Orchid Endlers Are A Highly Variable Strain
Orchid Endlers were line bred into a unique strain by Adrian Hernandez from a population of Endlers collected in Venezuela by Armando Pau.
Orchid Endlers were the first strain of Endlers we chose to work with due to their bright orange and green coloration which is accented by black coloration on their bodies.
We find this strain to be highly variable which makes it a fun strain to work with. Using selective breeding techniques a hobbyist can work to bring out specific traits that are found within the Orchid Endler strain.
It’s nearly impossible to find all the traits we look for in one male Orchid Endler however they may often exhibit one or two of the traits.
Here are a few of the traits we look for when selecting breeding stock for our Orchid Endlers.
Orange Spots
One of the things that make this strain so beautiful is the orange coloration set against black coloration on the body.
Often this orange coloration is exhibited as one or two long orange lines of color. This was often seen in the original stock that was produced by Adrien Hernandez.
We like to see the orange coloration broken up in spots rather than bands of color. We feel that when the orange coloration is broken up into smaller spots it looks more defined.
Black Coloration
Orchid Endlers are sometimes called Black Hat or Top Hat Endlers due to the black coloration that runs across most of the top of the body of the Orchid Endler.
The black coloration is what makes the Orchid Endler strain so unique as it has more black coloration than most Endler stains.
“Black Belt” or “Comma”
This marking is a black vertical line that runs down the body of the Endler just behind the abdomen. This marking was shown in a few of the original Orchid Endler photos produced by Adrian Hernandez but was not as common as the Endlers without the marking.
Colored Dorsal Fin
Although the dorsal fin of Orchid Endlers are often clear colored dorsal fins are somewhat common. We prefer coloration in the dorsal fin as it really stands out.
Colored dorsal fins often appear larger than clear dorsal fins on Orchid Endlers.
Long Sword
While the sword on Endlers is often just a coloration in the caudal fin that doesn’t extend much past the caudal fin itself, once and a while a male will exhibit a sword that extends well beyond the caudal fin. This seems to happen in nearly all Endler strains.
Unlike the swords that are seen in Endler/Guppy hybrids the swords on N Class Endlers are very thin and delicate.
We have had many males exhibit this trait. Sometimes it appears as the sword will not stop growing and it eventually breaks off and then continues to grow.
We have attempted on several occasions to create a line of Endlers that produces only long swords using selective breeding techniques however the results are always the same with Endlers being produced with very tiny swords.
Double Sword
Like long swords on N Class Endlers, double swords (top and bottom) are relatively commonly found in many Endler strains.
We have attempted to produce a line of Endlers that produces double swords and have not been successful. We have found that the offspring of these fish we used to try to produced the double sword line have amazing coloration and we continue to work with the double sword Orchid Endlers simply because of the resulting offspring.
Other Desirable Characteristics
The characteristics that we have shared thus far are those that are easy to see among the male Orchid Endlers. These are not all that we look for.
We also look for proper body shape and size. Pure Endlers generally have a thinner tail area than those found in guppies or guppy/Endler hybrids.
We prefer smaller males as this is one of the things that attracted us to Endlers in the first place and is one of the characteristics that make Endlers different than guppies.
One of the biggest things we look at when keeping Endlers is health and vigor. There are many Endlers we have kept in the past that we don’t keep anymore.
This is often because we found the strain weaker than we would like making them more difficult to keep. Because we want to produce Endlers (and other fish) that are easy for a new hobbyist to care for these fish don’t meet our needs and we stop keeping them due to our limited space.
Our Continuing Efforts
These are just a few of the traits we like to work with when working with the Orchid Endler strain and one of the biggest reasons we enjoy working with Orchid Endlers.
If you ever get the opportunity to get some Orchid Endlers from us, please don’t expect to get all of these wonderful traits in one male as we have never produced one however there is a strong possibility that you will get some males that express one or two of these traits that we look for when selecting breeder stock.