
Endler

Dr. Klaus Kallman (genecitist) from the New York Aquarium determined this livebearer as a specific species within the Poecilia genus. It was he who named this species Endler's livebearer and the scientific name Poecilia endler. Dr. Endler himself found out that this little livebearer was named after him when he was sitting in the audience at a meeting in Germany in 1980. Dr. Kallman didn't notify him before about the chosen name.
In 2005 Fred Poeser, Michael Kempkes and Isaac Isbrücker published a paper about this specific livebearer and renamed the scientific name into Poecilia Wingei named after danish biologist professor Øjvind Winge.

Dr. Fred Poeser (PhD., Ichthyology) and Michael Kempkes are friends of mine.
Below: Michael Kempkes (left) and me (front). We were in a goofy mood...

Certain descendents of these fish collected by Dr. John Endler in 1975 remain due to hybridization and inbreeding. In the 1990's Dr. John Endler urged Amando Pou to gather fresh wild endler stock. Pou collected lots of wild endlers and provided them to Adrian Hernandez. Adrian Hernandez reboosted the introduction of the endler into the freshwater aquarium scene. In following years Pou collected more strains of wild endlers in Venezuela for Hernandez.
Adrian's Endlers Livebearer Association of America (ELAA) stock is now considered the ELAA original source for Pure-Strain Endlers. In order for an ELB to be considered an N-Class Pure-Strain fish, its lineage must be traced back to this original stock and verified by documentation throughout the entire line of descent.
Class → refers to a fish's documented lineage how pure-bred/hybridized it is.
Strains → refers to groupings of characteristics which breed true generation after generation.
Grade → refers to standards individual fish can be judged against as they relate to a "prime" or "perfect" within a given strain.
There are three classes of endlers and numerous strains.
Class-N → Are documented to have originated from their native waters in Venezuela and are considered genetically "pure". This also includes progeny from these endlers.
Class-P → Appear to have the characteristics of an endler (Class-N), but whose origins can't be verified. Strains are similar to Class-N.
Class-K → Are known to have been crossbred with other livebearing species.
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As far as known there are several strains which occur actually in wild nature with a broad spectrum of colours and different shapes (body, fins and tail)
Just like wildguppies, the males are smaller in size than the average domesticated male fancy guppy. However, the male endler seems in general to appear more intensed coloured than most male wildguppies.
I would like to mention that either way endler females have the potential to reach a normal length of a female fancy guppy. But most of the time the females are already impregnate before they've reached that size. And therefore it appears in general as if also endler females are smaller than the fancy guppy females. For all grow potential will go to the development of the new offspring instead of its own body.

Above: This is how an average female endler looks like.
On this page I'll describe just the males of each endler breed I'm keeping. For no matter which kind of endler I'll consider, the females will be basically similarly coloured from grey, tan, greenish till darkbrown. Some females tend to have some markings in their fins or even on their sides. But if you'd like to breed with endlers it does matter which female of which strain you use to ensure the right characteristics in the offspring. For I have heard of certain breeders that all female endlers have ressesive genes "at all times". This is something I absolutely disagree with looking back to my former breeding projects. In my point of view depending on the strain they can be homozygote or heterozygote.
Endlers in general ain't that demanding and are quite hardy when it comes to water conditions. Which makes it in general also an easy fish to keep. I explicitely mention "in general" for there are also strains which have a difficulty level.
Although, I'd prefer watching them swim in a large tank, it's really a fish one could keep in a small tank as well. Nano-aquariums are a typical trend these days and they'll do well once placed in such a tank. And I do have to admit that such a small biotope does really have its own charm as well...
I won't describe N-, P- or even K-class seperate from eachother. They'll be described overhere (with the exception of my own created strains) on this page in random order.
Black bar
The black bar endler is the most common endler there is and originated from the Cumana region (Laguna De Los Patos).
In commercial trade N-, K- and P-class are available. Most of the sold fish will be K- and P-class. It's a shame that I see a lot of people (especially within the commercial trade) sell K- and P-class as being N-class. Despite of the fact that this is the most common endler there is, I still have a preference to keep these guys at home. Besides that they're vividly coloured, they're also of good use regarding my hybdrizing projects.
I myself started keeping black bars ever since 2004.
A quite lively coloured fish of a small size. I've used black bar endlers as well to interbreed with other wildguppies and other endlers to get a certain strain. At some point the black bar has even disappeared in the male pattern when they were crossbred with red chest endlers. In that case the monocle on both sides of the male seemed dominant to the black bar.
But in general when a black bar endler is crossbred with a different endler strain or guppy strain, the black bar marking on the male's chest will inherit dominant. And within the commercial trade you'll see a lot of male fancy guppies have that specific marking. Pretty sure, some black bar endler influence is running through their dna.
Below: Two male specimens, Picture 1 (K-class), Picture 2 (N-class).


There can be differences between the markings of each individual male. But the colouration is very characteristic. Red (or orange), green and black markings are very typical to the black bar endler.



Above: An adult red black bar endler.
The black bar endler is also the first endler strain ever introduced into the aquarium scene.
Limegreen
Limegreen endlers are also known as emeraldgreen endlers. This strain is originated from the Cumana region (coll. Adrian Hernqndez, 2006).
Typical to this strain is the limegreen stripe on the entire upper part of the male's body. There are types of males which show white dorsal fins and a vertical stripe on the side (vertical bar). They're really fertile and fast growers.
First purchase of this strain happened in 2010. I immediately fell in love with them when I first saw them.




Tuxedo/ Black flame
I was able to get my hands on a group of tuxedo endlers as shown below in 2008. It was a pity at that time that they only had males to offer. Nevertheless, I bought them all and mixed them with some of my female black bar saddleback endlers. The F1 fry was partially tuxedo and with the F2 it resulted in only tuxedo phenotypes.






Tiger hybrid
Below are shown some tiger hybrid endlers. In comparison to the average male endler... this version has a longer body length. Don't mistake this breed with the snakeskin. Its pattern is also totally different from the snakeskin. Even the black spot on its side is more focused on its shoulder up to its head. The stripes on its side are typical vertical and a certain amount of white appears in its dorsal fin and tail next to the black edges. A real beauty within the endler genus. Also phenotypes with a black head occur.


First colony of tiger hybrids kept by me goes back to 2006. Purchased them from someone who decided to keep fancy guppies instead.
In general this strain can be considered being very profilic and definitely fast growers.
Blond (flare) endler
Below some male flare (blond) endlers are shown. I started with a group of these guys in 2006 and just a small offspring seemed to have the blond look. The majority of the offspring were just like the regular black bars. Which gave me the impression that the blond gene seemed recessive. But anyways, the next generation followed and the blond look appeared again in a larger number as before. Even the normal black bars (F1) from that particular strain gave birth to blond endlers (F2) again.



A variety of the blonde endler is the lutino endler. It's also a blonde based endler but with pigment disorder which relates to the eyes in this case and not the body colour.

Lutinos just like albinos tend to be a bit more sensitive in comparison to non-inos.

The first lutinos I've kept were a gift from Tobi Berensee from Berlin back in 2013.
Red scarlet (aka chili endler)
The red scarlet also known as chili endler (specifically in the States) is a remarkable coloured hybrid strain. The red on its body ensures a good contrast in a well planted tank.
They were my second kind of strain of endlers to be kept back in 2005.




Red chest
Ever since mid 2014, I'm keeping the N-class red chests. Originally, back in 2005... I've also kept N-class red chests. But I could only buy the males at that time. So, to ensure offspring; I've used female black bar endlers. After the F2, more red chests were born and at the end I had a strain with red chests phenotypes similar to the original one. Further description of the hybrid strain is written a bit further beneath.






In 2014 I've purchased a group of blond red chest hybrids from Peter and Astrid Raschke. It's a beautiful strain and has the same markings as he grey based N-class version. The only problem I've met up with is that the red chest will fade after some generations. so, adding a grey based male to the colony will enhance the red chest marking of the new male offspring.



Flametail
The flametail originates from the Cumana region, Laguna La Malaguena and Laguna de Los Patos, South Lake (coll. Armano Pou / Adrian Hernandez, 1997).
The flametail is a very slender shaped endler but enormously colourful. Also the markings on each individual male may differ. Just like the yts, it's got a topsword but the name suggests that there's a marking in its tail... a so-called flameshaped spot. They're also extremely easy breeders.


The flametail comes also in diverse patterns but in general it does resemble a lot to the yellow top sword endler.
Yellow top sword
The yellow top sword (YTS) originates from the Cumana region, south of Laguna la Malaguena and the Black Endler Pond (coll. Armando Pou / Adrian Hernandez, 2004).
I myself am keeping these fish ever since 2007 and added another colony back in 2008 from a fellow breeder who had an overstock of these endlers.



The pattern on each individual male can be diverse. Further on this strain can be considered hardy among the variety of endlers. And for sure highly profilic.
Neon hybrid speartail
Another hybrid developed bu Adrian Hernandez is the so-called neon hybrid speartail. This is a specimen which has a typical speartail when it comes to the males. It's an easy breeder as well.


Hamburger
One of the more beautiful patterned endlers I had was the hamburger endler. It resembles somewhat to the staeck endler. "Hamburger" had to do with the so-called "H" on the males its both sides. Karen Koomans, one of the former topbreeders of Holland created this endler strain. It's a pity that Karen had to stop her activities for she was really good at her job! Illness made her decide to become inactive within this field. She deserves a lot of respect for her qualities.


I didn't get my hamburgers from her. I got them from a young boy living in my region back in 2008. His hobby had outgrown and his parents told him to get rid of the majority of the fish. It turned out that some were hamburger endlers which he didn't know of. I've bought them from him but they didn't last too long at my place. It's quite a shame for it was a very colourful and interesting endler version.
However, I've heard that some other keepers who had these fish as well told me that the strain itself wasn't that hardy.
Staeck

The picture above shows a Staeck endler (also known as black endler). They do resemble in a way to Hamburger endlers. The typical "H"-shape to the sides which are so specific to Hamburgers ain't present at Staeck endler males. There's also another form of Staeck endlers which have more rectangular areas on their sides.
And of course, also with this strain there are some patterns differences among the males itself. Both pictures below show this clearly. On both sides of the body there are these typical black monocles. The number of these monocles on both sides can be 1, 2, 3 or even 4.








Blue star
The blue star endler is originated from the Campoma region, bridge in Campoma Village (coll. Philippe Vosin / F.Nicole).
Synonyms for this strain are blue voisin and blue français.
It's a real beauty and despite of the bluish appearance, it's quite different from the japan blue. These guys found their way to my place after a three and a half hours cardrive from my friend from Germany back in 2012.



Besides this N-class blue star as described above, I also breed a blond version of the blue star. In this case it concerns a K-class blue star. It's a hybrid between blue star x flare (blonde) endler. I've got my first breeding group of this hybrid through Peter Raschke in 2014. He's a german breeder and created this specific hybrid strain. I just fell in love with these hybrids when I saw them for the first time at the International Endler Championship in Berlin in 2013.




The orchid endler is originated from the Cumana area (coll. Adrian Hernandez, 2006).
Besides known as "orchid endler", this strain is also known as "black hat endler". "Black hat" because of the black marking on te male's head.

It's also amazing how many phenotypes there are within the orchid strain. But I was so pleased that I was able to get my hands on a large group at once.
In August 2015 I had a donation of a large group of orchids by Henk Buddingh with more black traits.


The El Tigre endler is originated from the Campoma region, El Tigre stream, road between Cariaco and Casanay (coll. Philippe Voisin, 2011).
I was amazed in spring 2013 when I saw a picture of the el tigre endler which Phillipe Voisin posted on the internet. Good friend of mine René Kruter asked me at a certain moment if I would like to join him to pay a visit to Phillipe Voisin to purchase certain strains of endlers. One of them would've been the El tigre endler. But in some way we never came to that point to make that trip.
When I was acknowledged who my fellow jurors at the International Endler Championship 2013 in Berlin were, I was able to order some of a fellow juror by the name of Knut Bieler. He gave a group of juvenile endlers which had their first offspring at christmas 2013. In the third weekend of January 2014 the Hannover petfair was held. My acquaintances from Berlin (Claus Osche and Katja Tyka) were going to Hannover with my order of fish. One of the strains was the el tigre again. To enlarge my group of these fish. Another good friend of mine brought these fish to me for I was occupied with family matters and so I wasn't able to go to Hannover myself that weekend.




El Silverado
The El Silverado endler originated from Cumana City (coll. Philippe Voisin, 2013).
The first couples were given to me in 2014. It took a while before they reproduced themselves. But at the end they did well.



The rainbow endler originates from the Cumana region (coll. Philippe Voisin, 2013).
Back in 2014 at the international livebearer championship in Diemelsee-Adorf (Germany), my friend Gasper Gomboc from Slovenia brought me a couple of bags with rare livebearers. One of them was a group of juvenile rainbow endlers. Some extra breathing bags with similar endlers were given to me as well to be send to two other dutch breeders once I would be back home again.


The campoma nr.3 originates from the Campoma region (coll. Philippe Voisin, 2008).
First colony of this strain had been purchased by me in 2014 at an auction. What seemed remarkable of this strain was the ferm black topsword of the males.besides that also the body was a lot more ferm than most endler strains.


Also this strain should be considered being very hardy. These specimens shown overhere came from an outdoor tank of mine.
Campoma nr.7
The campoma nr.7 endler is originated from the Campoma region (coll. Philippe Voisin, 2008).
Also this strain has been given to me by Gasper Gomboc when I was at the international livebearer championship in Diemelsee-Adorf back in 2014.


Campoma nr.46 snake
This endler originates from the Campoma region. I don't know the exact data with the exception of the year of collection 2012 by Philippe Voisin. I've searched for more info but couldn't find any. Nevertheless, it's a brilliant looking wildstrain.


Light blue top sword
The light blue top sword originated from the Cumana area, south of Laguna la Malaguena and the Black Endler Pond (coll. Armando Pou / Adrian Hernandez).


Rio Oro (2006)
The Rio Oro endler is originated from the Campoma region, entree Aquas des Moises (coll. Paul Eckstein, 2006).
This slender shaped strain is a small kind of endler (males) with black, orange or red and green markings. Further on it has a topsword which is black edged and a slight bottomsword which is also black edged. Also the dorsal is dark edged.

Quite easy to keep and for such a small endler quite hardy.




Campoma nr.9
The campoma nr.9 endler is originated from the Campoma region (coll. Philippe Voisin, 2008). They found their way to my place in 2015 at an auction.
It concerns a very bright coloured specimen with orange, red, green, blue, yellow en black markings. The yellow dorsal is very remarkable. Although, to me it seems more similar to a poecilia reticulata instead of a poecilia wingei when you look at the bodyshape, it seems to be a true poecilia wingei...



The Campoma nr.21 originates from the Campoma region (coll. Philippe Voisin, 2008). I've obtained them from an acquaintance in 2017.
There's not that much data on this strain to be found.




The Santa maria bleeding heart endler is a beautiful patterned hybrid strain which has its origin in Japan. So far known this strain has been developed by Kenichiro Tamura.



Well, in 2017 a new hybrid strain showed up at social media and so on. Basically, most pictures of them were posted at foreign forums. In that same year, they also showed up in our country. It's a sparkling colored strain and does resemble a cardinal tetra with the metallic blue (almost azure) on the upper part of the body and the metallic red on the lower part of the body.

It's not a large build endler and slender for sure when it comes to the males. In every other way, it's got a behavior like most endlers.


This hybrid has been developed by japanese breeder Hiroshi Sugino.
I've seen an earlier version of the saddlebacks already back in 2013 at the international endler championship in Berlin. Although, I was already interested in this hybrid; there was no one who wanted to sell them at that time.
Below: A male entry of the saddleback hybrid endlers during the international endler championship back in 2013 in Berlin (pictures taken by Stefan Hetz).



