to cultivate a natural aesthetic, consider a planted tank. Live aquarium plants will also help keep the dissolved oxygen levels in your tank high.
Diet and Feeding
Because they’ve been so extensively captive-bred, Endlers aren’t picky when it comes to their feeding habits. They’ll accept a wide variety of commercial foods as long as it’s small enough to fit in their mouths. Flakes and floating pellets are ideal, but some Endler fish might venture down to the bottom of the tank to pick at wafers and other sinking foods.
The key to a healthy diet for Endler fish is variety. Choose a staple diet that’s properly formulated for tropical fish and incorporate small amounts of nutrient-rich live, frozen, and freeze-dried foods. Just be careful only to offer small amounts at a time and don’t overfeed. Because they tend to hang around the surface of the tank, Endler’s always look like they’re begging for food but it’s important to stick to a regular feeding schedule.
Temperament and Tank Mates
Like guppies and other livebearers, Endlers are very peaceful fish. They’ll get along with just about any other species of similar size that won’t try to eat them. Endlers do well with guppies, mollies, platies, and swordtails as well as danios, rasboras, and small tetras. Gentle bottom-feeders like Corydoras or small bristlenose plecos may be a good fit for the tank as well. Avoid cichlids and other aggressive or predatory fish.
Breeding Endler Fish
Another benefit of including Endlers in your community tank is that they’re very easy to breed. In fact, you’d have some difficulty preventing them from breeding as long as there’s at least one male and one female in the tank. Endler’s livebearers will generally reproduce every 20-30 days.
If you want to increase your Endler fish population, you may need to take a few steps to protect the fry and ensure they live to maturity. The best thing to do is provide plenty of cover for small fry to hide in. Dense carpet plants, aquatic mosses, and even artificial solutions like spawning mops will help keep the adults from eating the fry before they grow too large to be preyed upon.
Another important aspect of raising Endler fish fry is to provide foods small enough for the babies to eat. For a little while, the fry will feed on infusoria, biofilm, and other microscopic foods but they’ll soon need more. Powdered foods, finely crushed flakes, and live or frozen baby brine shrimp will provide the nutrients your Endler fish fry need to grow properly.
Stock your tank with Endler fish, live aquarium plants, and more at Shirmpy Business!