When we discovered the beautiful Snakeskin Variation of one of our male N Class Orchid Endlers we separated him and put him in his own tank.
This unique Endler was not a hybrid of a snakeskin guppy as what is commonly seen. This male Ender was a natural variation of a pure N Class Orchid Endler. It is a genetically pure N Class Endler that had a naturally produced mutation in the Endlers colors and patterns. This is natures way of modifying a species. Those mutations that help increase a species chances of survival are passed on and those mutations that don’t help a species to survive are usually naturally eliminated.
After separating the male we then added a handful of young virgin female Orchid Enders into the tank and allowed them to grow up with the male.
Soon the females grew older and had fry of their own. We removed the females and allowed the new fry to grow.
Once we could tell which ones were males and which ones for females we removed all the males and all but a small handful of females.
At this point we were somewhat worried as none of the males had the snakeskin markings.
We then let this generation of females mate with the original male. After the females had their first batch of fry we removed the females and again allowed the young fry to grow up with the original male Orchid Endler.
The males in this second batch of fry is just starting to show their patterns and colors. We have already started to notice some interesting things.
At this point it looks like all of the males are going to be very similar in appearance. We noticed that all of them have a white or light blue sword rather than the dark red sword that is seen in the original male.
We are also starting to see some small dots in the caudal fin in some of the young males. These dots are not random as in the original snakeskin variation but are more organized and symmetrical.
Update: It has been a few days and we are now seeing some indications our efforts to produce a line of Endlers like our beautiful male Snakeskin Orchid Endlers may very well pay off.
In the last few days, the once white swords on the males are now turning orange in color and the spots are starting to show up on the body and the tail.
It looks like we still have a ways to go however it looks like we are heading in the right direction.